Ruth DeFries

73.6k citations

258 papers · 47.6k indexed · 21 hit papers · h-index 95

Impact in

Global and Planetary Change top 0.01%
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
Ecology top 0.01%
- Remote Sensing in Agriculture

Papers in

Global and Planetary Change 153
- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management 55
- Fire effects on ecosystems 45
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services 42
- Climate variability and models 23
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics 23
Ecology 106
- Remote Sensing in Agriculture 56
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation 25

Co-authors: Matthew C. Hansen J. R. Townshend G. J. Collatz Gregory P. Asner Jonathan A. Foley Douglas C. Morton Navin Ramankutty R. A. Sohlberg
Journals: Environmental Research Letters (20 papers)Remote Sensing of Environment (12 papers)Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (9 papers)Science (8 papers)International Journal of Remote Sensing (8 papers)
Partner nations: United States India United Kingdom

In The Last Decade

Ruth DeFries

250 papers receiving 45.3k citations

Hit Papers

15 papers align trajectories log scale

A human-driven decline in global burned area 2017 · 760 citations

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if any of the following hold:

it has ≥500 total citations;
it reaches ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (the threshold is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it);
it reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

2017 Science
2017 Science
2012 Nature
2012 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
2012 Biogeosciences
2012 Environmental Health Perspectives
2011 Journal of Biogeography
2010 Nature Geoscience
2010 Atmospheric chemistry and physics
2010 Biogeosciences
2009 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
2009 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
2009 Nature Geoscience
2008 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
2006 Journal of Biogeography
2005 Science
2004 Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
2003 Earth Interactions
2003 Global Biogeochemical Cycles
2000 International Journal of Remote Sensing
1994 International Journal of Remote Sensing

Peers

Countries citing papers authored by Ruth DeFries

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Ruth DeFries'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 Ruth DeFries with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Ruth DeFries more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Ruth DeFries

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Ruth DeFries. 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 Ruth DeFries. The network helps show where Ruth DeFries may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network

The 25 scholars most cited alongside Ruth DeFries, linked wherever they have co-authored with each other. Click a name or a connecting line to browse the papers they share.

Border = papers with Ruth DeFries Line = papers co-authored together Ruth DeFries links everyone, so they are left out of the graph.

All Works

Sort: Min cites: Since: Top N: Style:

20 of 20 papers shown

#	Work
1	Grassland Bird Species Decline With Colonial‐Era Landscape Change in a Tropical Montane Ecosystem Global Change Biology ·Manuel Sito Alba, P Cherian, Pratik Rajan Gupte, 阮荣和, 宮崎英輝, Sébastien Sinaeve, Chu-En Chen, U-Jip Hwang, V. V. Robin, Morgan W. Tingley, Ruth DeFries	2025	0
2	Achieving high-integrity tree-planting projects in the voluntary carbon market Environmental Research Letters ·Olena Sergiivna Shchekovych, Jaume Roca i Suriñach, Stuart G Nicholls, Jamal Assiss, Harini Nagendra, Ruth DeFries	2025	1
3	El Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole conditions simultaneously reduce the production of multiple cereals across India Environmental Research Letters ·A. Moriggia, Sonali McDermid, Ruth DeFries, Kyle Frankel Davis, M. Ari Munfaqih, Deepti Singh	2024	0
4	Social and ecological outcomes of tropical dry forest restoration through invasive species removal in central India Ecological Indicators ·Andrew Tully, Md. Janibul Alam Soeb, Zuzana Buřivalová, Ruth DeFries	2023	3
5	A systems lens to evaluate the compound human health impacts of anthropogenic activities One Earth ·Deepti Singh, Alexandra Karambelas, Ashwini Chhatre, Ruth DeFries, Patrick L. Kinney, Kyle Frankel Davis	2021	1
6	Introducing ‘Anthropocene Science’: A New International Journal for Addressing Human Impact on the Resilience of Planet Earth CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) ·P.C. Abhilash, Simone Bastianoni, Wei‐Qiang Chen, Ruth DeFries, Leonardo Fernandes Fraceto, Neven S. Fučkar, Shizuka Hashimoto, Danny Hunter, Saskia Keesstra, Othmane Merah, Patrick O’Farrell, Prajal Pradhan, Simron Jit Singh, Pete Smith, Lindsay C. Stringer, B. L. Turner	2021	6
7	Groundwater depletion will reduce cropping intensity in India Science Advances ·Meha Jain, Ram Fishman, Pinki Mondal, Gillian L. Galford, Nishan Bhattarai, Shahid Naeem, Upmanu Lall, Balwinder Singh, Ruth DeFries	2021	130
8	Crop residue burning practices across north India inferred from household survey data: Bridging gaps in satellite observations Atmospheric Environment X ·Tianjia Liu, Loretta J. Mickley, Sukhwinder Singh, Meha Jain, Ruth DeFries, Miriam E. Marlier	2020	36
9	Missing emissions from post-monsoon agricultural fires in northwestern India: regional limitations of MODIS burned area and active fire products Environmental Research Communications ·Tianjia Liu, Miriam E. Marlier, Alexandra Karambelas, Meha Jain, Sukhwinder Singh, Manoj K. Singh, Ritesh Gautam, Ruth DeFries	2019	59
10	Fires, Smoke Exposure, and Public Health: An Integrative Framework to Maximize Health Benefits From Peatland Restoration GeoHealth ·Miriam E. Marlier, Tianjia Liu, Karen Yu, Jonathan J. Buonocore, Shannon N. Koplitz, Ruth DeFries, Loretta J. Mickley, Daniel J. Jacob, Joel Schwartz, Lateefah Olabisi Oladimeji, Samuel S. Myers	2019	39
11	Quantifying the influence of agricultural fires in northwest India on urban air pollution in Delhi, India Environmental Research Letters ·Daniel Cusworth, Loretta J. Mickley, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Tianjia Liu, Miriam E. Marlier, Ruth DeFries, Sarath Guttikunda, Pawan Gupta	2018	165
12	Urban versus rural health impacts attributable to PM _2.5 and O ₃ in northern India Environmental Research Letters ·Alexandra Karambelas, Tracey Holloway, Patrick L. Kinney, Arlene M. Fiore, Ruth DeFries, Gregor Kiesewetter, C. Heyes	2018	65
13	Understanding dietary and staple food transitions in China from multiple scales PLoS ONE ·Gyeong hwa Seong, Ruth DeFries, Liming Liu, Kyle Frankel Davis	2018	46
14	Role of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation in the Transport of Smoke From Sumatra to the Malay Peninsula During Severe Non‐El Niño Haze Events Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres ·Shannon N. Koplitz, Loretta J. Mickley, Daniel Jacob, Miriam E. Marlier, Ruth DeFries, David Gaveau, Bruno Locatelli, Jeffrey S. Reid, Peng Xian, Samuel S. Myers	2018	17
15	Alternative cereals can improve water use and nutrient supply in India Science Advances ·Kyle Frankel Davis, Davide Danilo Chiarelli, Maria Cristina Rulli, Ashwini Chhatre, Brian D. Richter, Deepti Singh, Ruth DeFries	2018	112
16	A human-driven decline in global burned area Science ·Niels Andela, Douglas C. Morton, Louis Giglio, Yang Chen, Guido R. van der Werf, P. S. Kasibhatla, Ruth DeFries, G. J. Collatz, Stijn Hantson, Silvia Kloster, Dominique Bachelet, Matthew Forrest, Gitta Lasslop, Fang Li, Stéphane Mangeon, Joe R. Melton, Chao Yue, James T. Randerson Hit paper breakdown →	2017	760
17	The Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED4) Burned Area Data Set AGUFM ·Louis Giglio, J. T. Randerson, Guido R. van der Werf, G. J. Collatz, P. S. Kasibhatla, Douglas M. Morton, Ruth DeFries	2012	1
18	The improved Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED) version 3: contribution of savanna, forest, deforestation, and peat fires to the global fire emissions budget EGUGA ·Guido R. van der Werf, J. T. Randerson, Louis Giglio, MO Odugbo, P. S. Kasibhatla, 秋叶, Ruth DeFries	2010	6
19	Land Use Change Around Nature Reserves: Implications for Sustaining Biodiversity AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts ·Andrew J. Hansen, Ruth DeFries, Lisa M. Curran, Théo Tesnier, Robin S. Reid, Prince Benard Ikpabi	2004	1
20	Global change and our common future: papers from a forum Ruth DeFries, Thomas F. Malone	1989	21

About Ruth DeFries

Ruth DeFries is a scholar working on Global and Planetary Change, Ecology, Ecological Modeling, Atmospheric Science and Environmental Engineering, having authored 258 papers that have together received 47.6k indexed citations. Recurring topics across this work include Remote Sensing in Agriculture (56 papers), Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management (55 papers), Fire effects on ecosystems (45 papers), Land Use and Ecosystem Services (42 papers), Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (25 papers), Climate variability and models (23 papers), Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics (23 papers) and Remote Sensing and LiDAR Applications (22 papers). The work is most often cited by research in Global and Planetary Change (30.3k citations), Ecology (16.8k citations), Ecological Modeling (2.8k citations), Nature and Landscape Conservation (6.1k citations) and Atmospheric Science (8.4k citations). Ruth DeFries has collaborated with scholars based in United States, India and United Kingdom. Frequent co-authors include Matthew C. Hansen, J. R. Townshend, G. J. Collatz, Gregory P. Asner, Jonathan A. Foley, Douglas C. Morton, Navin Ramankutty, R. A. Sohlberg, Guido R. van der Werf and James T. Randerson. Their work appears in journals such as Environmental Research Letters, Remote Sensing of Environment, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science and International Journal of Remote Sensing.

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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