6G and advanced wireless

The next generation of mobile networks: terahertz links, smart surfaces and massive antenna arrays.

China leads 6G and advanced wireless research, with 39.9% of the 10% most cited papers published 2021–2025; the United Kingdom is second with 9.0%.

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.

FirstChina39.9%

SecondUnited Kingdom9.0%

4.4×lead, by share of the 10% most cited papers, 2021–2025

Highlight a country

Standings

1CNChina39.9%2GBUnited Kingdom9.0%3USUnited States6.2%4CACanada3.8%5SGSingapore3.2%6KRSouth Korea3.0%7INIndia2.5%8SASaudi Arabia2.3%9–10HKHong Kong2.2%9–10DEGermany2.2%

Share of the 10% most cited papers, 2021–2025; 1,351 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%Pilot

Each 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
Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces	401	CNChina42.0%	GBUnited Kingdom12.1%	SGSingapore4.7%
Integrated sensing and communication	257	CNChina56.9%	GBUnited Kingdom6.9%	USUnited States5.3%
AI, semantic communication and network intelligence	142	CNChina33.1%	USUnited States7.0%	CACanada6.5%
Non-terrestrial networks (satellite, aerial, space-air-ground)	136	CNChina45.6%	USUnited States6.0%	GBUnited Kingdom5.6%
6G visions, architectures, Open RAN and IoT surveys	128	CNChina19.4%	USUnited States12.8%	GBUnited Kingdom7.3%
Massive, cell-free and near-field MIMO	102	CNChina43.1%	GBUnited Kingdom8.8%	SESweden6.3%
Terahertz and millimetre-wave communication	81	CNChina30.3%	USUnited States11.0%	INIndia7.3%
Multiple access and waveforms (NOMA, OTFS, rate-splitting)	53	CNChina29.2%	GBUnited Kingdom19.3%	TWTaiwan6.0%

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.

FallingRising2021–20232024–2025Change

CNChina 39.5%40.1%+0.6 pts

GBUnited Kingdom 10.6%7.8%−2.8 pts

USUnited States 6.7%5.7%−1.0 pts

CACanada 4.2%3.5%−0.7 pts

SGSingapore 2.4%3.8%+1.4 pts

KRSouth Korea 2.7%3.3%+0.6 pts

INIndia 1.2%3.5%+2.3 pts

SASaudi Arabia 1.6%2.9%+1.3 pts

Share of the 10% most cited papers: 578 papers in 2021–2023, 773 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 (3,393), 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.

CNChina44.7%of 2026 papers have an author here
GBUnited Kingdom11.0%of 2026 papers have an author here
INIndia10.2%of 2026 papers have an author here
USUnited States7.9%of 2026 papers have an author here
KRSouth Korea6.3%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.

HomeExpectedExcess

CNChina 63.2%50.4%+12.8

GBUnited Kingdom 20.3%12.7%+7.6

USUnited States 17.6%9.9%+7.7

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

1CNSoutheast University4.2%
2CNBeijing University of Posts and Telecommunications2.8%
3SGNanyang Technological University2.2%
4CNTsinghua University2.0%
5GBQueen Mary University of London1.6%
6CNXidian University1.5%
7CNUniversity of Electronic Science and Technology of China1.4%
8CNZhejiang University1.4%
9GBImperial College London1.3%
10CNBeijing Jiaotong University1.3%

Share of the top 10%. Institutions across all 45 technologies

Who does the work

Sector	All	CN	GB	US
Universities	88.5%	87.7%	97.4%	89.0%
Research facilities	6.0%	8.1%	0%	0.2%
Companies	3.8%	3.4%	2.6%	8.5%
Government labs	0.9%	0.7%	0%	2.0%

Share of credit by type of institution, overall and for the three leading countries.

Across borders

68.3% of the top 10% have authors in more than one country.

CNGBChina with United Kingdom193
CNSGChina with Singapore141
CNUSChina with United States124
CNHKChina with Hong Kong80
CACNCanada with China77

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.

Integrated Sensing and Communications: Toward Dual-Functional Wireless Networks for 6G and Beyond
IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 2022CNGBHKILIT
3,795citations
On the Road to 6G: Visions, Requirements, Key Technologies, and Testbeds
IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 2023CACNFRGBSEUS
2,338citations
Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces: Principles and Opportunities
IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 2021CNFRGBUS
1,854citations
The Road Towards 6G: A Comprehensive Survey
IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, 2021DE
1,723citations
6G Wireless Systems: Vision, Requirements, Challenges, Insights, and Opportunities
Proceedings of the IEEE, 2021GBSEUS
1,553citations

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.

6G OR "terahertz communication" OR "millimeter wave communication" OR "reconfigurable intelligent surface" OR "massive MIMO" OR "integrated sensing and communication"

and its main topic in OpenAlex is one of: Advanced Wireless Communication Technologies; Advanced MIMO Systems Optimization; Millimeter-Wave Propagation and Modeling; Software-Defined Networks and 5G; Antenna Design and Analysis; Satellite Communication Systems; Wireless Communication Security Techniques; Advanced Antenna and Metasurface Technologies; Advanced Wireless Communication Techniques; PAPR reduction in OFDM; Cognitive Radio Networks and Spectrum Sensing; Optical Wireless Communication Technologies; Radar Systems and Signal Processing. The topic check removes papers that only mention the technology.

Papers matched, 2021–2025: 13,485
In the top 10%: 1,351
In the top 1%: 138
Countries with credit: 80
Credit with no known country: 2.2%

Every one of the 1,668 most cited papers was checked for relevance; 22 were left out as not about 6g and advanced wireless

The most cited of those left out:

Satellite-based communications security: A survey of threats, solutions, and research challenges176 citations
Recent Progress of Air/Water Cross-Boundary Communications for Underwater Sensor Networks: A Review152 citations
A Survey on In-Network Computing: Programmable Data Plane and Technology Specific Applications146 citations
Visible Light Positioning as a Next-Generation Indoor Positioning Technology: A Tutorial118 citations
eBPF: A New Approach to Cloud-Native Observability, Networking and Security for Current (5G) and Future Mobile Networks (6G and Beyond)71 citations
Secure Integrated Sensing and Communication68 citations
Flexible 2 × 2 multiple access visible light communication system based on an integrated parallel GaN/InGaN micro-photodetector array module57 citations
Enhancing Network Slicing Security: Machine Learning, Software-Defined Networking, and Network Functions Virtualization-Driven Strategies55 citations
AI-Driven 5G Network Optimization: A Comprehensive Review of Resource Allocation, Traffic Management, and Dynamic Network Slicing54 citations
Physical Layer Security for NOMA Systems: Requirements, Issues, and Recommendations53 citations
Optimization Algorithms in SDN: Routing, Load Balancing, and Delay Optimization49 citations
Advancing 6G Network Performance: AI/ML Framework for Proactive Management and Dynamic Optimal Routing48 citations

Definition version 0.5, pilot. It is a plain text file: copy it, change it, rerun it.

Read the method