World transit research: State of the art

This chapter explores public transport research by analysing the World Transit Research database; a clearinghouse of all digital publications. There are over 7, 000 publications in the field which is growing at 7.75% p.a. implying a doubling of research every 9 years. Currently on average, 9.6 papers are published each week. By volume the journal Transportation Research Record represents about a third of all papers but the IEEE publication on ITS has the highest citation rate. By country, the USA has the highest publication rate at 35% of all papers followed by China and Australia. China, Switzerland and New Zealand have the highest growth rates of contemporary publications. Transit research themes of ‘Planning’ and Ridership’ are the focus of 40% of all published papers and ‘Planning ' has the highest paper growth rate. Results suggest a growing and diversifying field and many lessons for researchers, publishers and practitioners in transit.