# Topics and Trends in Most Cited Air Quality and Health Impacts Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/air-quality-and-health-impacts/2026*

## What topics and trends defined most-cited Air Quality and Health Impacts research in the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 in Air Quality and Health Impacts highlights a shift toward high-precision exposure modeling and specific pollutant analysis. While PM2.5 remains a core focus, topics like PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and exposure-response functions saw significant growth, underscoring an increasing emphasis on refined methodologies and vulnerable populations.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Field | Air Quality and Health Impacts |
| Cohort label | Class of 2026 (2024 publications) |
| Papers analyzed | 12,654 |
| Papers ranked | 20 |
| Top topics in ranked papers | PM2.5, Exposure-response function, Nitrogen dioxide |
| Publication window | Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024 |
| Eligibility | Research articles; reviews excluded |
| Citation window | 18 months post-publication |
| 18m citation range | 59–239 |
| Data source | OpenAlex · Retrieved September 2026 |
| License | CC BY 4.0 |

## Rankings

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | Efficacy of China’s clean air actions to tackle PM2.5 pollution between 2013 and 2020 | Guannan Geng, Yuxi Liu, Yang Liu, Shigan Liu, Jing Cheng, Liu Yan, Nana Wu, Hanwen Hu, Dan Tong, Bo Zheng, Zhicong Yin, Kebin He, Qiang Zhang | Qiang Zhang | Tsinghua University, China | Nature Geoscience | 239 | 10.1038/s41561-024-01540-z |
| 2 | Impact of environmental pollution from human activities on water, air quality and climate change | Great Iruoghene Edo, Lilian Oghenenyoreme Itoje-akpokiniovo, Promise Obasohan, Victor Ovie Ikpekoro, Princess Oghenekeno Samuel, Agatha Ngukuran Jikah, Laurine Chikodiri Nosu, Helen Avuokerie Ekokotu, Ufuoma Ugbune, Ephraim Evi Alex Oghroro, Oghenerume Lucky Emakpor, Irene Ebosereme Ainyanbhor, Wail Al-Sharabi Mohammed, Patrick Othuke Akpoghelie, Joseph Oghenewogaga Owheruo, Joy Johnson Agbo | Great Iruoghene Edo | Delta State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria | Ecological Frontiers | 152 | 10.1016/j.ecofro.2024.02.014 |
| 3 | Comparative Analysis of Multiple Deep Learning Models for Forecasting Monthly Ambient PM2.5 Concentrations: A Case Study in Dezhou City, China | Zhenfang He, Qingchun Guo | Qingchun Guo | Liaocheng University, China | Atmosphere | 120 | 10.3390/atmos15121432 |
| 4 | Real-time IoT-powered AI system for monitoring and forecasting of air pollution in industrial environment | Montaser N A Ramadan, Mohammed A H Ali, Shin Yee Khoo, Mohammad Alkhedher, Mohammad Alherbawi | Mohammed A. H. Ali | Universiti Malaya, Malaysia | Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety | 102 | 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116856 |
| 5 | Temperature-dependent emissions dominate aerosol and ozone formation in Los Angeles | Eva Y Pfannerstill, Caleb Arata, Qindan Zhu, Benjamin C Schulze, Ryan Ward, Roy Woods, Colin Harkins, Rebecca H Schwantes, John H Seinfeld, Anthony Bucholtz, Ronald C Cohen, Allen H Goldstein | Eva Y. Pfannerstill, Allen H. Goldstein | University of California at Berkeley, United States | Science | 89 | 10.1126/science.adg8204 |
| 6 | Nonlinear and threshold effects of the built environment, road vehicles and air pollution on urban vitality | Quang Cuong Doan, Jun Ma, Shuting Chen, Xiaohu Zhang | Quang Cuong Doan, Xiaohu Zhang | The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong | Landscape and Urban Planning | 85 | 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2024.105204 |
| 7 | How does artificial intelligence affect pollutant emissions by improving energy efficiency and developing green technology | Wei Zhou, Zhuang Yan, Yan Chen | Yan Chen | Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, China | Energy Economics | 83 | 10.1016/j.eneco.2024.107355 |
| 8 | Reassessing the role of urban green space in air pollution control | Zander S Venter, Amirhossein Hassani, Erik Stange, Philipp Schneider, Núria Castell | Zander S. Venter | Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Norway | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 82 | 10.1073/pnas.2306200121 |
| 9 | Ozone trends and their sensitivity in global megacities under the warming climate | Jairo Vazquez Santiago, Hiroo Hata, Edgar J Martinez-Noriega, Kazuya Inoue | Jairo Vázquez Santiago, Kazuya Inoue | National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan | Nature Communications | 75 | 10.1038/s41467-024-54490-w |
| 10 | Estimates of global mortality burden associated with short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2·5) | Wenhua Yu, Rongbin Xu, Tingting Ye, Michael J Abramson, Lidia Morawska, Bin Jalaludin, Fay H Johnston, Sarah B Henderson, Luke D Knibbs, Geoffrey G Morgan, Eric Lavigne, Jane Heyworth, Simon Hales, Guy B Marks, Alistair Woodward, Michelle L Bell, Jonathan M Samet, Jiangning Song, Shanshan Li, Yuming Guo | Shanshan Li, Yuming Guo | Monash University, Australia | The Lancet Planetary Health | 72 | 10.1016/s2542-5196(24)00003-2 |
| 11 | Two-decade surface ozone (O3) pollution in China: Enhanced fine-scale estimations and environmental health implications | Zeyu Yang, Zhanqing Li, Fan Cheng, Qiancheng Lv, Ke Li, Tao Zhang, Yuyu Zhou, Bin Zhao, Wenhao Xue, Jing Wei | Zhanqing Li, Jing Wei | Beijing Normal University, China | Remote Sensing of Environment | 72 | 10.1016/j.rse.2024.114459 |
| 12 | Global, regional, and national burden of cancers attributable to particulate matter pollution from 1990 to 2019 and projection to 2050: Worsening or improving? | Junyan Chen, Yuanyao Cui, Ye Deng, Yuting Xiang, Jiamei Chen, Yuting Wang, Tianyun Wang, Miao He | Miao He | China Medical University, China | Journal of Hazardous Materials | 70 | 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135319 |
| 13 | Temperature-related mortality burden and projected change in 1368 European regions: a modelling study | David García-León, Pierre Masselot, Malcolm N Mistry, Antonio Gasparrini, Corrado Motta, Luc Feyen, Juan-Carlos Ciscar | David García-León | European Commission, Spain | The Lancet Public Health | 69 | 10.1016/s2468-2667(24)00179-8 |
| 14 | Global variability in atmospheric new particle formation mechanisms | Bin Zhao, Neil M Donahue, Kai Zhang, Lizhuo Mao, Manish Shrivastava, Po-Lun Ma, Jiewen Shen, Shuxiao Wang, Jian Sun, Hamish Gordon, Shuaiqi Tang, Jerome Fast, Mingyi Wang, Yang Gao, Chao Yan, Balwinder Singh, Zeqi Li, Lyuyin Huang, Sijia Lou, Guangxing Lin, Hailong Wang, Jingkun Jiang, Aijun Ding, Wei Nie, Ximeng Qi, Xuguang Chi, Lin Wang | Bin Zhao | Tsinghua University, China | Nature | 67 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07547-1 |
| 15 | Coupling Remote Sensing Insights With Vegetation Dynamics and to Analyze NO<sub>2</sub> Concentrations: A Google Earth Engine-Driven Investigation | Xiangtian Zheng, Muhammad Haseeb, Zainab Tahir, Aqil Tariq, Sanju Purohit, Walid Soufan, Khalid F. Almutairi, Syeda Fizzah Jilani | Xiangtian Zheng | Nanjing Institute of Technology, China | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing | 64 | 10.1109/jstars.2024.3397496 |
| 16 | Anthropogenic forcing has increased the risk of longer-traveling and slower-moving large contiguous heatwaves | Ming Luo, Sijia Wu, Gabriel Ngar-Cheung Lau, Tao Pei, Zhen Liu, Xiaoyu Wang, Guicai Ning, Ting On Chan, Yuanjian Yang, Wei Zhang | Ming Luo, Sijia Wu, Tao Pei, Wei Zhang | Sun Yat-sen University, China | Science Advances | 62 | 10.1126/sciadv.adl1598 |
| 17 | Rising cause-specific mortality risk and burden of compound heatwaves amid climate change | Jiangdong Liu, Jinlei Qi, Peng Yin, Wei Liu, Cheng He, Ya Gao, Lu Zhou, Yixiang Zhu, Haidong Kan, Renjie Chen, Maigeng Zhou | Renjie Chen, Maigeng Zhou | Fudan University, China | Nature Climate Change | 62 | 10.1038/s41558-024-02137-5 |
| 18 | Global, regional, and national mortality burden attributable to air pollution from landscape fires: a health impact assessment study | Rongbin Xu, Tingting Ye, Wenzhong Huang, Xu Yue, Lidia Morawska, Michael J Abramson, Gongbo Chen, Pei Yu, Yanming Liu, Zhengyu Yang, Yiwen Zhang, Yao Wu, Wenhua Yu, Bo Wen, Yuxi Zhang, Simon Hales, Eric Lavigne, Paulo H N Saldiva, Micheline S Z S Coelho, Patricia Matus, Dominic Roye, Jochem Klompmaker, Malcolm Mistry, Susanne Breitner, Ariana Zeka, Raanan Raz, Shilu Tong, Fay H Johnston, Joel Schwartz, Antonio Gasparrini, Yuming Guo, Shanshan Li, Multi-Country Multi-City Collaborative Research Network | Yuming Guo | Monash University, Australia | The Lancet | 60 | 10.1016/s0140-6736(24)02251-7 |
| 19 | Optimized machine learning model for air quality index prediction in major cities in India | Suresh Kumar Natarajan, Prakash Shanmurthy, Daniel Arockiam, Balamurugan Balusamy, Shitharth Selvarajan | Shitharth Selvarajan | Jain (Deemed-to-be University), India | Scientific Reports | 59 | 10.1038/s41598-024-54807-1 |
| 20 | Combined short-term and long-term emission controls improve air quality sustainably in China | Zhang Wen, Xin Ma, Wen Xu, Ruotong Si, Lei Liu, Mingrui Ma, Yuanhong Zhao, Aohan Tang, Yangyang Zhang, Kai Wang, Ying Zhang, Jianlin Shen, Lin Zhang, Yu Zhao, Fusuo Zhang, Keith Goulding, Xuejun Liu | Xuejun Liu | China Agricultural University, China | Nature Communications | 59 | 10.1038/s41467-024-49539-9 |

## Topic trends

### What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 in air quality and health impacts is overwhelmingly defined by research into specific pollutants and analytical methodologies. PM2.5 remains a central focus, being the most prominent canonical concept, reflecting its critical role in health impact assessments. Alongside particulate matter, Nitrogen dioxide and Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are leading focal points. Methodologically, there is a strong emphasis on Exposure-response functions to quantify health risks, and the use of high-resolution data, such as 0.1-degree resolution, to improve the accuracy of ambient air pollution measurements. Demographically, Population aging is a significant area of concern, indicating a growing focus on how air quality disproportionately affects vulnerable older populations. Together, these themes underscore a field moving towards more precise exposure modeling and targeted health assessments.

*Leading research themes*

### How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

A comparative analysis between the Class of 2025 and 2026 reveals significant shifts in research priorities. Most notably, there is a substantial surge in studies focusing on specific pollutants like PM10, which saw a drastic increase in normalized frequency, alongside steady growth in Nitrogen dioxide and Nitrogen oxides (NOx). Analytical approaches are also evolving, with Exposure-response functions and 0.1-degree resolution methodologies experiencing notable upward trends, indicating a shift towards higher precision in environmental epidemiology. Similarly, Population aging and Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are gaining momentum. Conversely, research explicitly centering on general concepts like PM2.5 saw a slight decrease in normalized frequency, possibly suggesting that the field is moving beyond broad PM2.5 studies into more nuanced or localized investigations.

*How topics shifted year over year*

## Cite this ranking

```
Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited Air Quality and Health Impacts Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/air-quality-and-health-impacts/2026. Accessed 2026-10-28.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459
```