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European Space Agency

In research, European Space Agency stands highest in Physical Sciences (#1,170 of 10,670 worldwide), Engineering (#1,124 of 5,901 worldwide) and Aerospace Engineering (#205 of 785 worldwide), 2022-now. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation and Aerospace Engineering (Astronomy and Astrophysics is 38.3× its share of world research).

esa.int/ESAROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022-now
#2,445
of 22,385 · #2,253 all time
Rank in France
#81
of 517
Research works
12k
▲ 11% vs 2018-21
Citations
215k
17.2 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
9.3%
all institutions 10.0%
vs its own fields
1.04×
1.00× is exactly expected
Open access
34%
world 40%
International
54%
world 18%
European Space Agency

What is European Space Agency 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 #1,170 of 10,670 8.8%1,463 #1383
EngineeringField #1,124 of 5,901 7.4%683 #1147
Aerospace EngineeringSubfield #205 of 785 6.9%338 #207
Physics and AstronomyField #495 of 1,417 11.1%389 #617
Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield #157 of 400 11.2%309 #224
Electrical and Electronic EngineeringSubfield #888 of 2,176 7.9%161 #993
Environmental ScienceField #1,409 of 3,334 10.8%92 #2304
Computer ScienceField #2,037 of 4,417 8.1%139 #2136
Earth and Planetary SciencesField #710 of 1,088 9.1%106 #924
Social SciencesDomain #8,842 of 9,585 8.2%71 #12775

Each strip is that field's whole ranked pool, with the notch where European Space Agency 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#1,383 #1,170
  2. Engineering#1,147 #1,124
  3. Aerospace Engineering#207 #205
  4. Physics and Astronomy#617 #495
  5. Astronomy and Astrophysics#224 #157
  6. Electrical and Electronic Engineering#993 #888
  7. Environmental Science#2,304 #1,409
  8. Computer Science#2,136 #2,037
  9. Earth and Planetary Sciences#924 #710
  10. Social Sciences#12,775 #8,842
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 European Space Agency work in?

In 2022-now, 90% of research at European Space Agency is in Physical Sciences, 4% in Social Sciences. Its largest fields are Engineering (41%), Physics and Astronomy (25%), Computer Science (8%). It does 2.3× the world's share of Physical Sciences.

Physical Sciences: 1,692 fractional works · 90.5% of its workEngineering: 762 fractional works · 40.8% of its workAerospace Engineering: 387 fractional works · 20.7% of its workElectrical and Electronic Engineering: 170 fractional works · 9.1% of its workMechanical Engineering: 30 fractional works · 1.6% of its workControl and Systems Engineering: 29 fractional works · 1.5% of its workBiomedical Engineering: 25 fractional works · 1.3% of its workComputational Mechanics: 22 fractional works · 1.2% of its workMedia Technology: 22 fractional works · 1.2% of its workOcean Engineering: 18 fractional works · 0.9% of its workAutomotive Engineering: 15 fractional works · 0.8% of its workSafety, Risk, Reliability and Quality: 13 fractional works · 0.7% of its workCivil and Structural Engineering: 11 fractional works · 0.6% of its workMechanics of Materials: 11 fractional works · 0.6% of its workIndustrial and Manufacturing Engineering: 5 fractional works · 0.3% of its workBuilding and Construction: 4 fractional works · 0.2% of its workPhysics and Astronomy: 466 fractional works · 24.9% of its workAstronomy and Astrophysics: 372 fractional works · 19.9% of its workAtomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics: 29 fractional works · 1.5% of its workInstrumentation: 26 fractional works · 1.4% of its workNuclear and High Energy Physics: 20 fractional works · 1.1% of its workRadiation: 13 fractional works · 0.7% of its workStatistical and Nonlinear Physics: 5 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 3 fractional works · 0.1% of its workComputer Science: 151 fractional works · 8.1% of its workArtificial Intelligence: 47 fractional works · 2.5% of its workComputer Networks and Communications: 42 fractional works · 2.2% of its workComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition: 20 fractional works · 1.1% of its workHardware and Architecture: 16 fractional works · 0.9% of its workInformation Systems: 12 fractional works · 0.7% of its workComputational Theory and Mathematics: 6 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSignal Processing: 4 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEarth and Planetary Sciences: 131 fractional works · 7.0% of its workAtmospheric Science: 67 fractional works · 3.6% of its workOceanography: 40 fractional works · 2.1% of its workGeophysics: 12 fractional works · 0.7% of its workGeology: 4 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 8 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEnvironmental Science: 119 fractional works · 6.4% of its workGlobal and Planetary Change: 43 fractional works · 2.3% of its workEnvironmental Engineering: 38 fractional works · 2.0% of its workEcology: 16 fractional works · 0.9% of its workWater Science and Technology: 5 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPollution: 4 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 12 fractional works · 0.7% of its workMaterials Science: 33 fractional works · 1.8% of its workMaterials Chemistry: 18 fractional works · 1.0% of its workPolymers and Plastics: 4 fractional works · 0.2% of its workElectronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials: 4 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 7 fractional works · 0.4% of its workMathematics: 11 fractional works · 0.6% of its workApplied Mathematics: 6 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 5 fractional works · 0.2% of its workChemistry: 10 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSpectroscopy: 6 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEnergy: 6 fractional works · 0.3% of its workRenewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment: 5 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workChemical Engineering: 2 fractional works · 0.1% of its workSocial Sciences: 83 fractional works · 4.4% of its workSocial Sciences: 29 fractional works · 1.6% of its workSociology and Political Science: 7 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEducation: 5 fractional works · 0.3% of its workGeography, Planning and Development: 5 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPolitical Science and International Relations: 5 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 7 fractional works · 0.4% of its workDecision Sciences: 18 fractional works · 1.0% of its workStatistics, Probability and Uncertainty: 8 fractional works · 0.4% of its workInformation Systems and Management: 7 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 3 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 12 fractional works · 0.6% of its workEconomics and Econometrics: 11 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.0% of its workBusiness, Management and Accounting: 10 fractional works · 0.6% of its workPsychology: 7 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSocial Psychology: 6 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.1% of its workArts and Humanities: 6 fractional works · 0.3% of its workHealth Sciences: 59 fractional works · 3.1% of its workMedicine: 51 fractional works · 2.7% of its workPhysiology: 17 fractional works · 0.9% of its workPulmonary and Respiratory Medicine: 9 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSurgery: 4 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 21 fractional works · 1.1% of its workHealth Professions: 7 fractional works · 0.4% of its workNursing: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workLife Sciences: 36 fractional works · 1.9% of its workBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 19 fractional works · 1.0% of its workMolecular Biology: 11 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSmaller subfields together: 8 fractional works · 0.4% of its workAgricultural and Biological Sciences: 10 fractional works · 0.5% of its workNeuroscience: 6 fractional works · 0.3% of its workImmunology and Microbiology: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workALL ITS WORKEuropean SpaceAgency1,870fractional works, 2022-now
Life Sciences2%Physical Sciences90%Health Sciences3%Social Sciences4%

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 25 fields, with their numbers
    1. Engineering76240.8%
    2. Physics and Astronomy46624.9%
    3. Computer Science1518.1%
    4. Earth and Planetary Sciences1317.0%
    5. Environmental Science1196.4%
    6. Materials Science331.8%
    7. Mathematics110.6%
    8. Chemistry100.6%
    9. Energy60.3%
    10. Chemical Engineering20.1%
    1. Social Sciences291.6%
    2. Decision Sciences181.0%
    3. Economics, Econometrics and Finance120.6%
    4. Business, Management and Accounting100.6%
    5. Psychology70.4%
    6. Arts and Humanities60.3%
    1. Medicine512.7%
    2. Health Professions70.4%
    3. Nursing00.0%
    4. Veterinary00.0%
    5. Dentistry00.0%
    1. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology191.0%
    2. Agricultural and Biological Sciences100.5%
    3. Neuroscience60.3%
    4. Immunology and Microbiology10.1%
All of science, and how each field's share has moved since 1950: the Science domain explorer

What does European Space Agency specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Astronomy and Astrophysics takes 38.3× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield · 371.8 works38×
  2. InstrumentationSubfield · 25.8 works28×
  3. Aerospace EngineeringSubfield · 387.4 works18×
  4. Physics and AstronomyField · 466.3 works11×
  5. Atmospheric ScienceSubfield · 66.6 works8.1×
  6. OceanographySubfield · 40.2 works7.7×
← 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: 0.11× its world share, 10 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.19× its world share, 19 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.07× its world share, 1 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.19× its world share, 6 worksNeuroscienceChemical Engineering: 0.26× its world share, 2 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.36× its world share, 10 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.04× its world share, 151 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 4.47× its world share, 131 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.36× its world share, 6 worksEnergyEngineering: 2.72× its world share, 762 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.28× its world share, 119 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.51× its world share, 33 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.48× its world share, 11 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 11.21× its world share, 466 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.14× its world share, 7 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.14× its world share, 51 worksMedicineNursing: 0.05× its world share, 0 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.12× its world share, 0 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.11× its world share, 6 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.17× its world share, 10 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.00× its world share, 18 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.29× its world share, 12 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.13× its world share, 7 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.12× its world share, 29 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Physics and Astronomy, 11.2×. Every wedge is a field page.

All 25 fields, with their numbers
  1. Physics and Astronomy11.21×466 works
  2. Earth and Planetary Sciences4.47×131 works
  3. Engineering2.72×762 works
  4. Environmental Science1.28×119 works
  5. Computer Science1.04×151 works
  6. Decision Sciences1.00×18 works
  7. Materials Science0.51×33 works
  8. Mathematics0.48×11 works
  9. Chemistry0.36×10 works
  10. Energy0.36×6 works
  11. Economics, Econometrics and Finance0.29×12 works
  12. Chemical Engineering0.26×2 works
  13. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology0.19×19 works
  14. Neuroscience0.19×6 works
  15. Business, Management and Accounting0.17×10 works
  16. Health Professions0.14×7 works
  17. Medicine0.14×51 works
  18. Psychology0.13×7 works
  19. Veterinary0.12×0 works
  20. Social Sciences0.12×29 works
  21. Agricultural and Biological Sciences0.11×10 works
  22. Arts and Humanities0.11×6 works
  23. Immunology and Microbiology0.07×1 works
  24. Nursing0.05×0 works
  25. Dentistry0.02×0 works

Who are the top researchers at European Space Agency?

Ranked on the quality score, Silvina Natalini Martínez, A Calabro and G. Polenta lead among researchers whose main affiliation is European Space Agency.

  1. 1 Silvina Natalini Martínez France · #2,687,674 worldwide 172 citations · 38 works
  2. 2 A Calabro France · #3,262,461 worldwide 6 citations · 16 works
  3. 3 G. Polenta France · #3,351,650 worldwide 96 citations · 14 works
  4. 4 Charlotte Mathieu France · #3,758,548 worldwide 182 citations · 25 works
  5. 5 Beth Healey France · #3,924,906 worldwide 279 citations · 16 works
  6. 6 E. Medinaceli France · #3,971,681 worldwide 34 citations · 14 works
  7. 7 Scott Hovland France · #4,086,784 worldwide 208 citations · 34 works
  8. 8 Peter Naylor France · #4,714,572 worldwide 1.2k citations · 61 works
  9. 9 Valère Girardin France · #5,358,272 worldwide 89 citations · 17 works
  10. 10 Clovis Jacinto de Matos France · #5,415,530 worldwide 291 citations · 53 works
All ranked researchers at European Space Agency

What are the most cited papers from European Space Agency?

The most cited paper from European Space Agency is "Measurements of Ω and Λ from 42 High‐Redshift Supernovae" (S. Perlmutter et al., 1999), with 18,225 citations. Next come "Planck 2018 results" (14,737) and "Planck 2015 results" (10,771).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Measurements of Ω and Λ from 42 High‐Redshift Supernovae S. Perlmutter et al. · The Astrophysical Journal Open access Jun 1999 18,225
2 Planck 2018 results N. Aghanim et al. · Astronomy and Astrophysics Open access181 authors 3 Apr 2020 14,737
3 Planck 2015 results Peter A. R. Ade et al. · Astronomy and Astrophysics Open access261 authors 20 Jun 2016 10,771
4 Gaia Data Release 2 A. G. A. Brown et al. · Astronomy and Astrophysics Open access453 authors 24 Apr 2018 8,734
5 The Gaia mission T. Prusti et al. · Astronomy and Astrophysics Open access625 authors 15 Sep 2016 7,118
All 57 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Which keywords describe research at European Space Agency?

By fractional works in 2022-now, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Remote Sensing, Thermal Analysis, CubeSat, small satellite, Mars, Martian Surface, Orbit Determination and Solar System Abundances.

▲ 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. Remote Sensing117▲ 5.1×32 topics
  2. Climate Change87▲ 1.71×71 topics
  3. Thermal Analysis76▲ 32×4 topics
  4. CubeSat75▲ 216×1 topic
  5. small satellite75▲ 216×1 topic
  6. Mars70▲ 113×1 topic
  7. Martian Surface70▲ 113×1 topic
  8. Orbit Determination68▲ 81×2 topics
  9. Solar System Abundances67▲ 74×1 topic
  10. Terrestrial Planets67▲ 74×1 topic
  11. Hydrological Modeling54▲ 12×5 topics
  12. Solar Wind53▲ 31×2 topics
  13. On-Orbit Servicing45▲ 103×1 topic
  14. Space Debris45▲ 103×1 topic
  15. Satellite Observations45▲ 24×3 topics
  16. Data Assimilation40▲ 13×4 topics
  17. Space Policy39▲ 146×1 topic
  18. Space Tourism39▲ 146×1 topic
  19. Fault Tolerance33▲ 11×7 topics
  20. Magnetic Fields33▲ 26×3 topics
  21. IoT Applications32▲ 46×2 topics
  22. Cognitive Radio32▲ 48×2 topics
  23. Physical Layer Security32▲ 39×2 topics
  24. Accretion Disks32▲ 34×2 topics
  25. LEO Satellite Constellation32▲ 59×1 topic
  26. Satellite Communications32▲ 59×1 topic
  27. Black Holes30▲ 17×3 topics
  28. Sea Level Rise30▲ 13×3 topics
  29. Electron Acceleration30▲ 24×2 topics
  30. Validation30▲ 18×3 topics
  31. Exoplanets29▲ 39×1 topic
  32. Stellar Astrophysics29▲ 39×1 topic
  33. Radiation Effects28▲ 36×2 topics
  34. Ionosphere28▲ 27×1 topic
  35. Magnetosphere28▲ 27×1 topic
  36. CMOS Technology28▲ 18×5 topics
  37. Star Formation26▲ 25×2 topics
  38. Thermodynamic Modeling25▲ 12×2 topics
  39. Optimal Control25▲ 17×4 topics
  40. Coronal Mass Ejections25▲ 36×1 topic

Which research topics does European Space Agency publish most on?

By volume in 2022-now: Spacecraft Design and Technology, Planetary Science and Exploration, Astro and Planetary Science and Space Satellite Systems and Control.

Spacecraft Design and Technology: 75 fractional worksPlanetary Science and Exploration: 70 fractional worksAstro and Planetary Scie…67Astro and Planetary Science: 67 fractional worksSpace Satellite Systems …45Space Satellite Systems and Control: 45 fractional worksSpace exploration and regulation: 39 fractional worksSatellite Communication Systems: 32 fractional worksStellar, planetary, and …29Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies: 29 fractional worksIonosphere and magnetosphere dynamics: 28 fractional worksSolar and Space Plasma Dynamics: 25 fractional worksSpacecraft and Cryogenic Technologies: 24 fractional works
Aerospace EngineeringAstronomy and Astrophysics

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

  1. 1 Spacecraft Design and Technology Aerospace Engineering 75 works
  2. 2 Planetary Science and Exploration Astronomy and Astrophysics 70 works
  3. 3 Astro and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics 67 works
  4. 4 Space Satellite Systems and Control Aerospace Engineering 45 works
  5. 5 Space exploration and regulation Astronomy and Astrophysics 39 works
  6. 6 Satellite Communication Systems Aerospace Engineering 32 works
  7. 7 Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 29 works
  8. 8 Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics Astronomy and Astrophysics 28 works
  9. 9 Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics Astronomy and Astrophysics 25 works
  10. 10 Spacecraft and Cryogenic Technologies Aerospace Engineering 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 available33.6%not open66.4%

World: 40% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors54.3%domestic only45.7%

World: 18% is written across borders.

How has European Space Agency's research output changed?

Output in 2022-2025 was 11% 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 European Space Agency as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0078% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%European Space Agency0.0076% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of European Space Agency 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 counting5%10%15%all institutions10.0% in 2025European Space Agency8.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's output, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for its field and year. Peak 13.7% in 2020.

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European Space Agency on Science Explorer

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