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Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Water Governance and Infrastructure

Water Governance and Infrastructure is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 13k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intricate politics, poetics, and governance of water infrastructure, delving into issues such as water privatization, urban political ecology, neoliberalism's impact on nature, water justice, and the hydrosocial cycle. It examines the complexities of resource geographies, logistics in water supply, and the socio-environmental implications of infrastructure governance.

  • Hydrosocial Cycle
  • Water Privatization
  • Urban Political Ecology
  • Infrastructure Governance
  • Water Justice
  • Neoliberalism and Nature
  • Resource Geographies
  • Hydro-Social Analysis
  • Logistics and Water Supply
  • Environmental Governance
Research works
13k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+23%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
27% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Water Governance and Infrastructure

Which countries lead Water Governance and Infrastructure research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (747 and 431 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 747 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 431 works
  3. 3 India 296 works
  4. 4 France 253 works
  5. 5 Germany 242 works
  6. 6 Brazil 209 works
  7. 7 Canada 179 works
  8. 8 Australia 142 works
  9. 9 Netherlands 140 works
  10. 10 China 123 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: 27.1%United Kingdom: 15.6%India: 10.7%France: 9.2%6 others listed: 37.5%27%largest
United States747 · 27.1%United Kingdom431 · 15.6%India296 · 10.7%France253 · 9.2%6 others listed1,035 · 37.5%

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

Which institutions lead Water Governance and Infrastructure research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Water Governance and Infrastructure research, followed by University of Manchester and University College London.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 88 works
  2. 2 University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom 28 works
  3. 3 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 26 works
  4. 4 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 23 works
  5. 5 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 23 works
  6. 6 Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 22 works
  7. 7 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 22 works
  8. 8 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 19 works
  9. 9 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 18 works
  10. 10 The University of MelbourneAustralia 17 works

Who are the leading researchers in Water Governance and Infrastructure?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Water Governance and Infrastructure include Martin McKee and Элинор Остром.

  1. 1 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  2. 2 Элинор Остром United States 149k 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 Water Governance and Infrastructure?

The most cited paper in Water Governance and Infrastructure is "The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure" (Brian R. Larkin, 2013), with 3,993 citations. Next come "Enchantment and Disenchantment: The Role of Community in Natural Resource Conservation" (2,922) and "The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature" (2,617).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure Brian R. Larkin · Annual Review of Anthropology Review 28 Aug 2013 3,993
2 Enchantment and Disenchantment: The Role of Community in Natural Resource Conservation Arun Agrawal, Clark C. Gibson · World Development Open access Apr 1999 2,922
3 The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature William J. Cronon · Environmental History 1996 2,617
4 A Theory of Access* Jesse Ribot, Nancy Lee Peluso · Rural Sociology Jun 2003 2,312
5 Towards a Politics of Mobility Tim Cresswell · Environment and Planning D Society and Space 2010 2,106
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Water Governance and Infrastructure research done?

The largest centres of Water Governance and Infrastructure research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Paris (France), New Delhi (India) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Wageningen.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 110 works
  2. 2 ParisFrance 88 works
  3. 3 New DelhiIndia 44 works
  4. 4 New YorkUnited States 39 works
  5. 5 MelbourneAustralia 36 works
  6. 6 TorontoCanada 36 works
  7. 7 AmsterdamNetherlands 34 works
  8. 8 São PauloBrazil 33 works
  9. 9 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 33 works
  10. 10 BerlinGermany 30 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. WageningenNL · 21.9 works13×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Water Governance and Infrastructure than the world average.

See Water Governance and Infrastructure on the map

Where is the best place to study Water Governance and Infrastructure?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Manchester, University of Amsterdam and Wageningen University & Research 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%mean 24.65%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Amster…Wageningen Universit…University of Cambri…University of Manche…
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
1University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom 80.620.6%9.0×28 +16.4%
2University of AmsterdamNetherlands 80.633.5%10.4×23 +10.9%
3Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 70.331.0%16.4×22 -21.9%
4University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 70.222.2%4.9×22 +40.7%
5University College LondonUnited Kingdom 69.319.6%4.3×26 +21.9%
6Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom 67.135.2%9.9×14 -25.1%
7Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 63.424.5%6.0×16 +35.7%
8University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 63.219.2%4.4×23 -10.3%
9University of Cape TownSouth Africa 56.023.2%10.1×13 +4.4%
10Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaSpain 54.317.5%5.1×12 +37.1%

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 Water Governance and Infrastructure, country by country

Is Water Governance and Infrastructure research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 23% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Water Governance and Infrastructure.

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 Water Governance and Infrastructure as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.016% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Water Governance and Infrastructure0.018% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Water Governance and Infrastructure 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%Water Governance and Infrastructure10.3% 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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