Science Explorer Interactive view Map

Research in Cambridge

Science Explorer records 254 research institutions in Cambridge, United States. The highest-ranked on research quality in 2022–2025 are Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Broad Institute.

Research institutions
254
15 of them ranked worldwide
Research works
477k
▲ 4% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate, 2022–2025
26.7%
record average 16.5%

A city carries no overall standing here. The composite score is built for institutions and countries, the units its floors and field normalisation were designed around. An empty rank on this page is a statement about the measure, not about the place.

Which research institutions are in Cambridge?

#InstitutionWorksAgainst the largest hereWorld rank
1Harvard UniversityUniversity 221,706 #4
2Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUniversity 159,916 #12
3Center for Astrophysics Harvard & SmithsonianUniversity 13,191 #1,314
4National Bureau of Economic ResearchNonprofit 12,989 #2,288
5IIT@MITResearch facility 8,749 #1,060
6World Wide Web ConsortiumInstitution 6,517 #14,662
7Broad InstituteNonprofit 5,088 #188
8Smithsonian Astrophysical ObservatoryResearch facility 2,832 #2,198 all time
9Draper LaboratoryFunder 2,611 #10,274
10Biogen (United States)Company 2,609 #3,772
11Whitehead Institute for Biomedical ResearchResearch facility 2,451 #4,343
12Harvard Global Health InstituteUniversity 1,983 #3,567
13Digital Science (United States)Company 1,892 #7,091
14Harvard–MIT Division of Health Sciences and TechnologyUniversity 1,820 #4,774
15Abt Global (United States)Company 1,409 #23,413
16Cambridge HospitalHospital / health system 1,323 #5,861 all time
17Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery InstituteHospital / health system 1,318 #10,738
18Harvard Stem Cell InstituteResearch facility 1,230 #1,893
19Episcopal Divinity SchoolUniversity 1,225 #23,438
20McGovern Institute for Brain ResearchResearch facility 1,180 #1,970
21Cambridge Health AllianceHospital / health system 1,149 #10,012
22Harvard College ObservatoryResearch facility 1,124 #9,371
23Mount Auburn HospitalHospital / health system 990 #12,786
24Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and HarvardHospital / health system 888 #1,238
25Lesley UniversityUniversity 864 #22,976
26Cytel (United States)Company 796 #14,190
27Machine ScienceNonprofit 776 #19,802
28Cambridge Electronics (United States)Company 676 #5,396 all time
29American Academy of Arts and SciencesInstitution 663 #23,645
30Volpe National Transportation Systems CenterGovernment institution 602 #16,717 all time
31Abcam (United States)Company 581 #25,457
32Center for Effective PhilanthropyNonprofit 580 #25,380
33Ibis Reproductive HealthResearch facility 541 #17,130
34Acentech (United States)Company 465 #24,145
35Bioethics InternationalNonprofit 385 #26,281 all time
36Moderna Therapeutics (United States)Company 385 #2,411
37MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold AtomsResearch facility 357 #829 all time
38Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (United States)Company 344 #13,768
39Charles River Analytics (United States)Company 318 #31,386 all time
40Sarepta Therapeutics (United States)Company 314 #22,425
41Akamai (United States)Company 306 #23,725 all time
42Union of Concerned ScientistsNonprofit 289 #21,869 all time
43Institute for Soldier NanotechnologiesResearch facility 273 #4,893 all time
44Northeast Radio Observatory CorporationResearch facility 272 #18,152 all time
45AVEO Oncology (United States)Company 266 #10,966
46Scholar Rock (United States)University 256 #36,319 all time
47Arup Group (United States)Company 250 #35,639 all time
48Idera Pharmaceuticals (United States)Company 248 #11,260 all time
49Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (United States)Company 228 #22,666 all time
50Hult International Business SchoolUniversity 226 #10,536
51Dimagi (United States)Company 226 #25,149 all time
52Angiogenesis FoundationNonprofit 202 #13,652 all time
53Blueprint Medicines (United States)Company 199 #15,079 all time
54BioMimetic Systems (United States)Company 198 #21,096 all time
55Marketing Science InstituteNonprofit 194 #24,535 all time
56Acceleron Pharma (United States)Company 192 #27,916 all time
57GVD Corporation (United States)Company 189 #21,815 all time
58Ensemble Therapeutics (United States)Company 186 #28,002 all time
59Cambridge CollegeUniversity 182 #34,315 all time
60Agios Pharmaceuticals (United States)Company 178 #15,108 all time

By fractional works over the whole record; world rank on research quality in 2022–2025. Bars are scaled to the largest institution in this city, not to anything off the page.

How concentrated the city is

The same institutions as shares of everything the list accounts for. A city that is one university and a city that is twelve read alike as a table and not at all alike here.

Harvard University: 47.2%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 34.1%Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian: 2.8%National Bureau of Economic Research: 2.8%56 others listed: 13.1%47%largest
Harvard University222k · 47.2%Massachusetts Institute of Technology160k · 34.1%Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian13k · 2.8%National Bureau of Economic Research13k · 2.8%56 others listed62k · 13.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

What is Cambridge strongest at in research?

Relative to its size, research in Cambridge is most concentrated in Instrumentation, Astronomy and Astrophysics and Aging (9.2× the world share in Instrumentation).

  1. InstrumentationSubfield · 238.6 works9.2×
  2. Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield · 1,352.0 works5.0×
  3. AgingSubfield · 47.3 works3.8×
  4. Structural BiologySubfield · 29.4 works3.5×
  5. General Decision SciencesSubfield · 32.5 works3.3×
  6. BiophysicsSubfield · 182.2 works3.1×
  7. Statistics and ProbabilitySubfield · 318.8 works2.9×
  8. Physics and AstronomyField · 3,281.1 works2.8×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient against the world baseline. Inside a single field a city is a meaningful unit, which is why this is where a city is measured at all.

Which keywords describe research in Cambridge?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Inflammation, Machine Learning, Public Health, Cardiovascular Disease, Oxidative Stress, Supernovae and Cancer.

▲ more of its work than of the world’s◆ about the world’s share▼ less than the world’s

Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this city's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Epidemiology2,934▲ 1.43×139 topics
  2. Machine Learning1,644◆ 0.97×94 topics
  3. Inflammation1,643▲ 1.52×83 topics
  4. Deep Learning1,385▼ 0.78×83 topics
  5. Oxidative Stress1,108▲ 1.30×63 topics
  6. Public Health1,076▲ 1.42×73 topics
  7. Quality of Life979▲ 1.31×59 topics
  8. Cancer971▲ 1.39×58 topics
  9. Cardiovascular Disease962▲ 1.66×39 topics
  10. Mental Health904▲ 1.19×47 topics
  11. Treatment827▲ 1.31×52 topics
  12. Risk Factors809▲ 1.42×37 topics
  13. Depression734▲ 1.61×26 topics
  14. Metabolic Syndrome718▲ 1.70×24 topics
  15. Immunotherapy694▲ 1.87×19 topics
  16. Neurological Disorders644▲ 2.2×20 topics
  17. Gene Expression636▲ 2.0×20 topics
  18. Biomarkers630▲ 1.77×18 topics
  19. Genetics596▲ 1.64×27 topics
  20. Clinical Trials591▲ 1.69×19 topics
  21. Diagnosis588▲ 1.22×41 topics
  22. Mortality569▲ 1.89×13 topics
  23. Precision Medicine490▲ 2.0×8 topics
  24. Aging475▲ 1.70×19 topics
  25. Immunity445▲ 2.1×11 topics
  26. Primary Care416▲ 2.1×15 topics
  27. Supernovae390▲ 9.1×2 topics
  28. Gravitational Waves367▲ 13×2 topics
  29. Cancer Immunotherapy327▲ 4.1×3 topics
  30. Nucleosynthesis326▲ 13×3 topics
  31. Gamma-Ray Bursts318▲ 23×1 topic
  32. Neutron Stars318▲ 23×1 topic
  33. Structural Health Monitoring289▲ 7.2×4 topics
  34. Laser Scanning278▲ 29×2 topics
  35. Optical 3D Laser Measurement278▲ 47×1 topic
  36. Position-Sensitive Detector278▲ 47×1 topic
  37. Star Formation225▲ 8.2×2 topics
  38. Accretion Disks222▲ 9.1×2 topics
  39. Astronomical Instrumentation220▲ 17×1 topic
  40. Spectrograph220▲ 17×1 topic

What research is done in Cambridge?

  1. 1 Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae Astronomy and Astrophysics 318 works
  2. 2 Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation Computational Mechanics 278 works
  3. 3 Astronomy and Astrophysical Research Instrumentation 220 works
  4. 4 Astro and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics 204 works
  5. 5 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life Economics and Econometrics 198 works
  6. 6 CAR-T cell therapy research Oncology 176 works
  7. 7 CRISPR and Genetic Engineering Molecular Biology 175 works
  8. 8 Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics Molecular Biology 160 works
  9. 9 Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Cancer Research 157 works
  10. 10 Healthcare Policy and Management Economics and Econometrics 157 works

Research output over time

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more.