| Nexus approaches to global sustainable development J Liu, V Hull, HCJ Godfray, D Tilman, P Gleick, H Hoff, C Pahl-Wostl, Z Xu, ... Nature Sustainability 1 (9), 466-476, 2018 | 769 | 2018 |
| Assessing progress towards sustainable development over space and time Z Xu, SN Chau, X Chen, J Zhang, Y Li, T Dietz, J Wang, JA Winkler, F Fan, ... Nature 577 (7788), 74-78, 2020 | 617 | 2020 |
| Impacts of international trade on global sustainable development Z Xu, Y Li, SN Chau, T Dietz, C Li, L Wan, J Zhang, L Zhang, Y Li, ... Nature Sustainability 3 (11), 964-971, 2020 | 250 | 2020 |
| Effects of conservation policy on China’s forest recovery A Viña, WJ McConnell, H Yang, Z Xu, J Liu Science advances 2 (3), e1500965, 2016 | 225 | 2016 |
| Importing food damages domestic environment: Evidence from global soybean trade J Sun, H Mooney, W Wu, H Tang, Y Tong, Z Xu, B Huang, Y Cheng, ... Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115 (21), 5415-5419, 2018 | 199 | 2018 |
| Decoupling of SDGs followed by re-coupling as sustainable development progresses X Wu, B Fu, S Wang, S Song, Y Li, Z Xu, Y Wei, J Liu Nature Sustainability 5 (5), 452-459, 2022 | 188 | 2022 |
| Impacts of irrigated agriculture on food–energy–water–CO2 nexus across metacoupled systems Z Xu, X Chen, J Liu, Y Zhang, S Chau, N Bhattarai, Y Wang, Y Li, ... Nature communications 11 (1), 5837, 2020 | 176 | 2020 |
| Multiple telecouplings and their complex interrelationships J Liu, V Hull, J Luo, W Yang, W Liu, A Viña, C Vogt, Z Xu, H Yang, J Zhang, ... Ecology and Society 20 (3), 2015 | 174 | 2015 |
| China can reach carbon neutrality before 2050 by improving economic development quality G Xu, H Dong, Z Xu, N Bhattarai Energy 243, 123087, 2022 | 167 | 2022 |
| Spatial-temporal assessment of water footprint, water scarcity and crop water productivity in a major crop production region Z Xu, X Chen, SR Wu, M Gong, Y Du, J Wang, Y Li, J Liu Journal of Cleaner Production 224, 375-383, 2019 | 125 | 2019 |
| Optimal planning of islanded integrated energy system with solar-biogas energy supply C Li, H Yang, M Shahidehpour, Z Xu, B Zhou, Y Cao, L Zeng IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy 11 (4), 2437-2448, 2019 | 114 | 2019 |
| Environmental sustainability and footprints of global aquaculture Q Jiang, N Bhattarai, M Pahlow, Z Xu Resources, Conservation and Recycling 180, 106183, 2022 | 109 | 2022 |
| Synergies and tradeoffs among Sustainable Development Goals across boundaries in a metacoupled world Z Zhao, M Cai, F Wang, JA Winkler, T Connor, MG Chung, J Zhang, ... Science of the Total Environment 751, 141749, 2021 | 89 | 2021 |
| Climate variability and trends at a national scale Z Xu, Y Tang, T Connor, D Li, Y Li, J Liu Scientific Reports 7 (1), 3258, 2017 | 67 | 2017 |
| Soil microplastics pollution in agriculture L He, Z Li, Q Jia, Z Xu Science 379 (6632), 547-547, 2023 | 60 | 2023 |
| Spatio-temporal dynamics of China’s ecological civilization progress after implementing national conservation strategy M Wu, Y Liu, Z Xu, G Yan, M Ma, S Zhou, Y Qian Journal of Cleaner Production 285, 124886, 2021 | 53 | 2021 |
| Decoupling environmental impact from economic growth to achieve Sustainable Development Goals in China Y Jiang, S Tian, Z Xu, L Gao, L Xiao, S Chen, K Xu, J Chang, Z Luo, Z Shi Journal of Environmental Management 312, 114978, 2022 | 47 | 2022 |
| Global status of dioxin emission and China’s role in reducing the emission R Lei, Z Xu, Y Xing, W Liu, X Wu, T Jia, S Sun, Y He Journal of Hazardous Materials 418, 126265, 2021 | 44 | 2021 |
| Urban scaling patterns for sustainable development goals related to water, energy, infrastructure, and society in China C Zhou, M Gong, Z Xu, S Qu Resources, Conservation and Recycling 185, 106443, 2022 | 43 | 2022 |
| Nonlinear impacts of renewable energy consumption on economic growth and environmental pollution across China C Li, T Lin, Y Chen, Y Yan, Z Xu Journal of Cleaner production 368, 133183, 2022 | 42 | 2022 |