Zucong Cai

11.2k total citations · 2 hit papers
115 papers, 9.1k citations indexed

About

Zucong Cai is a scholar working on Soil Science, Environmental Chemistry and Plant Science. According to data from OpenAlex, Zucong Cai has authored 115 papers receiving a total of 9.1k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 76 papers in Soil Science, 47 papers in Environmental Chemistry and 36 papers in Plant Science. Recurrent topics in Zucong Cai's work include Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics (76 papers), Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics (38 papers) and Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology (21 papers). Zucong Cai is often cited by papers focused on Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics (76 papers), Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics (38 papers) and Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology (21 papers). Zucong Cai collaborates with scholars based in China, Germany and Japan. Zucong Cai's co-authors include Weixin Ding, Jinbo Zhang, Hua Xu, Haruo Tsuruta, Kazuyuki Yagi, Weixin Ding, Xiaoyuan Yan, Tongbin Zhu, Lei Meng and Christoph Müller and has published in prestigious journals such as Environmental Science & Technology, The Science of The Total Environment and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences.

In The Last Decade

Zucong Cai

110 papers receiving 8.8k citations

Hit Papers

align trajectories sort by overperformance

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.

Greenhouse gas mitigation in agriculture

2007 1.8k citations Zucong Cai et al. profile →
Methane and nitrous oxide emissions from rice paddy fields as affected by nitrogen fertilisers and water management

1997 512 citations Zucong Cai et al. profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

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

Name	h						Papers	Cites
Zucong Cai China	50	5.4k	3.1k	2.7k	2.1k	1.5k	115	9.1k
Chengrong Chen Australia	59	6.3k 1.2×	3.3k 1.1×	2.7k 1.0×	2.6k 1.3×	1.3k 0.9×	236	10.9k
Elizabeth M. Baggs United Kingdom	49	6.5k 1.2×	3.6k 1.2×	3.6k 1.3×	2.5k 1.2×	1.3k 0.8×	110	10.7k
Eldor A. Paul United States	44	7.0k 1.3×	4.1k 1.3×	2.1k 0.8×	2.0k 1.0×	1.4k 0.9×	75	10.3k
Kazuyuki Yagi Japan	49	4.9k 0.9×	2.0k 0.6×	2.4k 0.9×	2.6k 1.3×	1.8k 1.2×	141	8.7k
Rodney T. Venterea United States	48	5.8k 1.1×	2.1k 0.7×	3.1k 1.1×	2.0k 1.0×	1.1k 0.7×	122	9.0k
Philippe Rochette Canada	57	6.1k 1.1×	2.2k 0.7×	3.4k 1.2×	1.8k 0.9×	1.4k 1.0×	152	9.1k
Jianwen Zou China	51	4.9k 0.9×	2.0k 0.6×	2.0k 0.7×	2.7k 1.3×	1.6k 1.0×	184	9.2k
Ralf Kiese Germany	48	5.6k 1.0×	3.0k 1.0×	3.0k 1.1×	1.4k 0.7×	2.7k 1.8×	167	9.3k
Charles W. Rice United States	47	5.9k 1.1×	2.9k 0.9×	1.9k 0.7×	2.8k 1.4×	1.5k 1.0×	155	10.3k
Ute Skiba United Kingdom	54	4.2k 0.8×	3.4k 1.1×	3.0k 1.1×	1.7k 0.8×	3.1k 2.0×	192	10.5k

Countries citing papers authored by Zucong Cai

Since Specialization

Citations

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

Fields of papers citing papers by Zucong Cai

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

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

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Zucong Cai

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Zucong Cai. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Zucong Cai 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 Zucong Cai. Zucong Cai is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

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

20 of 20 papers shown

Jiang, Weihong, et al.. (2025). Global climate changes decoupled soil nitrogen mineralization and immobilization. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 206. 109794–109794. 3 indexed citations

Tu, Xiaoshun, Jing Wang, Xiaoyu Liu, et al.. (2025). Effects of warming and elevated CO2 on gross nitrogen dynamics and N2O emissions disappeared under combined treatment in waterlogged paddy soils. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment. 396. 109989–109989.

Zhou, Xing, et al.. (2025). Soil Nutrient Enrichment Induces Trade‐Offs in Bacterial Life‐History Strategies Promoting Plant Productivity. Advanced Science. 12(45). e10066–e10066.

Li, Yong, Yuxuan Zhang, D.S. Yu, et al.. (2024). pH threshold in controlling dominant nitrification pathway in acidic soils. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment. 377. 109278–109278. 3 indexed citations

Elrys, Ahmed S., Jing Wang, Lei Meng, et al.. (2023). Integrative knowledge-based nitrogen management practices can provide positive effects on ecosystem nitrogen retention. Nature Food. 4(12). 1075–1089. 49 indexed citations

Zhang, Yi, Hong Gao, Zucong Cai, Jinbo Zhang, & Christoph Müller. (2023). Global patterns of soil available N production by mineralization-immobilization turnover in the tropical forest ecosystems. The Science of The Total Environment. 908. 168194–168194. 2 indexed citations

Elrys, Ahmed S., et al.. (2023). Global patterns and controls of yield and nitrogen use efficiency in rice. The Science of The Total Environment. 898. 165484–165484. 20 indexed citations

Elrys, Ahmed S., Yves Uwiragiye, Yanhui Zhang, et al.. (2022). Expanding agroforestry can increase nitrate retention and mitigate the global impact of a leaky nitrogen cycle in croplands. Nature Food. 4(1). 109–121. 94 indexed citations

Tu, Xiaoshun, Jing Wang, Xiaoyu Liu, et al.. (2022). Inhibition of Elevated Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide to Soil Gross Nitrogen Mineralization Aggravated by Warming in an Agroecosystem. Environmental Science & Technology. 56(17). 12745–12754. 21 indexed citations

10.

Zhu, Rui, Xinqi Huang, Jinbo Zhang, et al.. (2021). Efficiency of Reductive Soil Disinfestation Affected by Soil Water Content and Organic Amendment Rate. Horticulturae. 7(12). 559–559. 7 indexed citations

11.

Cheng, Yi, Ahmed S. Elrys, Jing Wang, et al.. (2021). Application of enhanced-efficiency nitrogen fertilizers reduces mineral nitrogen usage and emissions of both N2O and NH3 while sustaining yields in a wheat-rice rotation system. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment. 324. 107720–107720. 62 indexed citations

12.

Zhang, Yi, Zucong Cai, Jinbo Zhang, & Christoph Müller. (2020). C:N ratio is not a reliable predictor of N2O production in acidic soils after a 30-day artificial manipulation. The Science of The Total Environment. 725. 138427–138427. 18 indexed citations

13.

Zhang, Yushu, Fei Wang, Jinbo Zhang, et al.. (2015). Cattle manure and straw have contrasting effects on organic nitrogen mineralization pathways in a subtropical paddy soil. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section B - Soil & Plant Science. 65(7). 619–628. 20 indexed citations

14.

Li, Xianglan, Noura Ziadi, Gilles Bélanger, Zucong Cai, & Hua Xu. (2011). Cadmium accumulation in wheat grain as affected by mineral N fertilizer and soil characteristics. Canadian Journal of Soil Science. 91(4). 521–531. 36 indexed citations

15.

Zhang, Jinbo, Zucong Cai, & Tongbin Zhu. (2011). N2O production pathways in the subtropical acid forest soils in China. Environmental Research. 111(5). 643–649. 112 indexed citations

16.

Ding, Weixin, Hou‐Yong Yu, & Zucong Cai. (2010). Impact of urease and nitrification inhibitors on nitrous oxide emissions from fluvo-aquic soil in the North China Plain. Biology and Fertility of Soils. 47(1). 91–99. 94 indexed citations

17.

Cai, Zucong, et al.. (2007). Effects of nitrogen application and maize growth on N2O emission from soil. Frontiers of Agriculture in China. 1(1). 37–42. 2 indexed citations

18.

Cai, Zucong, et al.. (2007). Effects of maize (Zea mays L.) growth and photosynthesis on δ13C in soil respiration. Frontiers of Agriculture in China. 1(4). 405–410. 2 indexed citations

19.

Ding, Weixin, Zucong Cai, & Dexuan Wang. (2003). Preliminary budget of methane emissions from natural wetlands in China. Atmospheric Environment. 38(5). 751–759. 134 indexed citations

20.

Cai, Zucong, Ronald J. Laughlin, & Robert Stevens. (2001). Nitrous oxide and dinitrogen emissions from soil under different water regimes and straw amendment. Chemosphere. 42(2). 113–121. 70 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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