Synthetic biology
Engineering cells and microbes to make chemicals, materials and medicines.
China leads synthetic biology research, with 45.7% of the 10% most cited papers published 2021–2025; the United States is second with 15.0%.
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; 634 papers. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method
Year by year
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amino acids, bulk chemicals, biofuels and plastic upcycling | 98 | CNChina60.6% | USUnited States10.1% | INIndia6.2% |
| Plant natural products and other specialised metabolites | 91 | CNChina58.8% | USUnited States7.0% | DEGermany6.7% |
| Host organisms and chassis development (no single product) | 89 | CNChina42.9% | USUnited States16.1% | DEGermany5.2% |
| Terpenoids and carotenoids | 65 | CNChina63.0% | INIndia5.8% | DEGermany5.3% |
| Genetic circuits and engineered mammalian cells | 49 | USUnited States34.6% | CNChina26.2% | CHSwitzerland6.2% |
| Automation, biofoundries, standards and metabolic models | 48 | USUnited States25.2% | CNChina24.7% | GBUnited Kingdom14.7% |
| Genome engineering tools for microbes and plants | 42 | CNChina42.3% | USUnited States19.7% | KRSouth Korea9.4% |
| One-carbon and CO2 feedstocks (incl. cyanobacteria) | 41 | CNChina41.4% | KRSouth Korea11.4% | USUnited States10.6% |
| Precision fermentation and food ingredients | 34 | CNChina35.5% | USUnited States14.3% | INIndia7.2% |
| DNA, RNA and protein design (incl. machine learning) | 30 | CNChina34.0% | USUnited States28.3% | DKDenmark5.1% |
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.
Greyed rows rest on fewer than five papers of credit in one period.
Share of the 10% most cited papers: 333 papers in 2021–2023, 301 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 (1,690), 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.
- CNChina57.8%of 2026 papers have an author here
- USUnited States11.2%of 2026 papers have an author here
- INIndia6.0%of 2026 papers have an author here
- KRSouth Korea5.3%of 2026 papers have an author here
- GBUnited Kingdom4.4%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
- 1CNJiangnan University6.8%
- 2CNChinese Academy of SciencesGovernment lab3.2%
- 3CNZhejiang University2.3%
- 4CNTianjin University of Science and Technology1.7%
- 5KRKorea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology1.7%
- 6CNTianjin University1.5%
- 7CNTianjin Institute of Industrial BiotechnologyNon-profit1.4%
- 8GBImperial College London1.2%
- 9CNTsinghua University1.1%
- 10CNBeijing University of Chemical Technology1.1%
Share of the top 10%. Institutions across all 45 technologies
Who does the work
| Sector | All | CN | US | KR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Universities | 74.0% | 75.6% | 71.0% | 92.3% |
| Research facilities | 16.2% | 10.0% | 20.5% | 7.7% |
| Government labs | 5.7% | 9.5% | 1.4% | 0% |
| Non-profits | 2.1% | 3.5% | 2.4% | 0% |
Share of credit by type of institution, overall and for the three leading countries.
Across borders
28.2% of the top 10% have authors in more than one country.
- CNUSChina with United States23
- CNGBChina with United Kingdom15
- DKUSDenmark with United States13
- CNDKChina with Denmark10
- GBUSUnited Kingdom with United States10
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.
- Vital roles of carotenoids in plants and humans to deteriorate stress with its structure, biosynthesis, metabolic engineering and functional aspectsCurrent Plant Biology, 2021IN343citations
- Applications, challenges, and needs for employing synthetic biology beyond the labNature Communications, 2021US286citations
- Engineering cofactor supply and recycling to drive phenolic acid biosynthesis in yeastNature Chemical Biology, 2022CNSE259citations
- RetroBioCat as a computer-aided synthesis planning tool for biocatalytic reactions and cascadesNature Catalysis, 2021GB253citations
- Bioprospecting of microbial strains for biofuel production: metabolic engineering, applications, and challengesBiotechnology for Biofuels, 2021ARNGZA250citations
More in biotechnology
- Gene editingUnited States leads
- mRNA vaccines and therapeuticsUnited States leads
- Genome sequencingUnited States leads
- New antibiotics and antiviralsChina 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.
"synthetic biology" OR "metabolic engineering" OR "genetic circuit" OR "cell-free protein synthesis" OR "biomanufacturing"and its main topic in OpenAlex is one of: Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction; Gene Regulatory Network Analysis; Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis; CRISPR and Genetic Engineering; RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms; Enzyme Catalysis and Immobilization; Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology; Fungal and yeast genetics research; Plant biochemistry and biosynthesis. The topic check removes papers that only mention the technology.
- Papers matched, 2021–2025
- 6,326
- In the top 10%
- 634
- In the top 1%
- 66
- Countries with credit
- 55
- Credit with no known country
- 2.2%
Every one of the 797 most cited papers was checked for relevance; 39 were left out as not about synthetic biology
The most cited of those left out:
- Accurate RNA 3D structure prediction using a language model-based deep learning approach273 citations
- Recent advances of CRISPR-based genome editing for enhancing staple crops180 citations
- Principles of gene regulation quantitatively connect DNA to RNA and proteins in bacteria149 citations
- TALENs—an indispensable tool in the era of CRISPR: a mini review148 citations
- Single-cell RNA sequencing provides a high-resolution roadmap for understanding the multicellular compartmentation of specialized metabolism147 citations
- High-Throughput Screening of Natural Product and Synthetic Molecule Libraries for Antibacterial Drug Discovery144 citations
- Multifunctional biocatalyst for conjugate reduction and reductive amination141 citations
- Multi-compartmental MOF microreactors derived from Pickering double emulsions for chemo-enzymatic cascade catalysis122 citations
- Perfect adaptation in biology115 citations
- Enzymes as Catalysts in Industrial Biocatalysis: Advances in Engineering, Applications, and Sustainable Integration86 citations
- Integration of Enzyme and Covalent Organic Frameworks: From Rational Design to Applications85 citations
- Enabling Peroxygenase Activity in Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenases by Engineering Hydrogen Peroxide Tunnels84 citations
Definition version 0.5, pilot. It is a plain text file: copy it, change it, rerun it.