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Quantum communication

Sending information secured by quantum physics: key distribution, repeaters and quantum networks.

China leads quantum communication research, with 28.9% of the 10% most cited papers published 2021–2025; the United States is second with 14.1%.

CN
FirstChina28.9%
US
SecondUnited States14.1%
2.1×lead, by share of the 10% most cited papers, 2021–2025

Standings

1CNChina28.9%2USUnited States14.1%3DEGermany7.6%4GBUnited Kingdom5.5%5ITItaly3.6%6–8ESSpain3.3%6–8ATAustria3.2%6–8INIndia3.1%9–10FRFrance2.5%9–10NLNetherlands2.5%

Share of the 10% most cited papers, 2021–2025; 586 papers. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method

Year by year

010203040% 20212022202320242025 China 27.5%United States 13.7%Italy 5.8%United Kingdom 4.6%Spain 4.5%Germany 4.3%

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-areaPapersFirstSecondThird
Quantum network architecture, routing and protocols89CNChina30.5%USUnited States18.5%ITItaly9.0%
Entanglement distribution, repeaters and network nodes75USUnited States27.8%CNChina26.7%DEGermany17.3%
Quantum light sources and photonic chips64CNChina21.0%DEGermany16.1%USUnited States12.4%
Fibre-based quantum key distribution (twin-field, MDI)60CNChina48.0%USUnited States7.7%GBUnited Kingdom6.9%
QKD security proofs, attacks and device-independent QKD48CNChina28.5%ESSpain8.5%INIndia7.5%
Continuous-variable quantum key distribution44CNChina35.0%FRFrance11.2%DKDenmark9.0%
Quantum memories35CNChina31.8%USUnited States13.0%ESSpain11.2%
Satellite and free-space quantum communication34CNChina15.4%GBUnited Kingdom13.8%DEGermany11.7%

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 31.0%26.5%−4.5 pts
USUnited States 13.2%15.0%+1.8 pts
DEGermany 8.8%6.2%−2.6 pts
GBUnited Kingdom 5.5%5.6%+0.1 pts
ITItaly 3.3%4.0%+0.8 pts
ESSpain 2.4%4.2%+1.8 pts
ATAustria 4.1%2.1%−2.0 pts
INIndia 2.4%4.0%+1.5 pts

Share of the 10% most cited papers: 312 papers in 2021–2023, 274 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 (1,255), 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.

  1. CNChina33.9%of 2026 papers have an author here
  2. USUnited States11.6%of 2026 papers have an author here
  3. INIndia8.6%of 2026 papers have an author here
  4. DEGermany6.7%of 2026 papers have an author here
  5. ITItaly5.3%of 2026 papers have an author here

With home citations removed

Home bias removed

Removes only the home citations above what the country's share of the field predicts. This is the fair test.

All citationsBias removedAll citationsBias removed
CNChina 28.9%28.7%
USUnited States 14.1%12.2%
DEGermany 7.6%7.5%
GBUnited Kingdom 5.5%5.2%
ITItaly 3.6%3.6%
ESSpain 3.3%3.2%

Every home citation removed

Removes all citations from a paper's own countries. A country that writes most of a field loses most, whatever its habits.

All citationsForeign onlyAll citationsForeign only
CNChina 28.9%17.1%
USUnited States 14.1%12.4%
DEGermany 7.6%7.5%
GBUnited Kingdom 5.5%6.5%
ITItaly 3.6%4.7%
ESSpain 3.3%3.5%

Share of the 10% most cited papers, 2021–2025; 586 papers in each version; both panels on the same scale. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method

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 56.0%38.9%+17.1
USUnited States 41.3%12.8%+28.5
DEGermany 34.3%7.1%+27.2
GBUnited Kingdom 32.9%6.1%+26.8
ITItaly 29.3%4.3%+25.0
ESSpain 26.4%3.8%+22.6
ATAustria 28.6%2.6%+26.0
INIndia 43.2%7.1%+36.1

Every paper in the top 10%, counted once per citing paper. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method

Behind the share

Institutions with the most credit

  1. 1CNUniversity of Science and Technology of China5.5%
  2. 2CNTsinghua University1.4%
  3. 3CNNanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications1.4%
  4. 4GBUniversity of Strathclyde1.3%
  5. 5CNCAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, USTCResearch facility1.3%
  6. 6DKTechnical University of Denmark1.2%
  7. 7CNNanjing University1.1%
  8. 8DEMax Planck Institute of Quantum OpticsResearch facility1.1%
  9. 9USMassachusetts Institute of Technology1.1%
  10. 10NLDelft University of Technology0.9%

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

Who does the work

SectorAllCNUSDE
Universities73.6%
73.0%
77.8%
62.8%
Research facilities18.3%
20.4%
11.3%
32.2%
Government labs3.8%
4.0%
4.6%
0.4%
Companies2.9%
2.6%
5.9%
2.7%

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

Across borders

40.3% of the top 10% have authors in more than one country.

  1. ATDEAustria with Germany13
  2. DEUSGermany with United States12
  3. CNUSChina with United States12
  4. DEESGermany with Spain12
  5. NLUSNetherlands with United States11

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.

  1. 1,040citations
  2. 694citations
  3. 557citations
  4. 535citations
  5. 505citations

More in quantum

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.

"quantum key distribution" OR "quantum communication" OR "quantum network" OR "quantum repeater" OR "quantum teleportation" OR "quantum internet"

and its main topic in OpenAlex is one of: Quantum Information and Cryptography; Quantum optics and atomic interactions; Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture; Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Devices; Optical Wireless Communication Technologies; Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics. The topic check removes papers that only mention the technology.

Papers matched, 2021–2025
5,848
In the top 10%
586
In the top 1%
61
Countries with credit
57
Credit with no known country
6.3%
Every one of the 764 most cited papers was checked for relevance; 61 were left out as not about quantum communication

The most cited of those left out:

  • Orbital angular momentum of light for communications412 citations
  • A versatile single-photon-based quantum computing platform247 citations
  • Loophole-free Bell inequality violation with superconducting circuits218 citations
  • A Molecular Approach to Quantum Sensing213 citations
  • Experimental quantum speed-up in reinforcement learning agents169 citations
  • Chiral quantum optics with giant atoms118 citations
  • One decade of quantum optimal control in the chopped random basis108 citations
  • Information security in the post quantum era for 5G and beyond networks: Threats to existing cryptography, and post-quantum cryptography104 citations
  • A roadmap from classical cryptography to post-quantum resistant cryptography for 5G-enabled IoT: Challenges, opportunities and solutions102 citations
  • Resonance Fluorescence of a Chiral Artificial Atom97 citations
  • Hybrid classical–quantum Convolutional Neural Network for stenosis detection in X-ray coronary angiography95 citations
  • Technological trajectories in quantum computing to design a quantum ecosystem for industrial change93 citations

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

Read the method