World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Ecosystem Services
H-index 48

Ecosystem Services

Ranking & Metrics

Discipline name Position Best Scientists Publications D-Index
Ecology and Evolution 44 199 198 41
Environmental Sciences 115 82 97 33

Additional Metrics

Number of Best Scientists*: 346
Documents by Best Scientists*: 309
Top 100 Ranked Scientists*: 19
SCIMAGO H-index: 125
SCIMAGO SJR: 2.065
Impact Factor: 6.6

Overview

Top Research Topics at Ecosystem services?

The main points discussed in the journal deals with Ecosystem services, Environmental resource management, Ecosystem, Valuation (finance) and Environmental planning. The studies in Ecosystem services featured incorporate elements of Biodiversity, Land use, Natural resource economics, Recreation and Sustainability. The journal centers on topics in Land use, with a focus on Land use, land-use change and forestry.

Ecosystem services explores topics in Environmental resource management which can be helpful for research in disciplines like Ecosystem valuation, Ecosystem health, Corporate governance and Ecosystem management. It covers Ecosystem research under the subject of Ecology. It dives deep in exploring the relationship between the study of Environmental planning and Context (language use).

  • Ecosystem services (97.57%)
  • Environmental resource management (46.62%)
  • Ecosystem (17.62%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

  • Global estimates of the value of ecosystems and their services in monetary units (1189 citations)
  • Twenty years of ecosystem services: How far have we come and how far do we still need to go? (821 citations)
  • Mapping ecosystem services for policy support and decision making in the European Union (594 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Ecosystem services:

The published articles are organized to address concerns in the fields of Ecosystem services, Environmental resource management, Valuation (finance), Ecosystem and Land use. The most cited papers feature studies on Ecosystem services, including topics such as Ecosystem valuation. In addition to Environmental resource management research, the most cited papers aim to explore topics under Urban planning, Urban ecosystem, Ecosystem management and Ecosystem health.

What topics the last edition of the journal is best known for?

  • Law
  • Ecology
  • China

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

The journal primarily focuses on research topics in Ecosystem services, Environmental planning, Environmental resource management, Ecosystem and Provisioning. In addition to Ecosystem services research, Ecosystem services aims to explore topics under Context (language use), Biodiversity, Land use, Natural resource economics and Recreation. It focuses on Natural resource economics but sometimes tackles the closely related topic of Natural capital which is concerned with Capital (economics).

Some problems in Environmental planning that were presented in Ecosystem services overlapped with concepts under Corporate governance, Urban planning, Sustainability, Sustainable management and Valuation (finance). Environmental resource management research presented in Ecosystem services encompasses a variety of subjects, including Coral reef, Climate change, Forest ecology and Ecosystem management. The studies on Ecosystem discussed can also contribute to research in the domains of Biosphere and Service (business).

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

  • Challenges and opportunities to scale up sustainable finance after the COVID-19 crisis: Lessons and promising innovations from science and practice (7 citations)
  • Economic appraisal of ecosystem services and restoration scenarios in a tropical coastal Ramsar wetland in India (6 citations)
  • Nature’s contribution to people as a framework for examining socioecological systems: The case of pastoral systems (5 citations)

Papers citation over time

A key indicator for each journal is its effectiveness in reaching other researchers with the papers published at that venue.

The chart below presents the interquartile range (first quartile 25%, median 50% and third quartile 75%) of the number of citations of articles over time.

The top authors publishing in Ecosystem services (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Robert Costanza (22 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition the same number as at the previous edition,
  • Joachim Maes (22 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 2 more than at the previous edition,
  • David N. Barton (18 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition,
  • Mark Everard (17 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Jasper O. Kenter (17 papers) absent at the last edition.

The overall trend for top authors publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top authors.

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

The top affiliations publishing in Ecosystem services (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Wageningen University and Research Centre (63 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 5 less than at the previous edition,
  • Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ (56 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition the same number as at the previous edition,
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (45 papers) published 10 papers at the last edition the same number as at the previous edition,
  • Australian National University (31 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 2 less than at the previous edition,
  • Finnish Environment Institute (28 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition, 1 more than at the previous edition.

The overall trend for top affiliations publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top affiliations.

Publication chance based on affiliation

The publication chance index shows the ratio of articles published by the best research institutions in the journal edition to all articles published within that journal. The best research institutions were selected based on the largest number of articles published during all editions of the journal.

The chart below presents the percentage ratio of articles from top institutions (based on their ranking of total papers).Top affiliations were grouped by their rank into the following tiers: top 1-10, top 11-20, top 21-50, and top 51+. Only articles with a recognized affiliation are considered.

During the most recent 2021 edition, 6.85% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 17.65% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 11.03% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 16.18% of all publications and 55.15% were from other institutions.

Returning Authors Index

A very common phenomenon observed among researchers publishing scientific articles is the intentional selection of journals they have already attended in the past. In particular, it is worth analyzing the case when the authors participate in the same journal from year to year.

The Returning Authors Index presented below illustrates the ratio of authors who participated in both a given as well as the previous edition of the journal in relation to all participants in a given year.

Returning Institution Index

The graph below shows the Returning Institution Index, illustrating the ratio of institutions that participated in both a given and the previous edition of the conference in relation to all affiliations present in a given year.

The experience to innovation index

Our experience to innovation index was created to show a cross-section of the experience level of authors publishing in a journal. The index includes the authors publishing at the last edition of a journal, grouped by total number of publications throughout their academic career (P) and the total number of citations of these publications ever received (C).

The group intervals were selected empirically to best show the diversity of the authors' experiences, their labels were selected as a convenience, not as judgment. The authors were divided into the following groups:

  • Novice - P < 5 or C < 25 (the number of publications less than 5 or the number of citations less than 25),
  • Competent - P < 10 or C < 100 (the number of publications less than 10 or the number of citations less than 100),
  • Experienced - P < 25 or C < 625 (the number of publications less than 25 or the number of citations less than 625),
  • Master - P < 50 or C < 2500 (the number of publications less than 50 or the number of citations less than 2500),
  • Star - P ≥ 50 and C ≥ 2500 (both the number of publications greater than 50 and the number of citations greater than 2500).

The chart below illustrates experience levels of first authors in cases of publications with multiple authors.

Top Publications

  • Valuing natural capital and ecosystem services toward the goals of efficiency, fairness, and sustainability

    Robert Costanza

    (2020)
    269 Citations
  • Ecosystem service value of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau significantly increased during 25 years

    Unknown

    (2020)
    231 Citations
  • A review of studies assessing ecosystem services provided by urban green and blue infrastructure

    Clara J. Veerkamp;Clara J. Veerkamp;Aafke M. Schipper;Aafke M. Schipper;Katarina Hedlund;Tanya Lazarova

    (2021)
    200 Citations
  • Ecosystem services supply and demand response to urbanization: A case study of the Pearl River Delta, China

    Zimo Zhang;Jian Peng;Zihan Xu;Xiaoyu Wang

    (2021)
    189 Citations
  • Urbanization impact on the supply-demand budget of ecosystem services: Decoupling analysis

    Jian Peng;Xiaoyu Wang;Yanxu Liu;Yan Zhao

    (2020)
    173 Citations
  • Impacts of rural tourism-driven land use change on ecosystems services provision in Erhai Lake Basin, China.

    Jinghui Li;Yang Bai;Yang Bai;Juha M. Alatalo;Juha M. Alatalo

    (2020)
    166 Citations
  • What is Climate-Smart Forestry? A definition from a multinational collaborative process focused on mountain regions of Europe

    Euan Bowditch;Giovanni Santopuoli;Franz Binder;Miren del Río

    (2020)
    161 Citations
  • Ecosystem services of Earth’s largest freshwater lakes

    Robert W. Sterner;Bonnie Keeler;Stephen Polasky;Rajendra Poudel

    (2020)
    158 Citations
  • Distinguishing the impacts of land use and climate change on ecosystem services in a karst landscape in China

    Jian Peng;Lu Tian;Zimo Zhang;Yan Zhao

    (2020)
    154 Citations
  • Sustainable growth of non-fed aquaculture can generate valuable ecosystem benefits

    Unknown

    (2022)
    145 Citations

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