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Topic · Ocean Engineering

Water resources management and optimization

Water resources management and optimization is a research topic within Ocean Engineering. Science Explorer counts 38k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the optimal operation and management of water resources systems, addressing challenges such as reservoir operation, water demand forecasting, climate change impacts, sustainability, hydro-economic modeling, urbanization effects, system dynamics applications, robust decision making, and groundwater management.

  • Water Resources
  • Reservoir Operation
  • Water Demand
  • Climate Change
  • Sustainability
  • Hydro-Economic Models
  • Urbanization
  • System Dynamics
  • Robust Decision Making
  • Groundwater Management
Research works
38k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
30% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Water resources management and optimization

Which countries lead Water resources management and optimization research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (1.4k and 981 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.4k works
  2. 2 India 981 works
  3. 3 United States 958 works
  4. 4 Iran 294 works
  5. 5 Brazil 224 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 214 works
  7. 7 Spain 198 works
  8. 8 Australia 186 works
  9. 9 Indonesia 162 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 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.

China: 29.8%India: 20.4%United States: 19.9%Iran: 6.1%6 others listed: 23.7%30%largest
China1,432 · 29.8%India981 · 20.4%United States958 · 19.9%Iran294 · 6.1%6 others listed1,140 · 23.7%

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

Which institutions lead Water resources management and optimization research?

By volume in 2022-now, Hohai University publishes the most Water resources management and optimization research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Hohai UniversityChina 95 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 79 works
  3. 3 Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of ChinaChina 49 works
  4. 4 China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower ResearchChina 45 works
  5. 5 University of TehranIran 44 works
  6. 6 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 35 works
  7. 7 Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndia 34 works
  8. 8 North China University of Water Resources and Electric PowerChina 30 works
  9. 9 Wuhan UniversityChina 30 works
  10. 10 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 29 works

Who are the leading researchers in Water resources management and optimization?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Water resources management and optimization include Martin McKee, Xiaogang Wang and Philippe Ciais.

  1. 1 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  2. 2 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  3. 3 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  4. 4 Guangming Zeng China 204k citations
  5. 5 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations
  6. 6 Edward Hartley Sargent Canada 185k citations
  7. 7 Carl Folke Sweden 182k 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 resources management and optimization?

The most cited paper in Water resources management and optimization is "The use of the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) in the delineation of open water features" (Stuart K. McFeeters, 1996), with 7,778 citations. Next come "Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity" (7,637) and "Long-Term Storage Capacity of Reservoirs" (6,327).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The use of the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) in the delineation of open water features Stuart K. McFeeters · International Journal of Remote Sensing May 1996 7,778
2 Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity Charles J. Vörösmarty, Peter B. McIntyre, Mark O. Gessner et al. · Nature Open access 28 Sep 2010 7,637
3 Long-Term Storage Capacity of Reservoirs H. E. Hurst · Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers 1951 6,327
4 Risk Aversion and Incentive Effects Charles A. Holt, Susan K. Laury · American Economic Review Nov 2002 5,826
5 Four billion people facing severe water scarcity Mesfin Mergia Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra · Science Advances Open access 5 Feb 2016 5,528
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Water resources management and optimization research done?

The largest centres of Water resources management and optimization research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Tehran (Iran) and Wuhan (China). 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 BeijingChina 354 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 156 works
  3. 3 TehranIran 144 works
  4. 4 WuhanChina 104 works
  5. 5 ZhengzhouChina 83 works
  6. 6 New DelhiIndia 73 works
  7. 7 Xi'anChina 57 works
  8. 8 DelftNetherlands 51 works
  9. 9 LondonUnited Kingdom 50 works
  10. 10 Washington D.C.United States 50 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. WageningenNL · 27.6 works9.4×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Water resources management and optimization than the world average.

See Water resources management and optimization on the map

Where is the best place to study Water resources management and optimization?

Among universities, judged by research, Wageningen University & Research, Northwest A&F University and Hohai 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%mean 22.84%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northwest A&F Univer…Tarbiat Modares Univ…Wageningen Universit…Hohai 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
1Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 67.421.3%11.3×27 +2.7%
2Northwest A&F UniversityChina 67.426.4%6.7×17 +71.6%
3Hohai UniversityChina 66.617.4%24.2×95 +1.8%
4Tarbiat Modares UniversityIran 62.425.6%10.9×21 +4.6%
5Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 60.020.3%2.6×13 +11.3%
6University of TehranIran 59.319.0%11.3×44 -36.2%
7University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 59.032.9%1.6×17 -4.3%
8China Three Gorges UniversityChina 55.630.1%7.0×10 +31.4%
9Beijing Normal UniversityChina 54.922.4%5.5×29 -26.9%
10IHE Delft Institute for Water EducationNetherlands 53.213.0%80.7×21 -30.6%

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 Water resources management and optimization, country by country

Is Water resources management and optimization research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

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 resources management and optimization as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.035% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Water resources management and optimization0.028% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Water resources management and optimization 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 resources management and optimization10.5% 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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