What This Page Shows
This Collaboration Atlas maps the research networks of 122,674 CDR scientists using co-authorship data from OpenAlex. The 284,547 co-authored papers reveal how researchers collaborate across disciplines, institutions, and countries — and which scientific communities are bridging the gap between different carbon dioxide removal methods.
How It Was Built
- Co-authorship networks: Every paper co-authored by CDR researchers creates a connection in the network
- Louvain community detection: Algorithmic clustering identified 131 distinct research communities that frequently publish together
- Pathway classification: Each community’s dominant method was determined by OpenAlex classification + LLM filtering
- Bridge scoring: Researchers with high network betweenness centrality — spanning multiple methods and geographies — are flagged as “bridge researchers”
What the Data Means
- Communities = clusters of researchers who co-author papers frequently (strong scientific coupling)
- Bridges = individuals whose network position connects otherwise disconnected research areas
- Cross-method links = co-authorships between researchers from different CDR pathways
- Institutions = research centers where CDR work concentrates
This collaboration analysis is highly experimental. Key limitations:
- Based on co-authorship data from OpenAlex, which has known disambiguation issues
- Community detection is algorithmic — detected clusters are approximate, not ground truth
- "Bridge researcher" scores use network metrics (betweenness centrality), not editorial judgment
- CDR pathway assignment uses automated classification (code-based patterns + LLM filtering)
- Data is from the latest census snapshot — updated monthly
🔥 How CDR Methods Cross-Pollinate
This matrix shows co-authorship links between researchers from different CDR methods. Higher numbers = more collaboration.
| Soil C. | Biochar | DAC | EW | BECCS | Ocean | General | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soil C. | 147k | 10.0k | 96 | 2.3k | 632 | 890 | 13k |
| Biochar | 10.0k | 60k | 128 | 380 | 757 | 175 | 2.2k |
| DAC | 96 | 128 | 6.3k | 148 | 75 | 41 | 2.5k |
| EW | 2.3k | 380 | 148 | 13k | 19 | 778 | 1.7k |
| BECCS | 632 | 757 | 75 | 19 | 6.3k | 13 | 2.4k |
| Ocean | 890 | 175 | 41 | 778 | 13 | 10k | 2.4k |
| General | 13k | 2.2k | 2.5k | 1.7k | 2.4k | 2.4k | 50k |
🌍 Top Country Collaborations
The strongest international research partnerships in CDR, measured by co-authored papers.
🔗 Bridge Researchers
These researchers connect the most CDR methods through their co-authorship network — the rare people who span biochar, DAC, ocean CDR, and more. Click names to visit their researcher profile.
| # | Researcher | Methods | Co-authors | Primary | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yakov Kuzyakov | 4 | 505 | Soil Carbon | Georg-August-Universität Göttingen | Germany |
| 2 | Josep Peñuelas | 6 | 269 | Soil Carbon | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas | Spain |
| 3 | Pete Smith | 5 | 203 | Soil Carbon | Scotland's Climate Change Centre of Expertise (… | United Kingdom |
| 4 | Noah J. Planavsky | 6 | 142 | Enhanced Weathering | Planetary Science Institute | United States |
| 5 | Maurício Roberto Cherubin | 4 | 151 | Soil Carbon | Universidade de São Paulo - Escola Superior de … | Brazil |
| 6 | Rattan Lal | 4 | 158 | Soil Carbon | The Ohio State University | United States |
| 7 | Phil Renforth | 7 | 148 | General CDR | Heriot-Watt University | United Kingdom |
| 8 | Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri | 5 | 132 | Soil Carbon | University of Sao Paulo | Brazil |
| 9 | Jordi Sardans | 6 | 206 | Soil Carbon | CREAF - Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacio… | Spain |
| 10 | David J. Beerling | 5 | 149 | Enhanced Weathering | Leverhulme Trust | United Kingdom |
| 11 | Ji Chen | 6 | 197 | Soil Carbon | Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Earth … | China |
| 12 | Philippe Ciais | 5 | 153 | General CDR | Université Paris-Saclay | France |
| 13 | Ondřej Mašek | 7 | 110 | Biochar | University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom |
| 14 | Kadambot H. M. Siddique | 3 | 122 | Soil Carbon | The University of Western Australia | Australia |
| 15 | Lennart T. Bach | 3 | 76 | Ocean CDR | University of Tasmania | Australia |
| 16 | Ulf Riebesell | 3 | 101 | Ocean CDR | GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel | Germany |
| 17 | Chao Liang | 4 | 154 | Soil Carbon | Central University of Finance and Economics | China |
| 18 | Andreas Oschlies | 3 | 109 | General CDR | GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel | Germany |
| 19 | Jens Hartmann | 5 | 137 | Enhanced Weathering | Universität Hamburg | Germany |
| 20 | Rajan Ghimire | 3 | 63 | Soil Carbon | New Mexico State University | United States |
| 21 | Scott X. Chang | 4 | 119 | Soil Carbon | University of Alberta | Canada |
| 22 | Ram Swaroop Meena | 4 | 96 | Soil Carbon | Banaras Hindu University | India |
| 23 | Manuel Delgado‐Baquerizo | 4 | 147 | Soil Carbon | Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología … | Spain |
| 24 | Hailong Wang | 5 | 122 | Soil Carbon | Foshan University | China |
| 25 | Axel Don | 2 | 82 | Soil Carbon | Thünen-Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture | Germany |
| 26 | Zhouping Shangguan | 2 | 73 | Soil Carbon | 中国科学院水利部水土保持研究所 | China |
| 27 | Yiqi Luo | 5 | 133 | Soil Carbon | Cornell University | United States |
| 28 | Sara Vicca | 4 | 100 | Enhanced Weathering | University of Antwerp | Belgium |
| 29 | Tida Ge | 3 | 115 | Soil Carbon | Ningbo University | China |
| 30 | Peng Li | 3 | 75 | Soil Carbon | Nanjing Agricultural University | China |
| 31 | Raymond R. Tan | 6 | 47 | General CDR | Hubei University Of Economics | China |
| 32 | Daniel C.W. Tsang | 4 | 69 | Biochar | Hong Kong Polytechnic University | Hong Kong |
| 33 | Han Y. H. Chen | 3 | 88 | Soil Carbon | University of Michigan | Canada |
| 34 | David P. Keller | 4 | 96 | General CDR | Carbon to Sea Initiative | United States |
| 35 | Haishui Yang | 3 | 92 | Soil Carbon | Nanjing Agricultural University | China |
| 36 | Christopher T. Reinhard | 4 | 60 | General CDR | Georgia Institute of Technology | United States |
| 37 | Roland Bol | 3 | 89 | Soil Carbon | Forschungszentrum Jülich | Germany |
| 38 | Amit Kumar | 4 | 84 | Soil Carbon | Nanjing University of Information Science and T… | China |
| 39 | Jeroen Meersmans | 3 | 65 | Soil Carbon | University of Liège | Belgium |
| 40 | Hai‐Lin Zhang | 3 | 57 | Soil Carbon | China Agricultural University | China |
| 41 | Ian Power | 4 | 62 | Enhanced Weathering | Trent University | Canada |
| 42 | Zhaoliang Song | 4 | 114 | Soil Carbon | Tianjin University | China |
| 43 | Haewon McJeon | 3 | 106 | General CDR | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | South Korea |
| 44 | Faming Wang | 3 | 98 | Soil Carbon | South China Botanical Garden | China |
| 45 | Nanthi Bolan | 3 | 97 | Soil Carbon | The University of Western Australia | Australia |
| 46 | Spyros Foteinis | 6 | 90 | General CDR | Public Power Corporation SA | Greece |
| 47 | Yunting Fang | 4 | 115 | Soil Carbon | Chinese Academy of Sciences | China |
| 48 | Minggang Xu | 2 | 80 | Soil Carbon | Shanxi Agricultural University | China |
| 49 | Jens Leifeld | 3 | 82 | General CDR | Aarhus University | Denmark |
| 50 | Jinshui Wu | 3 | 90 | Soil Carbon | Chinese Academy of Sciences | China |
🌐 Research Communities by CDR Method
The 50 detected communities, grouped by dominant pathway. Each cluster represents researchers who frequently co-author together, revealing natural research subfields within CDR.
Soil Carbon
Community 14: Soil Carbon (1,800 researchers)
Community 11: Soil Carbon (1,191 researchers)
Community 12: Soil Carbon (1,094 researchers)
Biochar
Community 34: Biochar (785 researchers)
Community 53: Biochar (528 researchers)
Community 72: Biochar (460 researchers)
General CDR
Community 2: General CDR (883 researchers)
Community 74: General CDR (733 researchers)
Community 1: General CDR (652 researchers)
Ocean CDR
Community 40: Ocean CDR (808 researchers)
Community 94: Ocean CDR (390 researchers)
Community 91: Ocean CDR (370 researchers)
Enhanced Weathering
Community 6: Enhanced Weathering (543 researchers)
Community 59: Enhanced Weathering (513 researchers)
BECCS
No research communities detected for BECCS in this dataset.
DAC
No research communities detected for DAC in this dataset.
🌐 CDR Method Collaboration Chord
How do CDR research methods connect through co-authorship? This chord diagram shows the flow of collaboration between pathways — thicker ribbons mean more co-authored papers linking researchers across methods.
Hover over ribbons to see co-authorship counts. Ribbon thickness is proportional to collaboration volume.