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Topic · Environmental Engineering

Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis

Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis is a research topic within Environmental Engineering. Science Explorer counts 7.1k research works in it since 1953. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the study of urban metabolism, including energy and material flows, sustainability assessment, emergy analysis, ecological network analysis, and the quantification of sustainability in urban environments. It explores the dynamics of urban ecosystems, resource management, and environmental accounting to support sustainable urban development.

  • Urban Metabolism
  • Emergy Analysis
  • Ecological Network Analysis
  • Sustainability Assessment
  • Energy Flow
  • Material Flow
  • Ecosystem Dynamics
  • Quantifying Sustainability
  • Environmental Accounting
  • Resource Management
Research works
7.1k
fractional, since 1953
In the world top 10%
730
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
48% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis

Which countries lead Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (543 and 164 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 543 works
  2. 2 United States 164 works
  3. 3 Italy 73 works
  4. 4 France 72 works
  5. 5 India 58 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 57 works
  7. 7 Germany 51 works
  8. 8 Brazil 40 works
  9. 9 Spain 35 works
  10. 10 Russia 33 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 48.2%United States: 14.5%Italy: 6.5%France: 6.4%6 others listed: 24.4%48%largest
China543 · 48.2%United States164 · 14.5%Italy73 · 6.5%France72 · 6.4%6 others listed275 · 24.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Beijing Normal University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 33 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 25 works
  3. 3 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 25 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 9 works
  5. 5 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 8 works
  6. 6 Hohai UniversityChina 7 works
  7. 7 China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 7 works
  8. 8 Universidade PaulistaBrazil 6 works
  9. 9 Leibniz AssociationGermany 6 works
  10. 10 UCLouvainBelgium 6 works

Who are the leading researchers in Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis include Philippe Ciais, Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási and Christian M. Ringle.

  1. 1 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  2. 2 Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási United States 223k citations
  3. 3 Christian M. Ringle Germany 215k citations
  4. 4 David Tilman United States 209k citations
  5. 5 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
  6. 6 Peter B. Reich United States 189k citations
  7. 7 F. Stuart Chapin United States 185k citations
  8. 8 Carl Folke Sweden 182k citations
  9. 9 Stephen R. Carpenter United States 165k citations
  10. 10 Josep Peñuelas Spain 160k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis?

The most cited paper in Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis is "The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital" (Robert Costanza, Ralph C. d’Arge, R.S. de Groot et al., 1997), with 22,491 citations. Next come "A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems" (8,610) and "TOWARD A METABOLIC THEORY OF ECOLOGY" (7,970).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital Robert Costanza, Ralph C. d’Arge, R.S. de Groot et al. · Nature May 1997 22,491
2 A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems Элинор Остром · Science Open access 23 Jul 2009 8,610
3 TOWARD A METABOLIC THEORY OF ECOLOGY James H. Brown, James F. Gillooly, Andrew P. Allen et al. · Ecology Jul 2004 7,970
4 Resilience: The emergence of a perspective for social–ecological systems analyses Carl Folke · Global Environmental Change 22 Jul 2006 7,678
5 Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems Marten Scheffer, Stephen R. Carpenter, Jonathan A. Foley et al. · Nature Open access Oct 2001 7,525
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis research done?

The largest centres of Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Paris (France) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Beijing.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 138 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 32 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 21 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 20 works
  5. 5 ZhengzhouChina 20 works
  6. 6 GuangzhouChina 19 works
  7. 7 Xi'anChina 18 works
  8. 8 WuhanChina 18 works
  9. 9 LondonUnited Kingdom 15 works
  10. 10 MoscowRussia 14 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BeijingCN · 138.1 works2.7×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis than the world average.

See Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis on the map

Where is the best place to study Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis?

Among universities, judged by research, Beijing Normal University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Beijing Normal UniversityChina 55.012.3%23.3×25 -0.0%
2University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 49.025.6%3.7×8 +16.1%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis, country by country

Is Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2026. The fastest-growing topics are Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0046% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis0.0066% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis10.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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