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Nonprofit · Washington · United States

Carnegie Institution for Science

In research, Carnegie Institution for Science stands highest in Physical Sciences (#1,405 of 12,888 worldwide), Environmental Science (#1,080 of 3,551 worldwide) and Astronomy and Astrophysics (#135 of 443 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Geophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics and Earth and Planetary Sciences — Geophysics is 41.9× its share of world research.

carnegiescience.eduROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#2,064
of 28,054 · #481 all time
Rank in United States
#317
of 4,192
Research works
7.8k
▼ 24% vs 2013–17
Citations
546k
69.7 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
31.5%
record average 16.5%
Open access
34%
world 28%

What is Carnegie Institution for Science 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 #1,405 of 12,888 31.3%392 #464
Environmental ScienceField #1,080 of 3,551 41.0%64 #276
Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield #135 of 443 39.1%95 #93
GeophysicsSubfield #76 of 237 26.8%73 #20
Life SciencesDomain #3,611 of 7,800 35.9%78 #518
Physics and AstronomyField #898 of 1,646 37.4%122 #384
Earth and Planetary SciencesField #773 of 1,209 28.0%103 #259

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Carnegie Institution for Science 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#464 #1,405
  2. Environmental Science#276 #1,080
  3. Astronomy and Astrophysics#93 #135
  4. Geophysics#20 #76
  5. Life Sciences#518 #3,611
  6. Physics and Astronomy#384 #898
  7. Earth and Planetary Sciences#259 #773
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 Carnegie Institution for Science specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Geophysics takes 41.9× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. GeophysicsSubfield · 73.1 works42×
  2. Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield · 94.8 works37×
  3. Earth and Planetary SciencesField · 103.0 works13×
  4. Physics and AstronomyField · 121.6 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: 1.11× its world share, 26 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.73× its world share, 46 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.40× its world share, 2 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.30× its world share, 2 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.68× its world share, 1 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 1.01× its world share, 2 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 1.45× its world share, 11 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.45× its world share, 18 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 13.17× its world share, 103 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 2.25× its world share, 10 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.56× its world share, 42 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 2.60× its world share, 64 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 1.13× its world share, 20 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.10× its world share, 1 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 10.96× its world share, 122 worksPhysics and AstronomyHealth Professions: 0.12× its world share, 2 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.07× its world share, 6 worksMedicineNursing: 0.17× its world share, 0 worksNursingArts and Humanities: 0.17× its world share, 2 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.13× its world share, 2 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.73× its world share, 4 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.22× its world share, 2 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.16× its world share, 2 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.12× its world share, 7 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Earth and Planetary Sciences, 13.2×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at Carnegie Institution for Science?

Ranked on the composite score, Christopher B. Field, Joseph A. Berry and Donald D. Brown lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Carnegie Institution for Science.

  1. 1 Christopher B. Field United States · #3,164 worldwide 2.4k citations · 96 works
  2. 2 Joseph A. Berry United States · #5,607 worldwide 1.4k citations · 91 works
  3. 3 Donald D. Brown United States · #6,013 worldwide 1.1k citations · 105 works
  4. 4 Gregory P. Asner United States · #15,730 worldwide 2.3k citations · 156 works
  5. 5 Vera Rubin United States · #17,141 worldwide 789 citations · 70 works
  6. 6 Robert M. Hazen United States · #21,117 worldwide 1.4k citations · 149 works
  7. 7 Wolf B. Frommer United States · #23,165 worldwide 716 citations · 49 works
  8. 8 R. Paul Butler United States · #23,885 worldwide 1.3k citations · 90 works
  9. 9 Ken Caldeira United States · #30,624 worldwide 833 citations · 42 works
  10. 10 Allan C. Spradling United States · #31,877 worldwide 1.2k citations · 33 works
All ranked researchers at Carnegie Institution for Science

Which keywords describe research at Carnegie Institution for Science?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Plate Tectonics, Tomography, Climate Change, Superconductivity, Thermodynamic Modeling, Tectonics, Geochronology and Zircon.

▲ 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. Plate Tectonics50▲ 66×3 topics
  2. Climate Change46▲ 3.4×61 topics
  3. Tomography34▲ 37×4 topics
  4. Superconductivity28▲ 33×9 topics
  5. Thermodynamic Modeling26▲ 46×2 topics
  6. Tectonics26▲ 44×3 topics
  7. Geochronology25▲ 74×1 topic
  8. Zircon25▲ 74×1 topic
  9. Crystal Structure Prediction24▲ 104×1 topic
  10. Mantle Dynamics24▲ 104×1 topic
  11. Solar System Abundances23▲ 97×1 topic
  12. Terrestrial Planets23▲ 97×1 topic
  13. Exoplanets21▲ 106×1 topic
  14. Stellar Astrophysics21▲ 106×1 topic
  15. Star Formation19▲ 71×2 topics
  16. Remote Sensing17▲ 2.7×20 topics
  17. Magnetic Fields15▲ 47×3 topics
  18. Accretion Disks15▲ 64×2 topics
  19. Mars13▲ 81×1 topic
  20. Martian Surface13▲ 81×1 topic
  21. Microbial Communities13▲ 6.0×7 topics
  22. Turbulence13▲ 29×3 topics
  23. Geological Mapping12▲ 30×2 topics
  24. Molecular Clouds12▲ 98×1 topic
  25. Protoplanetary Disks12▲ 98×1 topic
  26. Global Warming12▲ 5.6×11 topics
  27. Support Vector Machines11▲ 7.1×3 topics
  28. Hyperspectral Imaging11▲ 7.7×4 topics
  29. Subduction11▲ 30×3 topics
  30. Geodetic Measurements10▲ 19×2 topics
  31. Compositional Data Analysis10▲ 31×1 topic
  32. Mineral Prospectivity10▲ 31×1 topic
  33. Gravitational Waves10▲ 36×2 topics
  34. Earthquakes10▲ 35×1 topic
  35. Plate Boundaries10▲ 35×1 topic
  36. Anaerobic9▲ 27×1 topic
  37. Black Holes9▲ 20×3 topics
  38. Methane Oxidation9▲ 23×1 topic
  39. Astronomical Instrumentation9▲ 72×1 topic
  40. Spectrograph9▲ 72×1 topic

Which research topics does Carnegie Institution for Science publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Geological and Geochemical Analysis, High-pressure geophysics and materials, Astro and Planetary Science and Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies.

Geological and Geochemical Analysis: 25 fractional worksHigh-pressure geophysics and materials: 24 fractional worksAstro and Planetary Scie…23Astro and Planetary Science: 23 fractional worksStellar, planetary, and …21Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies: 21 fractional worksPlanetary Science and Exploration: 13 fractional worksAstrophysics and Star Formation Studies: 12 fractional worksGeochemistry and Geologi…10Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping: 10 fractional worksearthquake and tectonic studies: 10 fractional worksMethane Hydrates and Related Phenomena: 9 fractional worksAstronomy and Astrophysical Research: 9 fractional works
GeophysicsAstronomy and AstrophysicsArtificial IntelligenceEnvironmental Chemistry1 others

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

  1. 1 Geological and Geochemical Analysis Geophysics 25 works
  2. 2 High-pressure geophysics and materials Geophysics 24 works
  3. 3 Astro and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics 23 works
  4. 4 Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 21 works
  5. 5 Planetary Science and Exploration Astronomy and Astrophysics 13 works
  6. 6 Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 12 works
  7. 7 Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping Artificial Intelligence 10 works
  8. 8 earthquake and tectonic studies Geophysics 10 works
  9. 9 Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena Environmental Chemistry 9 works
  10. 10 Astronomy and Astrophysical Research Instrumentation 9 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 available33.8%not open66.2%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors21.0%domestic only79.0%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Carnegie Institution for Science's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 24% 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 Washington

All research institutions in Washington

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.