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Topic · Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Sustainable Industrial Ecology

Sustainable Industrial Ecology is a research topic within Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. Science Explorer counts 15k research works in it since 1955. 17.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the concept of industrial symbiosis and the development of eco-industrial parks, focusing on topics such as circular economy, industrial ecology, sustainability, network analysis, waste management, urban industrial symbiosis, environmental assessment, and regional development. The papers cover case studies from various countries and provide insights into the potential benefits and challenges of implementing industrial symbiosis initiatives.

  • Industrial Symbiosis
  • Eco-Industrial Parks
  • Circular Economy
  • Industrial Ecology
  • Sustainability
  • Network Analysis
  • Waste Management
  • Urban Industrial Symbiosis
  • Environmental Assessment
  • Regional Development
Research works
15k
fractional, since 1955
In the world top 10%
2.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
17.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
-1%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Sustainable Industrial Ecology research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (753 and 197 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 753 works
  2. 2 United States 197 works
  3. 3 France 179 works
  4. 4 India 172 works
  5. 5 Italy 164 works
  6. 6 Germany 162 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 121 works
  8. 8 Indonesia 102 works
  9. 9 Russia 78 works
  10. 10 Brazil 74 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: 37.6%United States: 9.8%France: 8.9%India: 8.6%6 others listed: 35.0%38%largest
China753 · 37.6%United States197 · 9.8%France179 · 8.9%India172 · 8.6%6 others listed701 · 35.0%

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

Which institutions lead Sustainable Industrial Ecology research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Tsinghua University publishes the most Sustainable Industrial Ecology research, followed by Politecnico di Milano and Delft University of Technology.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Tsinghua UniversityChina 16 works
  2. 2 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 15 works
  3. 3 Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands 15 works
  4. 4 RWTH Aachen UniversityGermany 12 works
  5. 5 Linköping UniversitySweden 10 works
  6. 6 The University of TokyoJapan 10 works
  7. 7 Technical University of DenmarkDenmark 10 works
  8. 8 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 9 works
  9. 9 State Grid Corporation of China (China)China 9 works
  10. 10 Technical University of MunichGermany 9 works

Who are the leading researchers in Sustainable Industrial Ecology?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Sustainable Industrial Ecology include Sérgio Ulgiati and Jiří Jaromír Klemeš.

  1. 1 Sérgio Ulgiati Italy 1.8k citations
  2. 2 Jiří Jaromír Klemeš Czechia 1.7k citations

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

Where is Sustainable Industrial Ecology research done?

The largest centres of Sustainable Industrial Ecology research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Paris (France).

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 157 works
  2. 2 Shanghai China 53 works
  3. 3 Nanjing China 46 works
  4. 4 Paris France 37 works
  5. 5 Xi'an China 36 works
  6. 6 Tokyo Japan 33 works
  7. 7 Wuhan China 31 works
  8. 8 Guangzhou China 28 works
  9. 9 Moscow Russia 26 works
  10. 10 London United Kingdom 25 works
See Sustainable Industrial Ecology on the map

Where is the best place to study Sustainable Industrial Ecology?

Among universities, judged by research, Politecnico di Milano, Delft University of Technology and Technical University of Denmark 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.

0%20%40%60%mean 33.79%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Politecnico di Milano: 15, 47.6%Delft University of Technology: 15, 35.4%Technical University of Denmark: 10, 47.8%Linköping University: 10, 44.0%KTH Royal Institute of Technology: 8, 39.1%University of Cambridge: 9, 33.0%Tsinghua University: 16, 31.3%RWTH Aachen University: 12, 17.5%Technical University of Munich: 9, 34.2%The University of Tokyo: 10, 8.0%Technical University…Politecnico di MilanoLinköping UniversityDelft University of …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 82.147.6%6.9×15 +160.4%
2 Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands 70.735.4%7.2×15 +41.5%
3 Technical University of DenmarkDenmark 70.447.8%5.9×10 +235.1%
4 Linköping UniversitySweden 64.844.0%10.8×10 -37.5%
5 KTH Royal Institute of TechnologySweden 58.539.1%7.1×8 +85.7%
6 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 51.433.0%2.8×9 +203.6%
7 Tsinghua UniversityChina 45.631.3%2.6×16 -55.4%
8 RWTH Aachen UniversityGermany 44.817.5%5.5×12 —
9 Technical University of MunichGermany 38.034.2%3.5×9 -17.7%
10 The University of TokyoJapan 22.08.0%2.5×10 +55.1%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Sustainable Industrial Ecology research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 1% lower than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

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.