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University · Cranfield · United Kingdom

Cranfield University

In research, Cranfield University stands highest in Physical Sciences (#618 of 10,670 worldwide), Engineering (#377 of 5,901 worldwide) and Social Sciences (#1,257 of 9,585 worldwide), 2022-now. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Aerospace Engineering, Radiological and Ultrasound Technology and Computational Mechanics (Aerospace Engineering is 9.2× its share of world research).

World rank, 2022-now
#775
of 22,385 · #1,113 all time
Rank in United Kingdom
#50
of 862
Research works
20k
▲ 5% vs 2018-21
Citations
612k
30.9 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
14.4%
all institutions 10.0%
vs its own fields
1.39×
1.00× is exactly expected
Open access
38%
world 40%
International
22%
world 18%

What is Cranfield University known for in research?

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

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorksAll time
Physical SciencesDomain #618 of 10,670 13.4%2,042 #893
EngineeringField #377 of 5,901 13.1%1,265 #463
Social SciencesDomain #1,257 of 9,585 16.4%466 #1130
Life SciencesDomain #1,095 of 6,403 17.4%166 #2064
Environmental ScienceField #596 of 3,334 13.5%270 #552
Aerospace EngineeringSubfield #141 of 785 10.4%295 #242
Computer ScienceField #829 of 4,417 13.6%236 #1256
Business, Management and AccountingField #486 of 2,581 17.4%183 #307
Agricultural and Biological SciencesField #673 of 3,157 16.7%109 #719
Mechanical EngineeringSubfield #345 of 1,319 11.5%181 #305

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 average mark, because the average differs by field (from about 6% in Dentistry to 21% in Economics).

Which of those standings moved

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

  1. Physical Sciences#893 #618
  2. Engineering#463 #377
  3. Social Sciences#1,130 #1,257
  4. Life Sciences#2,064 #1,095
  5. Environmental Science#552 #596
  6. Aerospace Engineering#242 #141
  7. Computer Science#1,256 #829
  8. Business, Management and Accounting#307 #486
  9. Agricultural and Biological Sciences#719 #673
  10. Mechanical Engineering#305 #345
all time2022-now, better2022-now, worse

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

Which fields of science does Cranfield University work in?

In 2022-now, 73% of research at Cranfield University is in Physical Sciences, 17% in Social Sciences. Its largest fields are Engineering (45%), Environmental Science (10%), Computer Science (8%). It does 1.9× the world's share of Physical Sciences.

Physical Sciences: 2,201 fractional works · 73.5% of its workEngineering: 1,356 fractional works · 45.3% of its workAerospace Engineering: 323 fractional works · 10.8% of its workMechanical Engineering: 194 fractional works · 6.5% of its workElectrical and Electronic Engineering: 115 fractional works · 3.9% of its workControl and Systems Engineering: 114 fractional works · 3.8% of its workComputational Mechanics: 104 fractional works · 3.5% of its workAutomotive Engineering: 94 fractional works · 3.1% of its workBiomedical Engineering: 85 fractional works · 2.8% of its workIndustrial and Manufacturing Engineering: 80 fractional works · 2.7% of its workMechanics of Materials: 69 fractional works · 2.3% of its workCivil and Structural Engineering: 62 fractional works · 2.1% of its workOcean Engineering: 43 fractional works · 1.5% of its workBuilding and Construction: 38 fractional works · 1.3% of its workSafety, Risk, Reliability and Quality: 23 fractional works · 0.8% of its workMedia Technology: 10 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEnvironmental Science: 299 fractional works · 10.0% of its workGlobal and Planetary Change: 71 fractional works · 2.4% of its workEnvironmental Engineering: 49 fractional works · 1.6% of its workIndustrial and Manufacturing Engineering: 34 fractional works · 1.1% of its workWater Science and Technology: 34 fractional works · 1.1% of its workPollution: 33 fractional works · 1.1% of its workHealth, Toxicology and Mutagenesis: 24 fractional works · 0.8% of its workEcology: 22 fractional works · 0.7% of its workEnvironmental Chemistry: 14 fractional works · 0.5% of its workManagement, Monitoring, Policy and Law: 11 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 6 fractional works · 0.2% of its workComputer Science: 253 fractional works · 8.5% of its workArtificial Intelligence: 77 fractional works · 2.6% of its workComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition: 76 fractional works · 2.5% of its workComputer Networks and Communications: 36 fractional works · 1.2% of its workInformation Systems: 26 fractional works · 0.9% of its workComputational Theory and Mathematics: 15 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSignal Processing: 8 fractional works · 0.3% of its workHuman-Computer Interaction: 8 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 8 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMaterials Science: 95 fractional works · 3.2% of its workMaterials Chemistry: 55 fractional works · 1.8% of its workPolymers and Plastics: 11 fractional works · 0.4% of its workBiomaterials: 9 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMetals and Alloys: 7 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 13 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEnergy: 55 fractional works · 1.9% of its workRenewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment: 38 fractional works · 1.3% of its workEnergy Engineering and Power Technology: 17 fractional works · 0.6% of its workPhysics and Astronomy: 41 fractional works · 1.4% of its workAstronomy and Astrophysics: 15 fractional works · 0.5% of its workStatistical and Nonlinear Physics: 14 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSmaller subfields together: 13 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEarth and Planetary Sciences: 37 fractional works · 1.2% of its workAtmospheric Science: 13 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEarth-Surface Processes: 6 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 18 fractional works · 0.6% of its workChemical Engineering: 33 fractional works · 1.1% of its workFluid Flow and Transfer Processes: 19 fractional works · 0.6% of its workCatalysis: 10 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.1% of its workChemistry: 20 fractional works · 0.7% of its workAnalytical Chemistry: 9 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 11 fractional works · 0.4% of its workMathematics: 12 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSocial Sciences: 501 fractional works · 16.7% of its workBusiness, Management and Accounting: 195 fractional works · 6.5% of its workStrategy and Management: 77 fractional works · 2.6% of its workManagement Information Systems: 31 fractional works · 1.0% of its workMarketing: 25 fractional works · 0.9% of its workOrganizational Behavior and Human Resource Management: 20 fractional works · 0.7% of its workAccounting: 18 fractional works · 0.6% of its workManagement of Technology and Innovation: 17 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSmaller subfields together: 6 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSocial Sciences: 110 fractional works · 3.7% of its workSociology and Political Science: 44 fractional works · 1.5% of its workPolitical Science and International Relations: 19 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSafety Research: 10 fractional works · 0.3% of its workTransportation: 9 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEducation: 7 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 21 fractional works · 0.7% of its workDecision Sciences: 61 fractional works · 2.0% of its workStatistics, Probability and Uncertainty: 28 fractional works · 0.9% of its workManagement Science and Operations Research: 25 fractional works · 0.8% of its workInformation Systems and Management: 7 fractional works · 0.2% of its workPsychology: 57 fractional works · 1.9% of its workSocial Psychology: 40 fractional works · 1.3% of its workExperimental and Cognitive Psychology: 7 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 10 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 52 fractional works · 1.8% of its workEconomics and Econometrics: 26 fractional works · 0.9% of its workGeneral Economics, Econometrics and Finance: 16 fractional works · 0.6% of its workFinance: 10 fractional works · 0.3% of its workArts and Humanities: 26 fractional works · 0.9% of its workArcheology: 17 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSmaller subfields together: 8 fractional works · 0.3% of its workLife Sciences: 189 fractional works · 6.3% of its workAgricultural and Biological Sciences: 126 fractional works · 4.2% of its workPlant Science: 57 fractional works · 1.9% of its workFood Science: 18 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSoil Science: 17 fractional works · 0.6% of its workEcology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics: 11 fractional works · 0.4% of its workInsect Science: 8 fractional works · 0.3% of its workGeneral Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 7 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 8 fractional works · 0.3% of its workBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 46 fractional works · 1.5% of its workMolecular Biology: 26 fractional works · 0.9% of its workGenetics: 7 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 13 fractional works · 0.4% of its workNeuroscience: 13 fractional works · 0.4% of its workCognitive Neuroscience: 11 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.1% of its workImmunology and Microbiology: 2 fractional works · 0.1% of its workPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 2 fractional works · 0.1% of its workHealth Sciences: 104 fractional works · 3.5% of its workMedicine: 59 fractional works · 2.0% of its workPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health: 9 fractional works · 0.3% of its workRadiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging: 7 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 43 fractional works · 1.4% of its workHealth Professions: 37 fractional works · 1.2% of its workRadiological and Ultrasound Technology: 22 fractional works · 0.7% of its workGeneral Health Professions: 8 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 7 fractional works · 0.2% of its workNursing: 6 fractional works · 0.2% of its workNutrition and Dietetics: 6 fractional works · 0.2% of its workVeterinary: 1 fractional works · 0.0% of its workALL ITS WORKCranfieldUniversity2,995fractional works, 2022-now
Life Sciences6%Physical Sciences73%Health Sciences3%Social Sciences17%

Each ring splits the one inside it: the four domains of science, their fields, their subfields. Size is fractional works in 2022-now. Every slice is a page; the interactive view zooms down to single topics and colours each by how much more of it this institution does than the world.

Its 4 domains and 26 fields, with their numbers
    1. Engineering1,35645.3%
    2. Environmental Science29910.0%
    3. Computer Science2538.5%
    4. Materials Science953.2%
    5. Energy551.9%
    6. Physics and Astronomy411.4%
    7. Earth and Planetary Sciences371.2%
    8. Chemical Engineering331.1%
    9. Chemistry200.7%
    10. Mathematics120.4%
    1. Business, Management and Accounting1956.5%
    2. Social Sciences1103.7%
    3. Decision Sciences612.0%
    4. Psychology571.9%
    5. Economics, Econometrics and Finance521.8%
    6. Arts and Humanities260.9%
    1. Agricultural and Biological Sciences1264.2%
    2. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology461.5%
    3. Neuroscience130.4%
    4. Immunology and Microbiology20.1%
    5. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics20.1%
    1. Medicine592.0%
    2. Health Professions371.2%
    3. Nursing60.2%
    4. Veterinary10.0%
    5. Dentistry10.0%
All of science, and how each field's share has moved since 1950: the Science domain explorer

What does Cranfield University specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Aerospace Engineering takes 9.2× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Aerospace EngineeringSubfield · 323.2 works9.2×
  2. Radiological and Ultrasound TechnologySubfield · 21.6 works6.0×
  3. Computational MechanicsSubfield · 104.1 works6.0×
  4. Automotive EngineeringSubfield · 94.0 works5.9×
  5. Statistics, Probability and UncertaintySubfield · 28.3 works5.6×
← 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: 0.88× its world share, 126 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.29× its world share, 46 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.06× its world share, 2 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.28× its world share, 13 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.15× its world share, 2 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 3.11× its world share, 33 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.43× its world share, 20 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.09× its world share, 253 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.78× its world share, 37 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 2.01× its world share, 55 worksEnergyEngineering: 3.02× its world share, 1,356 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 2.01× its world share, 299 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.91× its world share, 95 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.34× its world share, 12 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.62× its world share, 41 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.04× its world share, 1 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.47× its world share, 37 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.10× its world share, 59 worksMedicineNursing: 0.42× its world share, 6 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.35× its world share, 1 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.30× its world share, 26 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 2.02× its world share, 195 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 2.09× its world share, 61 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.82× its world share, 52 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.63× its world share, 57 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.29× its world share, 110 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Chemical Engineering, 3.1×. Every wedge is a field page.

All 26 fields, with their numbers
  1. Chemical Engineering3.11×33 works
  2. Engineering3.02×1,356 works
  3. Decision Sciences2.09×61 works
  4. Business, Management and Accounting2.02×195 works
  5. Energy2.01×55 works
  6. Environmental Science2.01×299 works
  7. Computer Science1.09×253 works
  8. Materials Science0.91×95 works
  9. Agricultural and Biological Sciences0.88×126 works
  10. Economics, Econometrics and Finance0.82×52 works
  11. Earth and Planetary Sciences0.78×37 works
  12. Psychology0.63×57 works
  13. Physics and Astronomy0.62×41 works
  14. Health Professions0.47×37 works
  15. Chemistry0.43×20 works
  16. Nursing0.42×6 works
  17. Veterinary0.35×1 works
  18. Mathematics0.34×12 works
  19. Arts and Humanities0.30×26 works
  20. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology0.29×46 works
  21. Social Sciences0.29×110 works
  22. Neuroscience0.28×13 works
  23. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics0.15×2 works
  24. Medicine0.10×59 works
  25. Immunology and Microbiology0.06×2 works
  26. Dentistry0.04×1 works

Who are the top researchers at Cranfield University?

Ranked on the quality score, Vasilije M. Manovic, Sandeep Jagtap and Mahmood Shafiee lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Cranfield University.

  1. 1 Vasilije M. Manovic United Kingdom · #63,215 worldwide 13k citations · 205 works
  2. 2 Sandeep Jagtap United Kingdom · #69,813 worldwide 4.2k citations · 143 works
  3. 3 Mahmood Shafiee United Kingdom · #73,034 worldwide 4.3k citations · 120 works
  4. 4 Bruce Jefferson United Kingdom · #73,711 worldwide 24k citations · 336 works
  5. 5 Zhugen Yang United Kingdom · #78,952 worldwide 6.8k citations · 180 works
  6. 6 Sergey A. Piletsky United Kingdom · #83,128 worldwide 24k citations · 426 works
  7. 7 Luofeng Huang United Kingdom · #115,435 worldwide 1.8k citations · 114 works
  8. 8 Simon J Judd United Kingdom · #117,164 worldwide 17k citations · 221 works
  9. 9 Konstantinos Salonitis United Kingdom · #126,726 worldwide 11k citations · 408 works
  10. 10 Fiona Charnley United Kingdom · #128,544 worldwide 4.6k citations · 98 works
All ranked researchers at Cranfield University

What are the most cited papers from Cranfield University?

The most cited paper from Cranfield University is "Carbon capture and storage (CCS): the way forward" (Mai Bui et al., 2018), with 4,386 citations. Next come "Building the Resilient Supply Chain" (3,638) and "A critical review on the treatment of dye-containing wastewater: Ecotoxicological and health concerns of textile dyes and possible remediation approaches for environmental safety" (3,415).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Carbon capture and storage (CCS): the way forward Mai Bui et al. · Energy & Environmental Science Open access 2018 4,386
2 Building the Resilient Supply Chain Martin G. Christopher, Helen Peck · The International Journal of Logistics Management Open access Jul 2004 3,638
3 A critical review on the treatment of dye-containing wastewater: Ecotoxicological and health concerns of textile dyes and possible remediation approaches for environmental safety Rania Al-Tohamy, Sameh Samir Ali, Fanghua Li et al. · Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety Open access 10 Jan 2022 3,415
4 Who's in and why? A typology of stakeholder analysis methods for natural resource management Mark S. Reed, Anil R. Graves, Norman Dandy et al. · Journal of Environmental Management 22 Feb 2009 2,691
5 Ground water and climate change Richard G. Taylor et al. · Nature Climate Change Open access 23 Nov 2012 2,643
All 59 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Which keywords describe research at Cranfield University?

By fractional works in 2022-now, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Sustainability, Collision Avoidance, Heat Transfer, Autonomous Vehicles, Deep Learning, Emissions, Large-Eddy Simulation 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-now 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. Sustainability180▲ 2.5×59 topics
  2. Deep Learning174▲ 1.68×69 topics
  3. Machine Learning148▲ 1.48×65 topics
  4. Climate Change144▲ 1.76×78 topics
  5. Renewable Energy119▲ 2.8×40 topics
  6. Environmental Impact103▲ 2.0×51 topics
  7. Mechanical Properties95▲ 3.2×32 topics
  8. Heat Transfer92▲ 6.3×16 topics
  9. Collision Avoidance90▲ 16×4 topics
  10. Neural Networks86▲ 1.86×32 topics
  11. Autonomous Vehicles83▲ 13×4 topics
  12. Supply Chain Management74▲ 2.8×20 topics
  13. Emissions72▲ 12×6 topics
  14. Large-Eddy Simulation72▲ 13×5 topics
  15. Risk Assessment67▲ 3.4×20 topics
  16. Air Quality62▲ 11×6 topics
  17. Additive Manufacturing59▲ 6.4×7 topics
  18. Microstructure56▲ 3.6×17 topics
  19. Alternative Fuels48▲ 41×2 topics
  20. Multi-Agent Systems47▲ 8.3×5 topics
  21. Environmental Management47▲ 3.8×12 topics
  22. Aviation45▲ 61×2 topics
  23. Circular Economy45▲ 5.5×7 topics
  24. Electric Propulsion44▲ 40×2 topics
  25. Numerical Simulation44▲ 5.0×11 topics
  26. Aircraft Design43▲ 94×1 topic
  27. Renewable Jet Fuel43▲ 94×1 topic
  28. Air Traffic Management39▲ 64×1 topic
  29. Conflict Resolution39▲ 32×1 topic
  30. Parameter Estimation38▲ 10×6 topics
  31. Flight Control37▲ 42×2 topics
  32. Aerodynamics36▲ 17×3 topics
  33. Sensor Fusion36▲ 11×3 topics
  34. Turbulent Flow35▲ 10.0×4 topics
  35. Path Planning35▲ 9.3×3 topics
  36. Material Characterization35▲ 9.9×3 topics
  37. Adaptive Mesh Refinement33▲ 18×2 topics
  38. High-Order Schemes33▲ 18×2 topics
  39. Optimal Control32▲ 14×4 topics
  40. Product Design32▲ 7.8×3 topics

Which research topics does Cranfield University publish most on?

By volume in 2022-now: Advanced Aircraft Design and Technologies, Air Traffic Management and Optimization, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Aerodynamics and Sustainable Supply Chain Management.

  1. 1 Advanced Aircraft Design and Technologies Global and Planetary Change 43 works
  2. 2 Air Traffic Management and Optimization Aerospace Engineering 39 works
  3. 3 Computational Fluid Dynamics and Aerodynamics Computational Mechanics 31 works
  4. 4 Sustainable Supply Chain Management Strategy and Management 30 works
  5. 5 Robotic Path Planning Algorithms Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 28 works
  6. 6 Aerospace and Aviation Technology Aerospace Engineering 28 works
  7. 7 Human-Automation Interaction and Safety Social Psychology 26 works
  8. 8 Digital Transformation in Industry Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering 25 works
  9. 9 Additive Manufacturing Materials and Processes Mechanical Engineering 24 works
  10. 10 Aerodynamics and Fluid Dynamics Research Aerospace Engineering 23 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: 40% of research is openly available.

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

World: 18% is written across borders.

How has Cranfield University's research output changed?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% higher than in 2018-2021.

still counting1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Cranfield University as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Cranfield University0.010% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Cranfield University over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year, against all institutions in the same year.

still counting10%20%Cranfield University14.8% in 2025all institutions10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's output, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for its field and year. Peak 19.2% in 2011.

Other research institutions in Cranfield

All research institutions in Cranfield

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Cranfield University on Science Explorer

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Its overall standing, then the domains, fields and subfields where Cranfield University is in the world's top ten or its top 1%. Each has an image of its own.

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