World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Physical Geography
H-index 11

Physical Geography

0272-3646

Published by: Taylor & Francis

https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tphy20/current

Ranking & Metrics

Discipline name Position Best Scientists Publications D-Index
Earth Science 404 23 24 8
Environmental Sciences 638 20 15 6

Additional Metrics

Number of Best Scientists*: 47
Documents by Best Scientists*: 42
Top 100 Ranked Scientists*: 1
SCIMAGO H-index: 49
SCIMAGO SJR: 0.443
Impact Factor: 1.4

Overview

Top Research Topics at Physical Geography?

The journal was organized to reinforce research efforts on Hydrology, Climatology, Geomorphology, Precipitation and Physical geography. Physical Geography focuses on Hydrology research which is adjacent to topics in Sediment. Climatology research featured in it incorporates concerns from various other topics such as Storm, Period (geology), Climate change, Atmospheric sciences and Snow.

The study on Geomorphology presented in Physical Geography intersects with subjects under the field of Geochemistry. The research on Drainage basin discussed in the journal draws on the closely related field of Structural basin.

  • Hydrology (27.70%)
  • Climatology (22.79%)
  • Geomorphology (13.93%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

  • ON THE VALIDATION OF MODELS (2979 citations)
  • THE TOPOGRAPHIC RELATIVE MOISTURE INDEX: AN APPROACH TO SOIL-MOISTURE ASSESSMENT IN MOUNTAIN TERRAIN (231 citations)
  • DYNAMICS AND CONTROLS OF THE NEAR-SURFACE HEAT ISLAND OF VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA (157 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Physical Geography:

The most cited papers are organized to address concerns in the fields of Hydrology, Climatology, Ecology, Physical geography and Precipitation. The most cited articles feature Hydrology research that overlaps with concepts in Sediment. The journal papers focus on Climatology but sometimes tackle the closely related topic of Atmospheric sciences which is concerned with Meteorology.

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

  • Ecology
  • Climate change
  • Erosion

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

The main points discussed in Physical Geography deals with Physical geography, Drainage basin, Geomorphology, Hydrology and Oceanography. The journal focuses on Physical geography but the discussions also offer insight into other areas such as Range (biology), Sand dune stabilization, Precipitation, Holocene and Loess. The overlapping concepts between Sedimentary rock and Flood myth are the key highlights of Precipitation study.

The journal explores themes in Geomorphology like Terrace (geology) and links them with other fields of study like Channel (broadcasting), Frequency ratio, Transient (oscillation) and Critical transition. Topics in Hydrology explored in the journal were investigated in conjunction with research in Sediment and Forest ecology. Issues in Synoptic climatology were discussed, taking into consideration concepts from other disciplines like Snow and Climatology.

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

  • CFD flow dynamics over model scarps and slopes (9 citations)
  • The geomorphic landscape of the Barva volcano, Costa Rica (7 citations)
  • Can ecological restoration improve soil properties and plant growth in valley-slope sand dunes on southern Tibetan Plateau? (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 Physical Geography (based on the number of publications) are:

  • David Butler (26 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • George P. Malanson (21 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Carol P. Harden (15 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Stanley A. Changnon (15 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Antony R. Orme (14 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 Physical Geography (based on the number of publications) are:

  • University of Georgia (56 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Arizona State University (41 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition,
  • Michigan State University (34 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition,
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (27 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition,
  • University of Tennessee (27 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition, 2 less 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, 8.93% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 13.73% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 1.96% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 13.73% of all publications and 70.59% 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

  • CFD flow dynamics over model scarps and slopes

    Patrick A. Hesp;Thomas A.G. Smyth

    (2021)
    41 Citations
  • Quantitative assessment of landslide susceptibility on the Loess Plateau in China

    Shuyue Ma;Haijun Qiu;Sheng Hu;Yanqian Pei

    (2020)
    26 Citations
  • Determining C- and P-factors of RUSLE for different land uses and management practices across agro-ecologies: case studies from the Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia

    Birhanu Kebede;Atsushi Tsunekawa;Nigussie Haregeweyn;Enyew Adgo

    (2021)
    26 Citations
  • A rain on snow climatology and temporal analysis for the eastern United States

    Lori J. Wachowicz;Thomas L. Mote;Gina R. Henderson

    (2020)
    19 Citations
  • A review of recent studies on landslide hazard in Latin America

    Alejandro César Valdés Carrera;Manuel E. Mendoza;Teodoro Carlón Allende;José Luis Macías

    (2021)
    16 Citations
  • Coupled impact of decadal precipitation and evapotranspiration on peatland degradation in the Zoige basin, China

    Zhiwei Li;Zhiwei Li;Peng Gao;Xuyue Hu;Yujun Yi

    (2020)
    16 Citations
  • Periglacial landforms and soil formation on summit of the Mount lda (Kaz Dağı), Biga Peninsula-Turkey

    (2022)
    13 Citations
  • Size and spatial distribution of loess slides on the Chinese Loess Plateau

    Haijun Qiu;Sheng Hu;Xingang Wang;Dongdong Yang

    (2020)
    12 Citations
  • Morpho-tectonic assessment of Central Northern escarpment of Peninsular India, based on tectonically sensitive geomorphic indices

    Sandeep Kumar Yadav;Sudhir Kumar Singh

    (2021)
    12 Citations
  • Landslide detection in Kinnaur Valley, NW India using PS-InSAR technique

    (2023)
    11 Citations

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