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University · Amherst Center · United States

Amherst College

In research, Amherst College stands highest in Physical Sciences (#3,090 of 12,888 worldwide), Social Sciences (#2,562 of 10,521 worldwide) and Health Sciences (#2,927 of 11,982 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Anthropology — Anthropology is 8.3× its share of world research.

amherst.eduROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#3,369
of 28,054 · #2,033 all time
Rank in United States
#480
of 4,192
Research works
6.8k
▲ 27% vs 2013–17
Citations
136k
20.0 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
16.2%
record average 16.5%
Open access
28%
world 28%

What is Amherst College known for in research?

The fields where it stands highest, 2022–2025, ranked among every institution above the floor in each field.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorksAll time
Physical SciencesDomain #3,090 of 12,888 16.7%374 #2040
Social SciencesDomain #2,562 of 10,521 15.0%412 #924
Health SciencesDomain #2,927 of 11,982 17.6%98 #3901
Social SciencesField #2,276 of 6,365 14.9%230 #865
Computer ScienceField #2,029 of 4,667 18.8%121 #1777
MedicineField #6,365 of 10,443 17.9%75 #5649
Life SciencesDomain #4,856 of 7,800 18.2%116 #3212
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #1,786 of 2,578 14.8%80 #839
EngineeringField #5,060 of 6,636 10.6%71 #3546
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #3,092 of 3,579 15.2%61 #2892

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Amherst College sits in it, in the colour of the band that rank falls in. The track under the rate is the rate itself: it carries no world mark, because the world rate differs by field (from about 6% to 21% in this record).

Which of those standings moved

The same fields on both windows: where it stood over the whole record, and where it stands in 2022–2025. The distance is the story, and it is the one thing the two rank columns above cannot show.

  1. Physical Sciences#2,040 #3,090
  2. Social Sciences#924 #2,562
  3. Health Sciences#3,901 #2,927
  4. Social Sciences#865 #2,276
  5. Computer Science#1,777 #2,029
  6. Medicine#5,649 #6,365
  7. Life Sciences#3,212 #4,856
  8. Sociology and Political Science#839 #1,786
  9. Engineering#3,546 #5,060
  10. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#2,892 #3,092
all time2022–2025, better2022–2025, worse

A dot further right is a better standing. Fields it was not ranked in over the whole record are left out.

What does Amherst College specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Anthropology takes 8.3× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. AnthropologySubfield · 23.4 works8.3×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient, a volume reading rather than an impact one. It surfaces small, lopsided specialities.

Field profile

Location quotient across every field it publishes in: outside the ring is more than an institution of this size would be expected to publish, inside it is less.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 0.50× its world share, 24 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.14× its world share, 61 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.56× its world share, 6 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.49× its world share, 24 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.57× its world share, 2 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.59× its world share, 2 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 1.12× its world share, 18 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.55× its world share, 121 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.51× its world share, 24 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.43× its world share, 4 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.47× its world share, 71 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.80× its world share, 40 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.41× its world share, 14 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 3.26× its world share, 38 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.88× its world share, 42 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.26× its world share, 1 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.65× its world share, 17 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.39× its world share, 75 worksMedicineNursing: 0.91× its world share, 4 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.06× its world share, 0 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 2.71× its world share, 78 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.33× its world share, 11 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.39× its world share, 13 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.26× its world share, 27 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.73× its world share, 53 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 1.82× its world share, 230 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Mathematics, 3.3×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at Amherst College?

Ranked on the composite score, Daniel J. Velleman, Allen Guttmann and Austin Sarat lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Amherst College.

  1. 1 Daniel J. Velleman United States · #18,528 worldwide 246 citations · 60 works
  2. 2 Allen Guttmann United States · #20,124 worldwide 193 citations · 54 works
  3. 3 Austin Sarat United States · #23,537 worldwide 187 citations · 87 works
  4. 4 Deborah Gewertz United States · #26,676 worldwide 657 citations · 36 works
  5. 5 Alexander L. George United States · #32,672 worldwide 183 citations · 52 works
  6. 6 Donal O’Shea United States · #71,510 worldwide 288 citations · 61 works
  7. 7 Frederick Errington United States · #78,741 worldwide 674 citations · 24 works
  8. 8 William H. Pritchard United States · #85,362 worldwide 101 citations · 67 works
  9. 9 Virginia C. Dewey United States · #85,704 worldwide 171 citations · 29 works
  10. 10 Robert H. Romer United States · #86,956 worldwide 151 citations · 35 works
All ranked researchers at Amherst College

Which keywords describe research at Amherst College?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Colonialism, Identity, Globalization, Nationalism, History, Culture, Machine Learning and Politics.

▲ 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 institution'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. Globalization47▲ 2.4×59 topics
  2. Machine Learning46▲ 1.39×61 topics
  3. Deep Learning35◆ 1.03×61 topics
  4. Identity34▲ 4.7×33 topics
  5. Colonialism33▲ 7.0×25 topics
  6. Climate Change30◆ 1.13×64 topics
  7. Nationalism28▲ 6.0×22 topics
  8. History26▲ 3.7×23 topics
  9. Human Rights25▲ 2.4×28 topics
  10. Culture24▲ 4.5×16 topics
  11. Gender21▲ 3.9×25 topics
  12. Religion20▲ 4.3×19 topics
  13. Mental Health20▲ 1.35×32 topics
  14. Neural Networks19▲ 1.25×26 topics
  15. Literature18▲ 3.4×18 topics
  16. Politics18▲ 6.7×14 topics
  17. Neoliberalism15▲ 4.3×15 topics
  18. Feminism13▲ 4.8×12 topics
  19. Ethics13▲ 2.7×17 topics
  20. Race12▲ 11×10 topics
  21. Democracy12▲ 3.5×14 topics
  22. Demography12▲ 25×2 topics
  23. Late Antiquity12▲ 22×2 topics
  24. Migration11▲ 3.3×9 topics
  25. Society11▲ 5.7×9 topics
  26. Ancient Rome11▲ 33×1 topic
  27. Greek Literature11▲ 33×1 topic
  28. Ethnicity11▲ 2.8×11 topics
  29. Social Movements10▲ 3.3×12 topics
  30. Public Opinion10▲ 7.6×5 topics
  31. Secularism9▲ 8.6×4 topics
  32. Empire9▲ 11×4 topics
  33. Imperialism9▲ 11×6 topics
  34. Immigration8▲ 6.9×5 topics
  35. NGOs8▲ 8.0×4 topics
  36. Federalism7▲ 11×3 topics
  37. Authoritarianism7▲ 8.1×5 topics
  38. Humanitarianism7▲ 11×3 topics
  39. Cold War7▲ 10×5 topics
  40. International Aid7▲ 14×2 topics

Which research topics does Amherst College publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Classical Antiquity Studies, Race, History, and American Society, Classical Philosophy and Thought and American Constitutional Law and Politics.

Classical Antiquity Stud…11Classical Antiquity Studies: 11 fractional worksRace, History, and American Society: 6 fractional worksClassical Philosophy and…6Classical Philosophy and Thought: 6 fractional worksAmerican Constitutional …5American Constitutional Law and Politics: 5 fractional worksStatistics Education and Methodologies: 5 fractional worksPrivacy-Preserving Technologies in Data: 4 fractional worksRNA Interference and Gen…4RNA Interference and Gene Delivery: 4 fractional worksMolecular Spectroscopy and Structure: 4 fractional worksHistorical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis: 4 fractional worksBacteriophages and micro…4Bacteriophages and microbial interactions: 4 fractional works
AnthropologySociology and Political SciencePhilosophyPolitical Science and International Relations6 others

Area is fractional works; colour is the subfield each topic belongs to.

  1. 1 Classical Antiquity Studies Anthropology 11 works
  2. 2 Race, History, and American Society Sociology and Political Science 6 works
  3. 3 Classical Philosophy and Thought Philosophy 6 works
  4. 4 American Constitutional Law and Politics Political Science and International Relations 5 works
  5. 5 Statistics Education and Methodologies Statistics and Probability 5 works
  6. 6 Privacy-Preserving Technologies in Data Artificial Intelligence 4 works
  7. 7 RNA Interference and Gene Delivery Molecular Biology 4 works
  8. 8 Molecular Spectroscopy and Structure Spectroscopy 4 works
  9. 9 Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis History and Philosophy of Science 4 works
  10. 10 Bacteriophages and microbial interactions Ecology 4 works

How open and international is its research?

Against the world’s own shares — the tick on each track. Both are shares of its output, so they sit on one scale and can be read against each other as well as against the world.

openly available27.9%not open72.1%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors10.4%domestic only89.6%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Amherst College's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 27% higher than in 2013–2017.

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

Other research institutions in Amherst Center

All research institutions in Amherst Center

Research measures only: rankings here say nothing about teaching, admissions or student experience. Comparable institutions and collaboration partners are in the interactive view on the map.