Science Explorer Interactive view Map
Research facility · Upton · United States

Brookhaven National Laboratory

In research, Brookhaven National Laboratory stands highest in Physical Sciences (#239 of 12,888 worldwide), Nuclear and High Energy Physics (#5 of 263 worldwide) and Physics and Astronomy (#103 of 1,646 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Structural Biology, Nuclear and High Energy Physics and Radiation — Structural Biology is 63.4× its share of world research.

bnl.gov/worldROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#434
of 28,054 · #63 all time
Rank in United States
#88
of 4,192
Research works
31k
▼ 5% vs 2013–17
Citations
1.2M
39.1 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
23.3%
record average 16.5%
Open access
36%
world 28%

What is Brookhaven National Laboratory 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 #239 of 12,888 23.2%1,823 #42
Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsSubfield #5 of 263 46.8%293 #6
Physics and AstronomyField #103 of 1,646 33.5%577 #21
EngineeringField #451 of 6,636 17.9%541 #152
Electrical and Electronic EngineeringSubfield #210 of 2,318 20.7%296 #94
Materials ScienceField #386 of 2,468 16.1%296 #54
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #655 of 3,579 22.2%70 #201
Life SciencesDomain #1,697 of 7,800 27.1%95 #392
Materials ChemistrySubfield #381 of 1,556 16.2%196 #69
Computer ScienceField #1,538 of 4,667 24.0%125 —

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Brookhaven National Laboratory 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#42 #239
  2. Nuclear and High Energy Physics#6 #5
  3. Physics and Astronomy#21 #103
  4. Engineering#152 #451
  5. Electrical and Electronic Engineering#94 #210
  6. Materials Science#54 #386
  7. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#201 #655
  8. Life Sciences#392 #1,697
  9. Materials Chemistry#69 #381
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 Brookhaven National Laboratory specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Structural Biology takes 63.4× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Structural BiologySubfield · 20.1 works63×
  2. Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsSubfield · 293.5 works47×
  3. RadiationSubfield · 67.0 works24×
  4. Condensed Matter PhysicsSubfield · 57.4 works18×
  5. Physics and AstronomyField · 577.0 works13×
  6. Surfaces, Coatings and FilmsSubfield · 22.4 works11×
  7. CatalysisSubfield · 31.4 works11×
← 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: 0.21× its world share, 20 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.66× its world share, 70 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.05× its world share, 1 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.12× its world share, 4 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.14× its world share, 1 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 6.16× its world share, 43 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 2.00× its world share, 62 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.81× its world share, 125 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.72× its world share, 54 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 2.64× its world share, 48 worksEnergyEngineering: 1.81× its world share, 541 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.69× its world share, 69 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 4.26× its world share, 296 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.37× its world share, 9 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 13.04× its world share, 577 worksPhysics and AstronomyHealth Professions: 0.03× its world share, 1 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.11× its world share, 40 worksMedicineNursing: 0.19× its world share, 2 worksNursingArts and Humanities: 0.05× its world share, 3 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.05× its world share, 3 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.83× its world share, 16 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.04× its world share, 2 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.02× its world share, 2 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.01× its world share, 3 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Physics and Astronomy, 13.0×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory?

Ranked on the composite score, J. Šolc, W. Cleland and C. Bacci lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Brookhaven National Laboratory.

  1. 1 J. Šolc · #253 worldwide 4.8k citations · 160 works
  2. 2 W. Cleland · #304 worldwide 4.6k citations · 138 works
  3. 3 C. Bacci · #335 worldwide 4.7k citations · 130 works
  4. 4 M. J. Flowerdew · #403 worldwide 5.3k citations · 158 works
  5. 5 K. W. McFarlane · #406 worldwide 4.7k citations · 128 works
  6. 6 D. Cavalli · #411 worldwide 4.9k citations · 183 works
  7. 7 F. Bauer · #413 worldwide 4.8k citations · 125 works
  8. 8 R. Giordano · #441 worldwide 4.9k citations · 180 works
  9. 9 S. T. French · #460 worldwide 4.5k citations · 123 works
  10. 10 M. Ernst · #464 worldwide 4.8k citations · 142 works
All ranked researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory

Which keywords describe research at Brookhaven National Laboratory?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Lattice QCD, Dark Matter, Particle Physics, Higgs Boson, High-Energy Collider, Cathode Materials, Catalysis and Renormalization Group.

▲ 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. Lattice QCD110▲ 93×2 topics
  2. Dark Matter92▲ 40×3 topics
  3. Particle Physics90▲ 60×2 topics
  4. Higgs Boson76▲ 74×1 topic
  5. High-Energy Collider76▲ 74×1 topic
  6. Cathode Materials75▲ 9.6×3 topics
  7. Catalysis75▲ 5.6×23 topics
  8. Energy Storage70▲ 5.4×11 topics
  9. Nanoparticles64▲ 2.6×33 topics
  10. Renormalization Group61▲ 56×2 topics
  11. Electronic Structure60▲ 17×8 topics
  12. Superconductivity59▲ 17×9 topics
  13. Hydrodynamics57▲ 47×3 topics
  14. Heavy-Ion Collisions56▲ 112×1 topic
  15. Quark-Gluon Plasma56▲ 112×1 topic
  16. Lithium-ion Batteries55▲ 6.5×3 topics
  17. X-ray Imaging54▲ 78×2 topics
  18. QCD54▲ 79×1 topic
  19. charmonium54▲ 79×1 topic
  20. Rechargeable Batteries48▲ 9.0×2 topics
  21. Synchrotron Radiation47▲ 51×3 topics
  22. Crystal Growth45▲ 8.1×12 topics
  23. Photon Counting43▲ 31×3 topics
  24. Electron Acceleration43▲ 32×2 topics
  25. Free-Electron Lasers42▲ 182×1 topic
  26. X-Ray42▲ 182×1 topic
  27. Tomography42▲ 12×5 topics
  28. CMOS Technology40▲ 25×5 topics
  29. Electrocatalysis40▲ 7.1×5 topics
  30. Detector Performance39▲ 61×2 topics
  31. Battery Technology36▲ 6.2×3 topics
  32. Battery Materials35▲ 10×1 topic
  33. Nanostructured Anodes35▲ 10×1 topic
  34. Negative Ion Sources34▲ 94×1 topic
  35. Superconducting Cavities34▲ 94×1 topic
  36. Carbon Dioxide34▲ 11×4 topics
  37. Catalysts34▲ 8.6×3 topics
  38. Molecular Dynamics32▲ 9.9×6 topics
  39. Nanoscale Imaging31▲ 17×2 topics
  40. Particle Detectors30▲ 77×1 topic

Which research topics does Brookhaven National Laboratory publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies, High-Energy Particle Collisions Research, Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions and Particle Accelerators and Free-Electron Lasers.

Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies: 76 fractional worksHigh-Energy Particle Collisions Research: 56 fractional worksQuantum Chromodynamics a…54Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions: 54 fractional worksParticle Accelerators an…42Particle Accelerators and Free-Electron Lasers: 42 fractional worksAdvancements in Battery Materials: 35 fractional worksParticle accelerators and beam dynamics: 34 fractional worksParticle Detector Develo…30Particle Detector Development and Performance: 30 fractional worksCatalytic Processes in Materials Science: 30 fractional worksAdvanced Battery Materials and Technologies: 27 fractional worksAdvanced X-ray Imaging Techniques: 24 fractional works
Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsElectrical and Electronic EngineeringAerospace EngineeringMaterials Chemistry1 others

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

  1. 1 Particle physics theoretical and experimental studiesNuclear and High Energy Physics 76 works
  2. 2 High-Energy Particle Collisions ResearchNuclear and High Energy Physics 56 works
  3. 3 Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle InteractionsNuclear and High Energy Physics 54 works
  4. 4 Particle Accelerators and Free-Electron LasersElectrical and Electronic Engineering 42 works
  5. 5 Advancements in Battery MaterialsElectrical and Electronic Engineering 35 works
  6. 6 Particle accelerators and beam dynamicsAerospace Engineering 34 works
  7. 7 Particle Detector Development and PerformanceNuclear and High Energy Physics 30 works
  8. 8 Catalytic Processes in Materials ScienceMaterials Chemistry 30 works
  9. 9 Advanced Battery Materials and TechnologiesElectrical and Electronic Engineering 27 works
  10. 10 Advanced X-ray Imaging TechniquesRadiation 24 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 available35.6%not open64.4%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors17.0%domestic only83.0%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Brookhaven National Laboratory's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 5% lower 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 Upton

All research institutions in Upton

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.