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Domain

Physical Sciences research

Physical Sciences is one of the four domains of science in the OpenAlex classification. Science Explorer counts 45M research works in it since 1950. 18.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: branch of natural science that studies non-living systems.

Research works
45M
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
8.3M
per year above
Top-10% rate
18.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
1,571
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+24%
the tick is no change

What is Physical Sciences research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Environmental Impact, Neural Networks. Gaining share since 2009–13: Healthcare, Cathode Materials, Education, E-Learning, Lithium-ion Batteries. Losing share: Optimization, Nanostructures, Biosensors.

▲ gaining share of this field◆ holding its share▼ losing share

Size is the world's fractional works in 2019–23 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2009–13. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Deep Learning579k▲ 1.62×73 topics
  2. Machine Learning514k▲ 1.33×73 topics
  3. Climate Change460k◆ 1.12×80 topics
  4. Renewable Energy311k▲ 1.63×56 topics
  5. Environmental Impact297k▲ 1.33×50 topics
  6. Neural Networks291k▲ 1.34×36 topics
  7. Sustainability274k▲ 1.40×55 topics
  8. Remote Sensing266k◆ 0.90×40 topics
  9. Biomedical Applications262k▲ 1.20×29 topics
  10. Nanomaterials242k▲ 1.52×19 topics
  11. Mechanical Properties229k◆ 1.12×37 topics
  12. Energy Efficiency228k▲ 1.26×41 topics
  13. Nanoparticles227k◆ 0.98×33 topics
  14. Nanocomposites203k◆ 1.11×22 topics
  15. Graphene176k▲ 1.58×12 topics
  16. E-Learning175k▲ 2.2×15 topics
  17. Internet of Things164k◆ 1.07×28 topics
  18. Catalysis160k◆ 0.88×28 topics
  19. Energy Storage149k▲ 1.98×13 topics
  20. Sustainable Development145k▲ 1.71×38 topics
  21. Convolutional Neural Networks137k▲ 1.81×13 topics
  22. Artificial Intelligence130k▲ 1.16×33 topics
  23. Data Mining129k▲ 1.33×19 topics
  24. Heat Transfer127k▲ 1.16×20 topics
  25. Tissue Engineering119k▲ 1.36×9 topics
  26. Microstructure116k◆ 1.15×18 topics
  27. Security112k▲ 1.61×20 topics
  28. Education112k▲ 2.9×18 topics
  29. Artificial Neural Networks109k▲ 1.17×10 topics
  30. Optimization109k▼ 0.70×22 topics
  31. Drug Delivery106k◆ 1.08×13 topics
  32. Nanostructures105k▼ 0.83×17 topics
  33. Healthcare101k▲ 5.1×9 topics
  34. Biodiversity99k▲ 1.25×19 topics
  35. Metal-Organic Frameworks98k▲ 1.78×6 topics
  36. Water Quality97k◆ 0.97×19 topics
  37. Lithium-ion Batteries94k▲ 2.2×4 topics
  38. Biosensors93k▼ 0.83×9 topics
  39. Carbon Nanotubes91k◆ 1.03×9 topics
  40. Cathode Materials90k▲ 3.0×3 topics

Which countries lead Physical Sciences research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and India rank highest in Physical Sciences. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.4M and 893k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 20.7% top 10% · 2.4M works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 16.9% top 10% · 893k works
  3. 3 India · #9 all time 13.9% top 10% · 682k works
  4. 4 Germany · #3 all time 16.7% top 10% · 270k works
  5. 5 United Kingdom · #4 all time 21.5% top 10% · 212k works
  6. 6 France · #5 all time 14.5% top 10% · 197k works
  7. 7 Italy · #8 all time 20.1% top 10% · 176k works
  8. 8 Australia · #11 all time 25.5% top 10% · 106k works
  9. 9 South Korea · #14 all time 18.0% top 10% · 171k works
  10. 10 Japan · #6 all time 9.7% top 10% · 235k works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 157 countries ranked in Physical Sciences. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Physical Sciences

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 2.4M works
  2. 2 United States 893k works
  3. 3 India 682k works
  4. 4 Indonesia 349k works
  5. 5 Germany 270k works
  6. 6 Russia 258k works
  7. 7 Japan 235k works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 212k works
  9. 9 France 197k works
  10. 10 Italy 176k works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 42.4%United States: 15.7%India: 12.0%Indonesia: 6.1%6 others listed: 23.7%42%largest
China2.4M · 42.4%United States893k · 15.7%India682k · 12.0%Indonesia349k · 6.1%6 others listed1.3M · 23.7%

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

Which institutions lead Physical Sciences research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Physical Sciences on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Tsinghua University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #5 all time 25.5% top 10% · 46k works
  2. 2 Tsinghua University China · Beijing · #19 all time 26.5% top 10% · 32k works
  3. 3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #55 all time 26.1% top 10% · 26k works
  4. 4 Zhejiang University China · Hangzhou · #57 all time 23.3% top 10% · 26k works
  5. 5 University of Science and Technology of China China · Hefei · #54 all time 24.3% top 10% · 20k works
  6. 6 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China · Shanghai · #65 all time 24.2% top 10% · 29k works
  7. 7 Peking University China · Beijing · #56 all time 26.1% top 10% · 15k works
  8. 8 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States · Cambridge · #1 all time 26.8% top 10% · 8.4k works
  9. 9 Harbin Institute of Technology China · Harbin · #78 all time 23.8% top 10% · 30k works
  10. 10 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #4 all time 17.6% top 10% · 24k works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 12,888 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Physical Sciences.

Top 100 Physical Sciences institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China 46k works
  2. 2 Tsinghua University China 32k works
  3. 3 Harbin Institute of Technology China 30k works
  4. 4 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China 29k works
  5. 5 Xi'an Jiaotong University China 27k works
  6. 6 Zhejiang University China 26k works
  7. 7 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 26k works
  8. 8 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France 24k works
  9. 9 Southeast University China 23k works
  10. 10 Central South University China 23k works

Who are the leading researchers in Physical Sciences?

Among the most productive authors in Physical Sciences, Andrew Zisserman, Yoshua Bengio and E. L. Wright rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Andrew Zisserman United Kingdom · #3 worldwide 25k citations · 241 works
  2. 2 Yoshua Bengio Canada · #4 worldwide 17k citations · 298 works
  3. 3 E. L. Wright United States · #13 worldwide 9.3k citations · 228 works
  4. 4 Jitendra Malik United States · #39 worldwide 12k citations · 179 works
  5. 5 Edward J. Wollack United States · #83 worldwide 7.2k citations · 212 works
  6. 6 Wolfram Burgard Germany · #103 worldwide 6.3k citations · 232 works
  7. 7 David N. Spergel United States · #104 worldwide 7.9k citations · 198 works
  8. 8 George Em Karniadakis United States · #151 worldwide 6.3k citations · 268 works
  9. 9 Leonidas Guibas United States · #165 worldwide 6.3k citations · 229 works
  10. 10 Anil K. Jain United States · #178 worldwide 6.3k citations · 275 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 5,773 highest-output authors in Physical Sciences. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Physical Sciences researchers

Where is Physical Sciences research done?

The largest centres of Physical Sciences research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Xi'an (China).

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 461k works
  2. 2 Shanghai China 156k works
  3. 3 Nanjing China 138k works
  4. 4 Xi'an China 123k works
  5. 5 Wuhan China 105k works
  6. 6 Moscow Russia 95k works
  7. 7 Guangzhou China 91k works
  8. 8 Chengdu China 82k works
  9. 9 Tokyo Japan 76k works
  10. 10 Hangzhou China 75k works
See Physical Sciences on the map

Physical Sciences research by country

The best places for Physical Sciences research inside each country, with that country's researchers and world standing.

Where is the best place to study Physical Sciences?

Among universities, judged by research, Southern University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Khalifa University of Science and Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 28.16%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Southern University of Science and Technology: 8,468, 27.3%Hong Kong Polytechnic University: 11k, 34.3%Khalifa University of Science and Technology: 3,887, 27.9%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 26k, 26.1%Tsinghua University: 32k, 26.5%Harbin Institute of Technology: 30k, 23.8%Northwestern Polytechnical University: 21k, 27.2%City University of Hong Kong: 8,060, 32.2%King Abdullah University of Science and Technology: 4,968, 27.6%King Khalid University: 4,349, 28.7%Hong Kong Polytechni…Khalifa University o…Southern University …University of Chines…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Southern University of Science and Technology China 68.327.3%2.0×8,468 +1392.4%
2Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong 66.434.3%1.6×11,440 +8.5%
3Khalifa University of Science and Technology United Arab Emirates 65.927.9%2.0×3,887 +211.9%
4University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 65.726.1%2.0×26,183 +61.3%
5Tsinghua University China 65.426.5%2.1×32,491 +1.1%
6Harbin Institute of Technology China 64.623.8%2.3×30,454 +1.7%
7Northwestern Polytechnical University China 64.227.2%2.3×21,167 -11.7%
8City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 63.732.2%1.7×8,060 +14.1%
9King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Saudi Arabia 63.727.6%2.2×4,968 +87.1%
10King Khalid University Saudi Arabia 63.728.7%1.5×4,349 +193.6%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Physical Sciences research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 24% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Educational Methods and Media Use, Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques and Advancements in Battery Materials.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

  1. Educational Methods and Media Use+3419%
  2. Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques+429%
  3. Advancements in Battery Materials+390%
  4. Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials+225%
  5. Conducting polymers and applications+107%
  6. Advanced Chemical Sensor Technologies+56%
  7. Neural Networks and Applications-11%
  8. Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism-16%
  9. Analytical Chemistry and Chromatography-17%
  10. Advanced Chemical Physics Studies-26%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Physical Sciences include?

Photonic and Optical Devices: 155k fractional worksSemiconductor materials and devices: 146k fractional worksAdvanced Chemical Physics Studies: 136k fractional worksAnalytical Chemistry and Chromatography: 136k fractional worksCatalytic Processes in Materials Science: 131k fractional worksGeology and Paleoclimato…121kGeology and Paleoclimatology Research: 121k fractional worksConducting polymers and applications: 116k fractional worksElectrochemical Analysis and Applications: 113k fractional worksAnalytical Chemistry and…110kAnalytical Chemistry and Sensors: 110k fractional worksGeological and Geochemical Analysis: 108k fractional worksPhysics of Superconductivity and Magnetism: 107k fractional worksParticle physics theoret…107kParticle physics theoretical and experimental studies: 107k fractional works

Area is fractional works in that topic. Every name below is a page of its own.