Wouter Poortinga

18.4k total citations · 12 hit papers
125 papers, 13.2k citations indexed

About

Wouter Poortinga is a scholar working on Sociology and Political Science, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law and Health. According to data from OpenAlex, Wouter Poortinga has authored 125 papers receiving a total of 13.2k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 69 papers in Sociology and Political Science, 46 papers in Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law and 19 papers in Health. Recurrent topics in Wouter Poortinga's work include Climate Change Communication and Perception (46 papers), Environmental Education and Sustainability (44 papers) and Risk Perception and Management (29 papers). Wouter Poortinga is often cited by papers focused on Climate Change Communication and Perception (46 papers), Environmental Education and Sustainability (44 papers) and Risk Perception and Management (29 papers). Wouter Poortinga collaborates with scholars based in United Kingdom, Netherlands and Norway. Wouter Poortinga's co-authors include Nick Pidgeon, Alexa Spence, Linda Steg, Lorraine Whitmarsh, Charles Vlek, Stuart Capstick, Nicholas Frank Pidgeon, Irene Lorenzoni, Catherine Butler and Gisela Böhm and has published in prestigious journals such as The Lancet, SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología and PLoS ONE.

In The Last Decade

Wouter Poortinga

120 papers receiving 12.4k citations

Hit Papers

The Psychological Distance of Climate Change 2003 2026 2010 2018 2011 2004 2011 2003 2011 250 500 750
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. The Psychological Distance of Climate Change
    2011 966 citations Alexa Spence, Wouter Poortinga et al. Risk Analysis profile →
  2. Values, Environmental Concern, and Environmental Behavior
    2004 854 citations Wouter Poortinga, Linda Steg et al. Environment and Behavior profile →
  3. Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience
    2011 756 citations Alexa Spence, Wouter Poortinga et al. Nature Climate Change profile →
  4. Exploring the Dimensionality of Trust in Risk Regulation
    2003 551 citations Wouter Poortinga, Nick Pidgeon Risk Analysis profile →
  5. Uncertain climate: An investigation into public scepticism about anthropogenic climate change
    2011 492 citations Wouter Poortinga, Alexa Spence et al. profile →
  6. International trends in public perceptions of climate change over the past quarter century
    2014 458 citations Lorraine Whitmarsh, Wouter Poortinga et al. profile →
  7. Climate change perceptions and their individual-level determinants: A cross-European analysis
    2019 407 citations Wouter Poortinga, Lorraine Whitmarsh et al. profile →
  8. Community resilience and health: The role of bonding, bridging, and linking aspects of social capital
    2011 354 citations Wouter Poortinga profile →
  9. When worry about climate change leads to climate action: How values, worry and personal responsibility relate to various climate actions
    2020 328 citations Gisela Böhm, Stephen D. Fisher et al. profile →
  10. Built environment, urban vitality and social cohesion: Do vibrant neighborhoods foster strong communities?
    2020 231 citations Kostas Mouratidis, Wouter Poortinga Landscape and Urban Planning profile →
  11. The role of perceived public and private green space in subjective health and wellbeing during and after the first peak of the COVID-19 outbreak
    2021 199 citations Wouter Poortinga et al. Landscape and Urban Planning profile →
  12. Behaviour change to address climate change
    2021 169 citations Lorraine Whitmarsh, Wouter Poortinga 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
Wouter Poortinga United Kingdom 56 7.4k 4.8k 1.6k 1.2k 1.2k 125 13.2k
Edward Maibach United States 69 9.8k 1.3× 4.9k 1.0× 1.8k 1.1× 571 0.5× 1.1k 0.9× 264 17.5k
Kelly S. Fielding Australia 48 4.6k 0.6× 4.8k 1.0× 995 0.6× 1.7k 1.4× 484 0.4× 151 10.2k
Taciano L. Milfont New Zealand 52 4.4k 0.6× 4.1k 0.9× 542 0.3× 1.8k 1.5× 433 0.4× 205 10.9k
Anthony Leiserowitz United States 63 12.6k 1.7× 7.7k 1.6× 2.9k 1.8× 739 0.6× 266 0.2× 200 17.5k
Elke U. Weber United States 64 7.8k 1.1× 3.4k 0.7× 1.5k 0.9× 1.4k 1.1× 293 0.3× 238 21.7k
Robert Gifford Canada 51 7.5k 1.0× 5.8k 1.2× 1.1k 0.7× 2.2k 1.7× 175 0.2× 154 14.6k
Susan Clayton United States 46 4.3k 0.6× 3.8k 0.8× 799 0.5× 652 0.5× 210 0.2× 130 8.7k
Nick Pidgeon United Kingdom 67 10.5k 1.4× 4.1k 0.8× 3.8k 2.3× 565 0.5× 142 0.1× 191 17.0k
Wändi Bruine de Bruin United States 51 2.7k 0.4× 1.2k 0.2× 542 0.3× 444 0.4× 714 0.6× 201 9.4k
Nathan Bennett United States 56 3.8k 0.5× 3.4k 0.7× 3.7k 2.3× 602 0.5× 154 0.1× 184 16.5k

Countries citing papers authored by Wouter Poortinga

Since Specialization
Citations

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

Fields of papers citing papers by Wouter Poortinga

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

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

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Wouter Poortinga

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Wouter Poortinga. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Wouter Poortinga 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 Wouter Poortinga. Wouter Poortinga 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.
Poortinga, Wouter, et al.. (2025). Exploring public discourse about new cycle lanes and low-traffic neighbourhoods using Twitter/X data. Travel Behaviour and Society. 42. 101128–101128.
2.
Poortinga, Wouter, et al.. (2025). Preferences for urban street space reallocation to encourage cycling: A Best-Worst Scaling profile case approach. Travel Behaviour and Society. 43. 101205–101205.
3.
Williams, Marc O., et al.. (2024). ‘There’s no helpline’: how mental health services can support young people with climate distress. SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología. 3(1). 2409815–2409815. 1 indexed citations
4.
Bergstad, Cecilia Jakobsson, et al.. (2024). Gender and cross-country differences in the determinants of sustainable diet intentions: a multigroup analysis of the UK, China, Sweden, and Brazil. Frontiers in Psychology. 15. 1355969–1355969. 8 indexed citations
5.
Whitmarsh, Lorraine, et al.. (2024). Food and sustainability: meat consumption and vegetarianism in Brazil and the United Kingdom. Sustainability in Debate. 15(3). 131–146. 1 indexed citations
6.
Poortinga, Wouter, Christina Demski, & Katharine Steentjes. (2023). Generational differences in climate-related beliefs, risk perceptions and emotions in the UK. Communications Earth & Environment. 4(1). 38 indexed citations
7.
Poortinga, Wouter, et al.. (2023). Factors and framing effects in support for net zero policies in the United Kingdom. Frontiers in Psychology. 14. 1287188–1287188. 20 indexed citations
8.
Doran, Rouven, et al.. (2021). Outcome expectancies moderate the association between worry about climate change and personal energy-saving behaviors. PLoS ONE. 16(5). e0252105–e0252105. 25 indexed citations
9.
10.
Mouratidis, Kostas & Wouter Poortinga. (2020). Built environment, urban vitality and social cohesion: Do vibrant neighborhoods foster strong communities?. Landscape and Urban Planning. 204. 103951–103951. 231 indexed citations breakdown →
11.
Bertoldo, Raquel, Claire Mays, Gisela Böhm, et al.. (2019). Scientific truth or debate: On the link between perceived scientific consensus and belief in anthropogenic climate change. Public Understanding of Science. 28(7). 778–796. 22 indexed citations
12.
Rodgers, Sarah, Rowena Bailey, Rhodri Johnson, et al.. (2018). Emergency hospital admissions associated with a non-randomised housing intervention meeting national housing quality standards: a longitudinal data linkage study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 72(10). 896–903. 19 indexed citations
13.
Demski, Christina, Wouter Poortinga, Lorraine Whitmarsh, et al.. (2018). National context is a key determinant of energy security concerns across Europe. Nature Energy. 3(10). 882–888. 80 indexed citations
14.
Poortinga, Wouter, Sarah Rodgers, Ronan A Lyons, et al.. (2018). The health impacts of energy performance investments in low-income areas: a mixed-methods approach. SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología. 6(5). 1–182. 21 indexed citations
15.
Arhinful, Daniel, et al.. (2018). Health insurance and social capital in Ghana: a cluster randomised controlled trial. Global Health Research and Policy. 3(1). 35–35. 7 indexed citations
16.
Rodgers, Sarah, Rowena Bailey, Rhodri Johnson, et al.. (2018). Health impact, and economic value, of meeting housing quality standards: a retrospective longitudinal data linkage study. SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología. 6(8). 1–104. 27 indexed citations
17.
Poortinga, Wouter, Nikki Jones, Simon Lannon, et al.. (2016). Neighborhood Quality and Attachment. Environment and Behavior. 49(3). 255–282. 31 indexed citations
18.
Spence, Alexa, Wouter Poortinga, Catherine Butler, & Nicholas Frank Pidgeon. (2011). Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience. Nature Climate Change. 1(1). 46–49. 756 indexed citations breakdown →
19.
Tompkins, Emma L., et al.. (2009). Foreignness as a constraint on learning: The impact of migrants on disaster resilience in small islands. Environmental Hazards. 8(4). 263–277. 13 indexed citations
20.
Poortinga, Wouter & Nick Pidgeon. (2005). Trust in Risk Regulation: Cause or Consequence of the Acceptability of GM Food?. Risk Analysis. 25(1). 199–209. 292 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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