Julian Kirchherr

15.1k total citations · 7 hit papers
62 papers, 9.8k citations indexed

About

Julian Kirchherr is a scholar working on Strategy and Management, Marketing and Sociology and Political Science. According to data from OpenAlex, Julian Kirchherr has authored 62 papers receiving a total of 9.8k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 38 papers in Strategy and Management, 21 papers in Marketing and 19 papers in Sociology and Political Science. Recurrent topics in Julian Kirchherr's work include Sustainable Supply Chain Management (34 papers), Environmental Sustainability in Business (20 papers) and Innovation and Socioeconomic Development (17 papers). Julian Kirchherr is often cited by papers focused on Sustainable Supply Chain Management (34 papers), Environmental Sustainability in Business (20 papers) and Innovation and Socioeconomic Development (17 papers). Julian Kirchherr collaborates with scholars based in Netherlands, United Kingdom and Denmark. Julian Kirchherr's co-authors include Marko P. Hekkert, Denise Reike, Katrina Charles, Kris Hartley, Laura Piscicelli, Thomas Bauwens, Matthew J. Walton, Frauke Urban, Martin Geissdoerfer and Tomas Santa‐Maria and has published in prestigious journals such as PLoS ONE, Journal of Cleaner Production and Energy Policy.

In The Last Decade

Julian Kirchherr

61 papers receiving 9.3k citations

Hit Papers

Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 ... 2017 2026 2020 2023 2017 2018 2023 2018 2020 1000 2.0k 3.0k 4.0k
What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

  1. Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions
    2017 4.6k citations Julian Kirchherr, Denise Reike et al. Resources Conservation and Recycling profile →
  2. Barriers to the Circular Economy: Evidence From the European Union (EU)
    2018 1.2k citations Julian Kirchherr, Marko P. Hekkert et al. Ecological Economics profile →
  3. Conceptualizing the Circular Economy (Revisited): An Analysis of 221 Definitions
    2023 541 citations Julian Kirchherr, Kris Hartley et al. Resources Conservation and Recycling profile →
  4. Enhancing the sample diversity of snowball samples: Recommendations from a research project on anti-dam movements in Southeast Asia
    2018 407 citations Julian Kirchherr, Katrina Charles profile →
  5. Policies for transitioning towards a circular economy: Expectations from the European Union (EU)
    2020 350 citations Kris Hartley, Julian Kirchherr et al. Resources Conservation and Recycling profile →
  6. A typology of circular start-ups: An Analysis of 128 circular business models
    2019 283 citations Thomas Bauwens, Marko P. Hekkert et al. Journal of Cleaner Production profile →
  7. Towards circular economy indicators: Evidence from the European Union
    2024 53 citations Julian Kirchherr et al. profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name h Career Trend Papers Cites
Julian Kirchherr Netherlands 34 6.6k 3.3k 1.9k 1.8k 1.4k 62 9.8k
Martin Geissdoerfer United Kingdom 15 5.7k 0.9× 3.3k 1.0× 1.7k 0.9× 1.3k 0.7× 1.4k 1.0× 30 8.2k
Erik Jan Hultink Netherlands 42 6.8k 1.0× 3.5k 1.1× 1.4k 0.7× 1.1k 0.6× 1.0k 0.7× 82 10.4k
Denise Reike Netherlands 10 5.0k 0.8× 2.3k 0.7× 1.5k 0.8× 1.6k 0.9× 792 0.6× 14 6.8k
Stefan Seuring Germany 61 15.2k 2.3× 7.0k 2.1× 2.2k 1.2× 2.8k 1.6× 1.8k 1.3× 160 20.2k
Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour Brazil 56 9.3k 1.4× 5.7k 1.7× 2.8k 1.4× 1.2k 0.7× 997 0.7× 190 13.3k
Jose Arturo Garza‐Reyes United Kingdom 61 8.9k 1.3× 3.2k 1.0× 4.1k 2.2× 833 0.5× 751 0.5× 357 14.0k
Marko P. Hekkert Netherlands 58 7.9k 1.2× 3.5k 1.1× 2.1k 1.1× 1.7k 1.0× 2.1k 1.5× 174 17.8k
Rupert J. Baumgartner Austria 42 4.6k 0.7× 3.3k 1.0× 832 0.4× 506 0.3× 667 0.5× 112 7.0k
Walter J.V. Vermeulen Netherlands 35 3.3k 0.5× 1.6k 0.5× 1.1k 0.6× 804 0.4× 629 0.4× 95 5.0k
Robert D. Klassen Canada 51 13.0k 2.0× 8.6k 2.6× 852 0.4× 1.7k 0.9× 865 0.6× 121 15.5k

Countries citing papers authored by Julian Kirchherr

Since Specialization
Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Julian Kirchherr's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Julian Kirchherr with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Julian Kirchherr more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Julian Kirchherr

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Julian Kirchherr. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Julian Kirchherr. The network helps show where Julian Kirchherr may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Julian Kirchherr

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Julian Kirchherr. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Julian Kirchherr based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Julian Kirchherr. Julian Kirchherr is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

20 of 20 papers shown
1.
Kirchherr, Julian & Kris Hartley. (2025). Is circular economy a failing sustainability paradigm? Not necessarily. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 29(4). 1051–1059. 4 indexed citations
2.
Mignacca, Benito, Serena Filippelli, Serena Strazzullo, et al.. (2025). Building circular economy theories: A practical‐oriented perspective and a way forward. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 29(2). 418–428. 10 indexed citations
3.
Baldassarre, Brian, et al.. (2025). Towards greater circularity in the hydrogen technology value chain. Ecological Economics. 236. 108679–108679. 1 indexed citations
4.
Bauwens, Thomas, Kris Hartley, Marko P. Hekkert, & Julian Kirchherr. (2024). Building innovation ecosystems for circularity: Start-up business models in the food and construction sectors in the Netherlands. Journal of Cleaner Production. 481. 143970–143970. 5 indexed citations
5.
Kirchherr, Julian, et al.. (2024). Bottom‐up dynamics in circular innovation systems: The perspective of circular start‐ups. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 28(2). 320–338. 11 indexed citations
6.
Hartley, Kris, et al.. (2023). A policy framework for the circular economy: Lessons from the EU. Journal of Cleaner Production. 412. 137176–137176. 49 indexed citations
7.
Kirchherr, Julian, Andrea Urbinati, & Kris Hartley. (2023). Circular economy: A new research field?. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 27(5). 1239–1251. 50 indexed citations
8.
Valentinov, Vladislav, et al.. (2023). Stakeholder governance to facilitate collaboration for a systemic circular economy transition: A qualitative study in the European chemicals and plastics industry. Business Strategy and the Environment. 33(3). 2173–2192. 26 indexed citations
9.
Stern, S., et al.. (2022). Road work ahead: the emerging revolution in the road construction industry. Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) (University of Oxford). 2 indexed citations
10.
Kirchherr, Julian, et al.. (2022). Towards a circular disruption: On the pivotal role of circular economy policy entrepreneurs. Business Strategy and the Environment. 32(3). 1142–1158. 28 indexed citations
11.
Kirchherr, Julian, Thomas Bauwens, & Tomás B. Ramos. (2022). Circular Disruption: Concepts, Enablers and Ways Ahead. SSRN Electronic Journal. 2 indexed citations
12.
Hartley, Kris, et al.. (2021). Barriers to the circular economy: The case of the Dutch technical and interior textiles industries. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 26(2). 477–490. 78 indexed citations
13.
Kaufman, Stefan, Julian Kirchherr, Jim Curtis, et al.. (2021). Barriers to the Circular Economy in Australia and the European Union (EU): A comparative mixed methods review. Figshare. 1 indexed citations
14.
Kirchherr, Julian. (2021). Circular economy and growth: A critical review of “post-growth” circularity and a plea for a circular economy that grows. Resources Conservation and Recycling. 179. 106033–106033. 53 indexed citations
15.
Kirchherr, Julian, et al.. (2019). Cost and schedule overruns in large hydropower dams: an assessment of projects completed since 2000. International Journal of Water Resources Development. 36(5). 839–854. 22 indexed citations
16.
Charles, Katrina, et al.. (2018). Mapping the social impacts of small dams: The case of Thailand’s Ing River basin. AMBIO. 48(2). 180–191. 27 indexed citations
17.
Kirchherr, Julian, Denise Reike, & Marko P. Hekkert. (2017). Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions. Resources Conservation and Recycling. 127. 221–232. 4637 indexed citations breakdown →
18.
Kirchherr, Julian, Katrina Charles, & Matthew J. Walton. (2016). Multi-causal pathways of public opposition to dam projects in Asia: A fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Global Environmental Change. 41. 33–45. 65 indexed citations
19.
Kirchherr, Julian, et al.. (2016). Cleaning up the big muddy: A meta-synthesis of the research on the social impact of dams. Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 60. 115–125. 100 indexed citations
20.
Kirchherr, Julian, et al.. (2015). Social safeguards, financing and social employment in Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa's water sector: the case of Ghana's Bui Dam. Waterlines. 3 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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