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Topic · Pharmacology

Treatment of Major Depression

Treatment of Major Depression is a research topic within Pharmacology. Science Explorer counts 31k research works in it since 1951. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the molecular mechanisms and treatment strategies for depression, with a particular emphasis on antidepressant medications, ketamine, NMDA receptor antagonists, and neurobiological pathways. It covers topics such as treatment-resistant depression, glutamate signaling, cognitive impairment, and synaptic plasticity. The papers also discuss clinical guidelines and the evaluation of outcomes for various treatment approaches.

  • Depression
  • Antidepressant
  • Ketamine
  • NMDA Receptor
  • Treatment-Resistant Depression
  • Neurobiological Mechanisms
  • Glutamate Signaling
  • Cognitive Impairment
  • Synaptic Plasticity
  • Clinical Guidelines
Research works
31k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
3.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+25%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
36% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Treatment of Major Depression

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Treatment of Major Depression research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.6k and 923 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.6k works
  2. 2 China 923 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 339 works
  4. 4 Germany 276 works
  5. 5 Canada 272 works
  6. 6 India 260 works
  7. 7 Italy 226 works
  8. 8 Japan 180 works
  9. 9 Australia 155 works
  10. 10 Spain 155 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.

United States: 36.0%China: 21.2%United Kingdom: 7.8%Germany: 6.3%6 others listed: 28.7%36%largest
United States1,568 · 36.0%China923 · 21.2%United Kingdom339 · 7.8%Germany276 · 6.3%6 others listed1,247 · 28.7%

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

Which institutions lead Treatment of Major Depression research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Treatment of Major Depression research, followed by University of Toronto and King's College London.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 85 works
  2. 2 University of TorontoCanada 79 works
  3. 3 King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 35 works
  4. 4 Capital Medical UniversityChina 34 works
  5. 5 United States Department of Veterans AffairsUnited States 34 works
  6. 6 Stanford UniversityUnited States 31 works
  7. 7 Yale UniversityUnited States 31 works
  8. 8 Johnson & Johnson (United States)United States 29 works
  9. 9 National Institutes of HealthUnited States 27 works
  10. 10 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 27 works

Who are the leading researchers in Treatment of Major Depression?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Treatment of Major Depression include David Moher, Theo Vos and Julian P. T. Higgins.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Theo Vos United States 439k citations
  3. 3 Julian P. T. Higgins United Kingdom 390k citations
  4. 4 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  5. 5 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  6. 6 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  7. 7 Matthias Egger Switzerland 326k citations
  8. 8 Mika Kivimäki United Kingdom 318k citations
  9. 9 John P. A. Ioannidis United States 317k citations
  10. 10 Graeme J. Hankey Australia 316k 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 Treatment of Major Depression?

The most cited paper in Treatment of Major Depression is "“Mini-mental state”" (Marshal F. Folstein, Susan E. Folstein, Paul R. McHugh, 1975), with 87,598 citations. Next come "The PHQ-9" (45,744) and "A New Depression Scale Designed to be Sensitive to Change" (14,132).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 “Mini-mental state” Marshal F. Folstein, Susan E. Folstein, Paul R. McHugh · Journal of Psychiatric Research Nov 1975 87,598
2 The PHQ-9 Kurt Kroenke, Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B. W. Williams · Journal of General Internal Medicine Open access Sep 2001 45,744
3 A New Depression Scale Designed to be Sensitive to Change Stuart Montgomery, Marie Åsberg · The British Journal of Psychiatry Apr 1979 14,132
4 The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): the development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10. David V. Sheehan, Yves Lecrubier, Sheehan Kh et al. · PubMed 1998 10,266
5 CONSORT 2010 Statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials K. F Schulz, D. G Altman, D. Moher et al. · BMJ Open access 23 Mar 2010 8,916
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Treatment of Major Depression research done?

The largest centres of Treatment of Major Depression research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Beijing (China), Toronto (Canada) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Toronto and Bethesda.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 135 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 123 works
  3. 3 TorontoCanada 97 works
  4. 4 New YorkUnited States 91 works
  5. 5 GuangzhouChina 74 works
  6. 6 ShanghaiChina 64 works
  7. 7 BostonUnited States 63 works
  8. 8 TokyoJapan 62 works
  9. 9 SeoulSouth Korea 52 works
  10. 10 ParisFrance 48 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TorontoCA · 97.0 works4.9×
  2. BethesdaUS · 34.9 works4.9×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Treatment of Major Depression than the world average.

See Treatment of Major Depression on the map

Where is the best place to study Treatment of Major Depression?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, University of Toronto and University College London score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 16.07%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University College L…Stanford UniversityHarvard UniversityUniversity of Toronto
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.

Citation 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
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 80.514.3%5.1×85 +22.0%
2University of TorontoCanada 76.213.3%7.4×79 +2.5%
3University College LondonUnited Kingdom 75.319.7%2.9×24 +21.1%
4Stanford UniversityUnited States 71.718.8%4.0×31 +55.4%
5King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 68.513.8%7.8×36 +2.6%
6Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 67.818.9%6.1×13 +5.7%
7University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 64.412.5%3.6×27 +7.8%
8Nanjing Medical UniversityChina 64.121.9%4.5×21 +100.3%
9Yale UniversityUnited States 63.515.1%5.3×31 -32.5%
10University of CopenhagenDenmark 62.812.4%5.1×25 +27.8%

Universities only. The score blends citation 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 Treatment of Major Depression, country by country

Is Treatment of Major Depression research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 25% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Treatment of Major Depression.

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 Treatment of Major Depression as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.024% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Treatment of Major Depression0.028% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Treatment of Major Depression 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%Treatment of Major Depression9.9% 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.

Questions people ask

Who leads depression research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Treatment of Major Depression research, followed by University of Toronto and King's College London. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.6k and 923 works in 2022-now).

How much research is there on depression, and is it growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 25% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Treatment of Major Depression.

Is Treatment of Major Depression research growing?
All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

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