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Topic · Pollution

Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal

Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal is a research topic within Pollution. Science Explorer counts 44k 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 focuses on the microbial nitrogen cycle in biological wastewater treatment systems, including the roles of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, anammox bacteria, and extracellular polymeric substances. It covers topics such as complete nitrification, partial nitritation/anammox, biological phosphorus removal, and nitrous oxide emission during wastewater treatment.

  • Nitrogen-Cycling Network
  • Anammox Bacteria
  • Extracellular Polymeric Substances
  • Nitrifying Bacteria
  • Denitrifying Bacteria
  • Biological Phosphorus Removal
  • Activated Sludge
  • Wastewater Treatment
  • Nitrous Oxide Emission
  • Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation
Research works
44k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
69% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal

Which countries lead Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (4.2k and 510 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 4.2k works
  2. 2 United States 510 works
  3. 3 India 358 works
  4. 4 Japan 188 works
  5. 5 South Korea 149 works
  6. 6 Spain 141 works
  7. 7 Germany 133 works
  8. 8 Canada 128 works
  9. 9 Australia 128 works
  10. 10 Brazil 115 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: 69.3%United States: 8.5%India: 5.9%Japan: 3.1%6 others listed: 13.2%69%largest
China4,179 · 69.3%United States510 · 8.5%India358 · 5.9%Japan188 · 3.1%6 others listed795 · 13.2%

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

Which institutions lead Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research, followed by Beijing University of Technology and Tongji University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 226 works
  2. 2 Beijing University of TechnologyChina 193 works
  3. 3 Tongji UniversityChina 131 works
  4. 4 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 124 works
  5. 5 Xi'an University of Architecture and TechnologyChina 94 works
  6. 6 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 61 works
  7. 7 Suzhou University of Science and TechnologyChina 58 works
  8. 8 Hohai UniversityChina 54 works
  9. 9 South China University of TechnologyChina 54 works
  10. 10 Chongqing UniversityChina 49 works

Who are the leading researchers in Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal include Jun Wang, Kai You Wang and Lei Jiang.

  1. 1 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  2. 2 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  3. 3 Lei Jiang China 214k citations
  4. 4 Guangming Zeng China 204k 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 Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal?

The most cited paper in Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal is "Profiling of complex microbial populations by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of polymerase chain reaction-amplified genes coding for 16S rRNA" (Gerard Muyzer, Ellen C. de Waal, André Gerardus Uitterlinden, 1993), with 11,519 citations. Next come "Transformation of the Nitrogen Cycle: Recent Trends, Questions, and Potential Solutions" (7,151) and "The microbial nitrogen-cycling network" (4,604).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Profiling of complex microbial populations by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of polymerase chain reaction-amplified genes coding for 16S rRNA Gerard Muyzer, Ellen C. de Waal, André Gerardus Uitterlinden · Applied and Environmental Microbiology Open access Mar 1993 11,519
2 Transformation of the Nitrogen Cycle: Recent Trends, Questions, and Potential Solutions James N. Galloway, Alan R. Townsend, Jan Willem Erisman et al. · Science Open access 15 May 2008 7,151
3 The microbial nitrogen-cycling network Marcel M. M. Kuypers, Hannah K. Marchant, Boran Kartal · Nature Reviews Microbiology Review 5 Feb 2018 4,604
4 Use of p-nitrophenyl phosphate for assay of soil phosphatase activity Mohammod Ali Tabatabai, John M. Bremner · Soil Biology and Biochemistry Nov 1969 4,492
5 Combination of 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes with flow cytometry for analyzing mixed microbial populations Rudolf Amann, Brian J. Binder, Robert Olson et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology Open access Jun 1990 4,069
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research done?

The largest centres of Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Shanghai (China) and Guangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Shanghai.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 896 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 292 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 221 works
  4. 4 GuangzhouChina 209 works
  5. 5 Xi'anChina 170 works
  6. 6 HarbinChina 161 works
  7. 7 WuhanChina 157 works
  8. 8 HangzhouChina 147 works
  9. 9 TianjinChina 147 works
  10. 10 QingdaoChina 137 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Shanghai22.7 works22×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal than the world average.

See Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal on the map

Where is the best place to study Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal?

Among universities, judged by research, Tongji University, Beijing University of Technology and Aalborg University 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 20.54%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Aalborg UniversityTongji UniversityHarbin Institute of …Beijing University o…
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
1Tongji UniversityChina 68.519.2%12.8×132 +26.4%
2Beijing University of TechnologyChina 67.915.0%41.3×194 +31.3%
3Aalborg UniversityDenmark 64.630.4%3.3×12 +17.3%
4Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 61.218.2%11.3×124 +4.0%
5City University of Hong KongChina 60.327.1%2.4×9 +271.0%
6Xi'an University of Architecture and TechnologyChina 58.814.0%46.6×94 +30.4%
7Tohoku UniversityJapan 58.619.7%8.3×37 +53.7%
8The University of QueenslandAustralia 57.919.6%4.4×28 -11.2%
9Chongqing University of TechnologyChina 57.522.6%8.9×12 +94.5%
10Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands 57.419.6%5.5×25 -21.7%

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 Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal, country by country

Is Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal.

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 Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.031% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal0.030% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal 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%Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal10.0% 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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