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Topic · Human-Computer Interaction

Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts

Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts is a research topic within Human-Computer Interaction. Science Explorer counts 37k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the concept of virtual presence and embodiment in virtual reality (VR) research. It delves into topics such as presence, embodiment, virtual reality technology, immersion, body ownership, peripersonal space, self-representation, cybersickness, social interaction, and learning outcomes in VR environments.

  • Presence
  • Embodiment
  • Virtual Reality
  • Immersion
  • Body Ownership
  • Peripersonal Space
  • Self-Representation
  • Cybersickness
  • Social Interaction
  • Learning Outcomes
Research works
37k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+82%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts

Which countries lead Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.3k and 2.1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.3k works
  2. 2 United States 2.1k works
  3. 3 Germany 1k works
  4. 4 India 802 works
  5. 5 Japan 798 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 755 works
  7. 7 Italy 597 works
  8. 8 South Korea 570 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 517 works
  10. 10 Spain 425 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: 23.3%United States: 21.5%Germany: 10.3%India: 8.1%6 others listed: 36.8%23%largest
China2,315 · 23.3%United States2,144 · 21.5%Germany1,027 · 10.3%India802 · 8.1%6 others listed3,661 · 36.8%

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

Which institutions lead Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts research, followed by The University of Tokyo and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 99 works
  2. 2 The University of TokyoJapan 76 works
  3. 3 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and TechnologySouth Korea 56 works
  4. 4 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 52 works
  5. 5 Binus UniversityIndonesia 47 works
  6. 6 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 45 works
  7. 7 Purdue University West LafayetteUnited States 44 works
  8. 8 Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool UniversityChina 44 works
  9. 9 University of Central FloridaUnited States 40 works
  10. 10 University of AveiroPortugal 38 works

Who are the leading researchers in Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts include Xiangyu Zhang, Karl John Friston and Mark A. Bradford.

  1. 1 Xiangyu Zhang 327k citations
  2. 2 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations
  3. 3 Mark A. Bradford United States 268k citations
  4. 4 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  5. 5 Vivian Andrea Welch Canada 218k citations
  6. 6 David C. Schwebel United States 210k 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 Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts?

The most cited paper in Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts is "Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire" (Bob G. Witmer, Michael Jay Singer, 1998), with 6,358 citations. Next come "Defining Virtual Reality: Dimensions Determining Telepresence" (5,436) and "At the Heart of It All: The Concept of Presence" (3,719).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire Bob G. Witmer, Michael Jay Singer · PRESENCE Virtual and Augmented Reality Jun 1998 6,358
2 Defining Virtual Reality: Dimensions Determining Telepresence Jonathan Steuer · Journal of Communication Dec 1992 5,436
3 At the Heart of It All: The Concept of Presence Matthew Lombard, Theresa Bolmarcich Ditton · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 23 Jun 2006 3,719
4 A systematic review of immersive virtual reality applications for higher education: Design elements, lessons learned, and research agenda Jaziar Radianti, Tim A. Majchrzak, Jennifer Fromm et al. · Computers & Education ReviewOpen access 9 Dec 2019 3,494
5 Measuring the Customer Experience in Online Environments: A Structural Modeling Approach Thomas P. Novak, Donna L. Hoffman, Yiu‐Fai Yung · Marketing Science Feb 2000 3,188
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts research done?

The largest centres of Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Mytilene.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 379 works
  2. 2 TokyoJapan 325 works
  3. 3 SeoulSouth Korea 246 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 181 works
  5. 5 ShanghaiChina 168 works
  6. 6 Hong KongChina 140 works
  7. 7 TaipeiTaiwan 136 works
  8. 8 IstanbulTürkiye 131 works
  9. 9 ParisFrance 118 works
  10. 10 GuangzhouChina 115 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. MytileneGR · 22.4 works15×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts than the world average.

See Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts on the map

Where is the best place to study Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts?

Among universities, judged by research, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Copenhagen and Education University of Hong Kong 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%20%40%mean 22.9%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Education University…University of Copenh…Hong Kong Polytechni…University College L…
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
1Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 72.818.2%4.4×52 +284.6%
2University of CopenhagenDenmark 70.129.2%1.4×18 +26.9%
3Education University of Hong KongChina 69.432.6%6.1×12 +521.8%
4University College LondonUnited Kingdom 67.613.8%2.0×45 +95.8%
5University of Hong KongChina 66.718.1%2.8×36 +320.5%
6University of GlasgowUnited Kingdom 64.817.8%4.0×36 +192.3%
7City University of MacauChina 64.324.5%5.5×12 +401.5%
8Tampere UniversityFinland 64.222.7%6.5×28 +42.5%
9Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyChina 63.319.0%4.5×26 +318.2%
10University of MacedoniaGreece 61.033.1%12.2×10 +293.4%

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 Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts, country by country

Is Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 82% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts.

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 Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.070% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts0.073% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts 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%Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts9.8% 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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