Advanced composites
Fibre-reinforced and ceramic-matrix materials that are light and strong.
China leads advanced composites research, with 50.8% of the 10% most cited papers published 2021–2025; the United States is second with 6.0%.
Added 14 October 2026. Its top papers were checked for relevance by AI, but its keywords and topic list have not yet been reviewed by hand.
Standings
Share of the 10% most cited papers, 2021–2025; 1,062 papers. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method
Year by year
China
Everyone else, on a larger scale
Share of the 10% most cited papers published in each year. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method
Inside the field
Always the top 10%PilotEach paper sorted into one sub-area by an AI model reading its title and abstract, then credited as usual. On 200 hand-labelled papers it chose the same sub-area, or a defensible second, 92% of the time.
| Sub-area | Papers | First | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing and processing (curing, moulding, 3D printing) | 266 | CNChina39.0% | USUnited States9.1% | GBUnited Kingdom6.9% |
| Mechanical properties, damage and failure modelling | 200 | CNChina51.4% | GBUnited Kingdom9.0% | INIndia4.9% |
| Recycling and thermoplastic composites | 144 | CNChina42.6% | USUnited States8.8% | AUAustralia6.4% |
| Fibre-matrix interfaces and surface treatment | 134 | CNChina62.6% | INIndia6.5% | USUnited States4.6% |
| Ceramic-matrix and carbon/carbon composites | 109 | CNChina77.3% | USUnited States4.8% | INIndia3.7% |
| Structural health monitoring and non-destructive testing | 78 | CNChina48.8% | GBUnited Kingdom8.5% | ITItaly6.2% |
| Impact, crash and ballistic performance | 60 | CNChina61.7% | TRTurkey6.3% | GBUnited Kingdom4.5% |
| Nanofiller-reinforced composites (graphene, nanotubes) | 26 | CNChina45.3% | TRTurkey13.2% | USUnited States4.8% |
| Multifunctional composites (shielding, sensing, energy) | 14 | CNChina55.0% | USUnited States11.1% | TRTurkey10.7% |
| Natural-fibre and bio-based composites | 9 | CNChina46.8% | INIndia13.6% | TRTurkey11.1% |
Share of each sub-area's papers in the top 10%. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method
Earlier and recent
The same top 10%, split into 2021–2023 and 2024–2025.
Share of the 10% most cited papers: 563 papers in 2021–2023, 499 in 2024–2025. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method
2026 so far: a different count
Not the most cited papers: every 2026 paper matched so far (2,498), and a paper counts in full for each country on it. This year's papers are too new to rank by citations, so these shares cannot be compared with the ones above.
- CNChina54.2%of 2026 papers have an author here
- INIndia7.7%of 2026 papers have an author here
- USUnited States4.7%of 2026 papers have an author here
- GBUnited Kingdom3.8%of 2026 papers have an author here
- TRTurkey3.8%of 2026 papers have an author here
Who cites the top papers
How much more often a country's top papers are cited from home than its size predicts. Expected is the country's share of all papers in the field; the bar is the excess, in percentage points. Home citers include authors citing their own earlier work.
Based on up to 100 of each country's most cited single-country papers in the top 10%. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method
Behind the share
Institutions with the most credit
- 1CNNorthwestern Polytechnical University3.6%
- 2CNHarbin Institute of Technology3.1%
- 3CNDalian University of Technology1.8%
- 4CNNanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics1.4%
- 5CNHunan University1.1%
- 6CNMinistry of Industry and Information TechnologyGovernment lab1.1%
- 7CNXi'an Jiaotong University1.1%
- 8CNChinese Academy of SciencesGovernment lab1.1%
- 9CNBeihang University1.1%
- 10CNBeijing Institute of Technology1.0%
Share of the top 10%. Institutions across all 45 technologies
Who does the work
| Sector | All | CN | US | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Universities | 85.5% | 85.9% | 76.3% | 96.7% |
| Research facilities | 8.6% | 6.8% | 17.4% | 1.0% |
| Government labs | 3.2% | 5.3% | 0.6% | 0.4% |
| Companies | 1.9% | 1.9% | 3.0% | 1.5% |
Share of credit by type of institution, overall and for the three leading countries.
Across borders
24.5% of the top 10% have authors in more than one country.
- CNGBChina with United Kingdom41
- AUCNAustralia with China34
- CNUSChina with United States18
- CNHKChina with Hong Kong13
- CNPTChina with Portugal13
Most frequent pairings, by number of shared papers.
The papers behind the numbers
The five most cited papers this definition catches. If one looks out of place, the definition needs work.
- Past, present and future prospective of global carbon fibre composite developments and applicationsComposites Part B Engineering, 20221,030citations
- Recent advances of interphases in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites: A reviewComposites Part B Engineering, 2022CN799citations
- Advances in modifications and high-temperature applications of silicon carbide ceramic matrix composites in aerospace: A focused reviewJournal of the European Ceramic Society, 2021CN494citations
- Manufacturing Technologies of Carbon/Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites and Their Properties: A ReviewPolymers, 2021RO480citations
- Characterization of interfacial properties between fibre and polymer matrix in composite materials – A critical reviewJournal of Materials Research and Technology, 2021DE398citations
More in materials and manufacturing
- Additive manufacturingChina leads
- Critical minerals processingChina leads
- MetamaterialsChina leads
- Magnets and superconductorsChina leads
The most technologically advanced countries, and is China ahead of the US?
How this technology is defined
A paper counts if its title or abstract matches the search below. Articles in core journals and proceedings only; retracted papers are excluded.
"carbon fiber reinforced" OR "carbon fibre reinforced" OR "ceramic matrix composite" OR "fiber-reinforced polymer" OR "fibre-reinforced polymer" OR CFRPand its main topic in OpenAlex is one of: Mechanical Behavior of Composites; Fiber-reinforced polymer composites; Advanced machining processes and optimization; Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies; Advanced ceramic materials synthesis; Composite Structure Analysis and Optimization; Epoxy Resin Curing Processes; Composite Material Mechanics; Thermography and Photoacoustic Techniques; Ultrasonics and Acoustic Wave Propagation; Polymer composites and self-healing. The topic check removes papers that only mention the technology.
- Papers matched, 2021–2025
- 10,591
- In the top 10%
- 1,062
- In the top 1%
- 109
- Countries with credit
- 68
- Credit with no known country
- 4.0%
Every one of the 1,247 most cited papers was checked for relevance; 7 were left out as not about advanced composites
The most cited of those left out:
- Additive Manufacturing: A Comprehensive Review605 citations
- Improvement of machinability of Ti and its alloys using cooling-lubrication techniques: a review and future prospect241 citations
- Digital light processing of ceramics: an overview on process, materials and challenges70 citations
- Study on the surface formation mechanism in scratching test with different ultrasonic vibration forms58 citations
- Densification mechanism, microstructure and mechanical properties of ZrC ceramics prepared by high-pressure spark plasma sintering51 citations
- Modelling nonlinear shear creep behaviour of a structural adhesive using deep neural networks (DNN)30 citations
- Development of self-healed, thermoformable, and fracture resistance epoxy nanocomposites added with disulfide bond grafted TiO2 nanoparticles16 citations
Definition version 0.5, pilot. It is a plain text file: copy it, change it, rerun it.