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Topic · Control and Systems Engineering

Traffic control and management

Traffic control and management is a research topic within Control and Systems Engineering. Science Explorer counts 31k research works in it since 1952. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the modeling and control of traffic flow systems, including microscopic simulation, cooperative adaptive cruise control, connected vehicles, traffic signal control, platooning, macroscopic fundamental diagram, intelligent transportation systems, vehicle dynamics model, and reinforcement learning.

  • Traffic Flow
  • Microscopic Simulation
  • Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control
  • Connected Vehicles
  • Traffic Signal Control
  • Platooning
  • Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram
  • Intelligent Transportation Systems
  • Vehicle Dynamics Model
  • Reinforcement Learning
Research works
31k
fractional, since 1952
In the world top 10%
3.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+32%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
54% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Traffic control and management

Which countries lead Traffic control and management research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (4.2k and 1.2k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 4.2k works
  2. 2 United States 1.2k works
  3. 3 India 773 works
  4. 4 Germany 320 works
  5. 5 Japan 227 works
  6. 6 Italy 218 works
  7. 7 South Korea 207 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 197 works
  9. 9 Canada 186 works
  10. 10 France 182 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: 54.4%United States: 15.7%India: 10.0%Germany: 4.1%6 others listed: 15.8%54%largest
China4,208 · 54.4%United States1,215 · 15.7%India773 · 10.0%Germany320 · 4.1%6 others listed1,219 · 15.8%

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

Which institutions lead Traffic control and management research?

By volume in 2022-now, Tongji University publishes the most Traffic control and management research, followed by Southeast University and Tsinghua University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Tongji UniversityChina 199 works
  2. 2 Southeast UniversityChina 153 works
  3. 3 Tsinghua UniversityChina 134 works
  4. 4 Chang'an UniversityChina 123 works
  5. 5 Beijing Jiaotong UniversityChina 110 works
  6. 6 Jilin UniversityChina 83 works
  7. 7 Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 78 works
  8. 8 Wuhan University of TechnologyChina 74 works
  9. 9 Beihang UniversityChina 66 works
  10. 10 Beijing University of TechnologyChina 63 works

Who are the leading researchers in Traffic control and management?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Traffic control and management include Yi Ping Cui, Leo Breiman and Kai You Wang.

  1. 1 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k citations
  2. 2 Leo Breiman United States 243k citations
  3. 3 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  4. 4 L. Li France 211k citations
  5. 5 Luc Van Gool Switzerland 177k citations
  6. 6 Stefan Lorkowski Germany 166k citations
  7. 7 Xin Wu France 165k citations
  8. 8 Daron Acemoğlu United States 164k citations
  9. 9 Han Zhang China 161k citations
  10. 10 Huan Liu Australia 148k 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 Traffic control and management?

The most cited paper in Traffic control and management is "Social force model for pedestrian dynamics" (Dirk Helbing, Péter Molnár, 1995), with 6,959 citations. Next come "Congested traffic states in empirical observations and microscopic simulations" (4,784) and "On kinematic waves II. A theory of traffic flow on long crowded roads" (4,671).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Social force model for pedestrian dynamics Dirk Helbing, Péter Molnár · Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics Open access May 1995 6,959
2 Congested traffic states in empirical observations and microscopic simulations Martin Treiber, Ansgar Hennecke, Dirk Helbing · Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics Open access Aug 2000 4,784
3 On kinematic waves II. A theory of traffic flow on long crowded roads Michael James Lighthill, Gerald Beresford Whitham · Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A Mathematical and Physical Sciences 10 May 1955 4,671
4 A cellular automaton model for freeway traffic Kai Nagel, Michael Schreckenberg · Journal de Physique I Open access Dec 1992 3,868
5 Shock Waves on the Highway Paul I. Richards · Operations Research Feb 1956 3,683
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Traffic control and management research done?

The largest centres of Traffic control and management research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Xi'an (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 788 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 397 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 316 works
  4. 4 Xi'anChina 219 works
  5. 5 ChongqingChina 182 works
  6. 6 WuhanChina 149 works
  7. 7 ChengduChina 138 works
  8. 8 GuangzhouChina 129 works
  9. 9 ChangshaChina 116 works
  10. 10 HangzhouChina 114 works
See Traffic control and management on the map

Where is the best place to study Traffic control and management?

Among universities, judged by research, Nanyang Technological University, Southeast University and Maharshi Dayanand University 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 23.51%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Maharshi Dayanand Un…Nanyang Technologica…Hong Kong Polytechni…Southeast University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

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
1Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 64.529.9%6.8×46 +30.5%
2Southeast UniversityChina 63.919.0%12.0×153 +35.9%
3Maharshi Dayanand UniversityIndia 63.048.4%10.6×10 +788.1%
4Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 62.425.3%5.9×44 +126.2%
5Tongji UniversityChina 62.313.7%15.1×199 +61.0%
6Tsinghua UniversityChina 62.018.8%6.8×134 +47.0%
7Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 57.020.0%11.8×78 +75.9%
8National University of SingaporeSingapore 56.922.9%3.6×36 +215.3%
9Beihang UniversityChina 55.519.5%7.0×66 +19.1%
10Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyChina 54.117.6%6.3×23 +147.6%

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 Traffic control and management, country by country

Is Traffic control and management research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 32% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Traffic control and management.

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 Traffic control and management as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.038% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Traffic control and management0.044% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Traffic control and management 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%Traffic control and management9.8% 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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