# An Overview of Smart Composites for the Aerospace Sector
## 3 Results
### Affiliations and Countries  
Figure 10 shows the most influential affiliations contributing to the proposed research. In general, even though China dominates East Asian research, the existence of South Korean and Italian institutions shows that there is interest from around the world. The Harbin Institute of Technology (84 publications) tops the list, confirming its position as a significant center for aeronautical research. China's strong presence in this sector is further shown by the noteworthy contributions of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (63 publications) and Northwestern Polytechnical University (49 publications). Several other Chinese institutions, including Beihang University (42 publications), Zhejiang University (42 publications), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (32 publications), further highlight China's leadership in smart composite materials. Outside of China, Seoul National University (48 publications) represents a key research center in South Korea, reflecting the country's growing interest in aerospace innovation. Additionally, the University of Salerno (27 publications) stands out as the most relevant European institution, indicating the participation of Italy in this field. Although Figure 9 demonstrates that many of the most prominent authors in the subject are Chinese, Figure 10 emphasizes that institutions from other nations, including the USA and India, are also significant contributors to smart composite research. It also suggests that although there are many individual high-output researchers in China, research in other areas might be more collaborative or institutionally dispersed.  
Figure 11 presents the global distribution of scientific production, where darker blue shades indicate higher publication levels, while lighter shades represent lower output. As commented in the previous section with top affiliations, China leads overwhelmingly with 892 publications, reinforcing its dominant role in this research area. India (274 publications) and the United States (245 publications) follow as significant contributors, highlighting their strong scientific engagement despite the absence of specific institutions in the top rankings. Among European countries, Italy (151 publications) shows the highest data, followed by the United Kingdom (124 publications), France (75 publications), and Germany (67 publications), indicating a relevant but comparatively lower contribution. In Asia, Iran (122 publications) and South Korea (118 publications) demonstrate a growing presence in this field.  
Figure 9: Most relevant authors.  
Moreover, as seen in Figure 10, eight of the top ten research centers are in China, demonstrating the dominance of Chinese institutions in the field of smart composites. This focus is consistent with China's dominant position in research production (Figure 11). Nonetheless, South Korean and Italian institutes, as well as more general contributions from the USA and India, show that pertinent research is also being carried out globally. Rather than a lack of significant contributions from other locations, the apparent discrepancy can be caused by variations in research funding, institutional specialties, and collaborative networks.  
Table 3 presents the most cited countries based on TC and average article citations. As expected regarding the previous sections, China ranks first with 17,761 citations and an average of 28.10 citations per article, followed by the USA (3313; 23.80) and India (2974; 14.20). Other notable countries include Korea (2316; 23.90), Italy (2209; 22.10), Iran (2111; 20.90), and Canada (1421; 26.80). Despite having fewer publications, Canada has a high average citation rate, suggesting a considerable influence per article, while China's dominance in overall citations implies a robust research output in the topic.  
Figure 11: Countries’ scientific production.  
Figure 10: Most relevant affiliations.