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University · Cranfield · United Kingdom

Cranfield University

In research, Cranfield University stands highest in Engineering (#365 of 6,636 worldwide), Physical Sciences (#916 of 12,888 worldwide) and Environmental Science (#428 of 3,551 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Aerospace Engineering, Radiological and Ultrasound Technology and Automotive Engineering — Aerospace Engineering is 9.1× its share of world research.

cranfield.ac.ukROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#1,281
of 28,054 · #709 all time
Rank in United Kingdom
#52
of 1,094
Research works
20k
▲ 6% vs 2013–17
Citations
612k
30.9 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
27.9%
record average 16.5%
Open access
38%
world 28%

What is Cranfield University 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
EngineeringField #365 of 6,636 26.2%1,265 #205
Physical SciencesDomain #916 of 12,888 25.9%2,042 #560
Environmental ScienceField #428 of 3,551 26.8%270 #228
Social SciencesDomain #1,409 of 10,521 34.3%466 #582
Agricultural and Biological SciencesField #498 of 3,409 37.5%109 #269
Aerospace EngineeringSubfield #118 of 795 36.4%295 #89
Business, Management and AccountingField #532 of 2,578 35.5%183 #93
Mechanical EngineeringSubfield #321 of 1,351 18.5%181 #108
Industrial and Manufacturing EngineeringSubfield #69 of 290 26.9%75 #64
Control and Systems EngineeringSubfield #190 of 793 24.5%109 #196

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Cranfield University 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. Engineering#205 #365
  2. Physical Sciences#560 #916
  3. Environmental Science#228 #428
  4. Social Sciences#582 #1,409
  5. Agricultural and Biological Sciences#269 #498
  6. Aerospace Engineering#89 #118
  7. Business, Management and Accounting#93 #532
  8. Mechanical Engineering#108 #321
  9. Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering#64 #69
  10. Control and Systems Engineering#196 #190
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 Cranfield University specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Aerospace Engineering takes 9.1× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Aerospace EngineeringSubfield · 295.5 works9.1×
  2. Radiological and Ultrasound TechnologySubfield · 20.4 works6.2×
  3. Automotive EngineeringSubfield · 89.2 works6.0×
  4. Computational MechanicsSubfield · 95.3 works5.9×
  5. Statistics, Probability and UncertaintySubfield · 26.8 works5.7×
← 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: 0.83× its world share, 109 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.29× its world share, 42 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.05× its world share, 1 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.26× its world share, 12 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.16× its world share, 2 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 3.32× its world share, 32 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.43× its world share, 19 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.10× its world share, 236 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.80× its world share, 35 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 2.02× its world share, 52 worksEnergyEngineering: 3.04× its world share, 1,265 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.96× its world share, 270 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.92× its world share, 89 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.28× its world share, 9 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.59× its world share, 36 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.04× its world share, 1 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.48× its world share, 35 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.10× its world share, 53 worksMedicineNursing: 0.44× its world share, 6 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.37× its world share, 1 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.29× its world share, 23 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 2.05× its world share, 183 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 2.10× its world share, 56 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.83× its world share, 49 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.61× its world share, 52 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.29× its world share, 103 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

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

Who are the top researchers at Cranfield University?

Ranked on the composite score, Edward J. Anthony, Dongpu Cao and Ashutosh Tiwari lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Cranfield University.

  1. 1 Edward J. Anthony United Kingdom · #8,618 worldwide 1.7k citations · 96 works
  2. 2 Dongpu Cao United Kingdom · #8,773 worldwide 1.1k citations · 60 works
  3. 3 Ashutosh Tiwari United Kingdom · #11,025 worldwide 921 citations · 88 works
  4. 4 Rajkumar Roy United Kingdom · #12,104 worldwide 1k citations · 115 works
  5. 5 Essam Shehab United Kingdom · #13,644 worldwide 751 citations · 49 works
  6. 6 Stewart Williams United Kingdom · #15,683 worldwide 877 citations · 70 works
  7. 7 Mike Bourne United Kingdom · #18,130 worldwide 512 citations · 45 works
  8. 8 Tim Baines United Kingdom · #20,368 worldwide 784 citations · 61 works
  9. 9 Martin Christopher United Kingdom · #26,666 worldwide 678 citations · 55 works
  10. 10 David Parker United Kingdom · #28,433 worldwide 258 citations · 54 works
All ranked researchers at Cranfield University

Which keywords describe research at Cranfield University?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Sustainability, Collision Avoidance, Autonomous Vehicles, Heat Transfer, Deep Learning, Large-Eddy Simulation, Emissions and Renewable Energy.

▲ 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. Sustainability166▲ 2.5×57 topics
  2. Deep Learning159▲ 1.67×67 topics
  3. Machine Learning135▲ 1.49×63 topics
  4. Climate Change128▲ 1.72×75 topics
  5. Renewable Energy108▲ 2.7×37 topics
  6. Environmental Impact92▲ 1.95×50 topics
  7. Mechanical Properties89▲ 3.3×29 topics
  8. Collision Avoidance85▲ 17×4 topics
  9. Heat Transfer85▲ 6.2×16 topics
  10. Neural Networks80▲ 1.87×31 topics
  11. Autonomous Vehicles79▲ 14×4 topics
  12. Supply Chain Management68▲ 2.6×20 topics
  13. Large-Eddy Simulation68▲ 13×5 topics
  14. Emissions67▲ 12×6 topics
  15. Risk Assessment62▲ 3.3×19 topics
  16. Air Quality57▲ 11×6 topics
  17. Additive Manufacturing53▲ 6.2×7 topics
  18. Microstructure53▲ 3.7×17 topics
  19. Multi-Agent Systems46▲ 8.8×5 topics
  20. Alternative Fuels43▲ 43×2 topics
  21. Environmental Management43▲ 3.9×12 topics
  22. Circular Economy40▲ 5.3×7 topics
  23. Electric Propulsion40▲ 40×2 topics
  24. Aviation40▲ 61×2 topics
  25. Numerical Simulation40▲ 4.8×10 topics
  26. Aircraft Design39▲ 100×1 topic
  27. Renewable Jet Fuel39▲ 100×1 topic
  28. Air Traffic Management36▲ 70×1 topic
  29. Conflict Resolution36▲ 35×1 topic
  30. Parameter Estimation35▲ 10×5 topics
  31. Flight Control35▲ 44×2 topics
  32. Sensor Fusion34▲ 11×3 topics
  33. Path Planning34▲ 9.6×3 topics
  34. Material Characterization33▲ 9.8×3 topics
  35. Turbulent Flow32▲ 9.8×4 topics
  36. Aerodynamics32▲ 17×3 topics
  37. Optimal Control30▲ 15×4 topics
  38. Adaptive Mesh Refinement30▲ 17×2 topics
  39. High-Order Schemes30▲ 17×2 topics
  40. Chemical Kinetics30▲ 12×2 topics

Which research topics does Cranfield University publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Advanced Aircraft Design and Technologies, Air Traffic Management and Optimization, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Aerodynamics and Robotic Path Planning Algorithms.

Advanced Aircraft Design…39Advanced Aircraft Design and Technologies: 39 fractional worksAir Traffic Management a…36Air Traffic Management and Optimization: 36 fractional worksComputational Fluid Dynamics and Aerodynamics: 28 fractional worksRobotic Path Planning Algorithms: 28 fractional worksSustainable Supply Chain Management: 27 fractional worksAerospace and Aviation Technology: 26 fractional worksHuman-Automation Interaction and Safety: 24 fractional worksDigital Transformation i…24Digital Transformation in Industry: 24 fractional worksAdditive Manufacturing Materials and Processes: 23 fractional worksAerodynamics and Fluid Dynamics Research: 21 fractional works
Global and Planetary ChangeAerospace EngineeringComputational MechanicsComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition4 others

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

  1. 1 Advanced Aircraft Design and Technologies Global and Planetary Change 39 works
  2. 2 Air Traffic Management and Optimization Aerospace Engineering 36 works
  3. 3 Computational Fluid Dynamics and Aerodynamics Computational Mechanics 28 works
  4. 4 Robotic Path Planning Algorithms Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 28 works
  5. 5 Sustainable Supply Chain Management Strategy and Management 27 works
  6. 6 Aerospace and Aviation Technology Aerospace Engineering 26 works
  7. 7 Human-Automation Interaction and Safety Social Psychology 24 works
  8. 8 Digital Transformation in Industry Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering 24 works
  9. 9 Additive Manufacturing Materials and Processes Mechanical Engineering 23 works
  10. 10 Aerodynamics and Fluid Dynamics Research Aerospace Engineering 21 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 available37.8%not open62.2%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors22.3%domestic only77.7%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Cranfield University's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 6% 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 Cranfield

All research institutions in Cranfield

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.