Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Research facility · Pasadena · United States

LIGO Scientific Collaboration

ligo.orgROR OpenAlex
Research works
75
▲ 3% vs 2018-21
Citations
2.6k
34.3 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
21.3%
all institutions 10.0%
Open access
54%
world 40%
International
32%
world 18%
LIGO Scientific Collaboration

Not ranked overall: LIGO Scientific Collaboration is under the volume floor below which a citation excellence rate is noise. Not ranked is not the same as ranked last.

Which fields of science does LIGO Scientific Collaboration work in?

In all years, 90% of research at LIGO Scientific Collaboration is in Physical Sciences, 6% in Social Sciences. Its largest fields are Physics and Astronomy (53%), Engineering (19%), Earth and Planetary Sciences (9%). It does 2.1× the world's share of Physical Sciences.

Physical Sciences: 67 fractional works · 90.3% of its workPhysics and Astronomy: 39 fractional works · 52.6% of its workAstronomy and Astrophysics: 25 fractional works · 33.7% of its workAtomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics: 10 fractional works · 13.9% of its workNuclear and High Energy Physics: 2 fractional works · 2.4% of its workInstrumentation: 1 fractional works · 1.6% of its workStatistical and Nonlinear Physics: 1 fractional works · 1.0% of its workEngineering: 14 fractional works · 18.7% of its workOcean Engineering: 7 fractional works · 9.2% of its workElectrical and Electronic Engineering: 2 fractional works · 2.8% of its workMechanical Engineering: 2 fractional works · 2.5% of its workComputational Mechanics: 1 fractional works · 1.7% of its workBiomedical Engineering: 1 fractional works · 1.2% of its workMechanics of Materials: 1 fractional works · 0.8% of its workAerospace Engineering: 0 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workEarth and Planetary Sciences: 7 fractional works · 9.4% of its workGeophysics: 4 fractional works · 5.1% of its workOceanography: 3 fractional works · 3.8% of its workAtmospheric Science: 0 fractional works · 0.5% of its workComputer Science: 5 fractional works · 6.7% of its workArtificial Intelligence: 2 fractional works · 2.7% of its workComputer Networks and Communications: 1 fractional works · 1.7% of its workInformation Systems: 1 fractional works · 1.2% of its workComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition: 1 fractional works · 0.7% of its workSignal Processing: 0 fractional works · 0.4% of its workMaterials Science: 1 fractional works · 1.8% of its workSurfaces, Coatings and Films: 1 fractional works · 1.1% of its workMaterials Chemistry: 0 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workEnvironmental Science: 0 fractional works · 0.6% of its workEnvironmental Engineering: 0 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.2% of its workMathematics: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workApplied Mathematics: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workChemistry: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workSocial Sciences: 5 fractional works · 6.5% of its workSocial Sciences: 3 fractional works · 4.1% of its workPolitical Science and International Relations: 1 fractional works · 1.3% of its workEducation: 1 fractional works · 1.2% of its workSociology and Political Science: 1 fractional works · 0.8% of its workTransportation: 0 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workArts and Humanities: 1 fractional works · 0.9% of its workClassics: 0 fractional works · 0.7% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workDecision Sciences: 1 fractional works · 0.8% of its workStatistics, Probability and Uncertainty: 0 fractional works · 0.7% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workPsychology: 0 fractional works · 0.4% of its workDevelopmental and Educational Psychology: 0 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEconomics and Econometrics: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workHealth Sciences: 2 fractional works · 3.2% of its workHealth Professions: 2 fractional works · 2.7% of its workEmergency Medical Services: 1 fractional works · 1.3% of its workHealth Information Management: 1 fractional works · 1.3% of its workMedicine: 0 fractional works · 0.5% of its workPhysiology: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPulmonary and Respiratory Medicine: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workALL ITS WORKLIGO ScientificCollaboration75fractional works, all years
Physical Sciences90%Health Sciences3%Social Sciences6%

Each ring splits the one inside it: the four domains of science, their fields, their subfields. Size is fractional works in all years. 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 3 domains and 15 fields, with their numbers
    1. Physics and Astronomy3952.6%
    2. Engineering1418.7%
    3. Earth and Planetary Sciences79.4%
    4. Computer Science56.7%
    5. Materials Science11.8%
    6. Environmental Science00.6%
    7. Mathematics00.3%
    8. Chemistry00.1%
    1. Social Sciences34.1%
    2. Arts and Humanities10.9%
    3. Decision Sciences10.8%
    4. Psychology00.4%
    5. Economics, Econometrics and Finance00.3%
    1. Health Professions22.7%
    2. Medicine00.5%
All of science, and how each field's share has moved since 1950: the Science domain explorer

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.

Computer Science: 0.66× its world share, 0 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 8.72× its world share, 1 worksEarth and Planetary …Engineering: 0.75× its world share, 1 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.13× its world share, 0 worksEnvironmental ScienceMathematics: 0.01× its world share, 0 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 25.08× its world share, 6 worksPhysics and AstronomyArts and Humanities: 0.37× its world share, 0 worksArts and HumanitiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.99× its world share, 0 worksEconomics, Econometr…Social Sciences: 0.81× its world share, 1 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Physics and Astronomy, 25.1×. Every wedge is a field page.

All 9 fields, with their numbers
  1. Physics and Astronomy25.08×6 works
  2. Earth and Planetary Sciences8.72×1 works
  3. Economics, Econometrics and Finance0.99×0 works
  4. Social Sciences0.81×1 works
  5. Engineering0.75×1 works
  6. Computer Science0.66×0 works
  7. Arts and Humanities0.37×0 works
  8. Environmental Science0.13×0 works
  9. Mathematics0.01×0 works

Who are the top researchers at LIGO Scientific Collaboration?

Ranked on the quality score, A. Pele, J. Warner and A. Effler lead among researchers whose main affiliation is LIGO Scientific Collaboration.

  1. 1 A. Pele United States · #759 worldwide 60k citations · 169 works
  2. 2 J. Warner United States · #1,697 worldwide 62k citations · 158 works
  3. 3 A. Effler United States · #24,679 worldwide 6.5k citations · 104 works
  4. 4 I. V. Yakushin United States · #34,121 worldwide 30k citations · 117 works
  5. 5 F. Matichard United States · #77,447 worldwide 16k citations · 23 works
  6. 6 M Lormand United States · #265,531 worldwide 1k citations · 25 works
  7. 7 Anthony Rizzi United States · #432,746 worldwide 2k citations · 34 works
  8. 8 G Mendell United States · #603,548 worldwide 3.5k citations · 18 works
  9. 9 Valery Frolov United States · #835,015 worldwide 655 citations · 20 works
  10. 10 E Katsavounidis United States · #843,913 worldwide 1.5k citations · 16 works
All ranked researchers at LIGO Scientific Collaboration

What are the most cited papers from LIGO Scientific Collaboration?

The most cited paper from LIGO Scientific Collaboration is "Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger" (B. P. Abbott et al., 2016), with 14,545 citations. Next come "GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral" (9,794) and "GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs" (3,658).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger B. P. Abbott et al. · Physical Review Letters Open access1,011 authors 11 Feb 2016 14,545
2 GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral B. P. Abbott et al. · Physical Review Letters Open access1,124 authors 16 Oct 2017 9,794
3 GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs B. P. Abbott et al. · Physical Review X Open access1,149 authors 4 Sep 2019 3,658
4 Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A B. P. Abbott et al. · The Astrophysical Journal Letters Open access1,154 authors 16 Oct 2017 3,599
5 GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence B. P. Abbott et al. · Physical Review Letters Open access977 authors 15 Jun 2016 3,514
All 59 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Which keywords describe research at LIGO Scientific Collaboration?

By fractional works in all years, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Gravitational Waves, Binary Black Hole, Neutron Star, Ring Laser Gyroscope, Rotational Seismology, Atomic Clocks, Optical Clocks and Supernovae.

▲ more of its work than of the world's◆ about the world's share▼ less than the world's

Size is fractional works in all years 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. Gravitational Waves18▲ 363×2 topics
  2. Binary Black Hole14▲ 591×1 topic
  3. Neutron Star14▲ 591×1 topic
  4. Ring Laser Gyroscope6▲ 385×1 topic
  5. Rotational Seismology6▲ 385×1 topic
  6. Atomic Clocks5▲ 553×1 topic
  7. Optical Clocks5▲ 553×1 topic
  8. Supernovae5▲ 64×2 topics
  9. Gamma-Ray Bursts4▲ 149×1 topic
  10. Neutron Stars4▲ 149×1 topic
  11. Tomography3▲ 16×3 topics
  12. Hydrological Modeling3▲ 22×3 topics
  13. Climate Change3▲ 1.56×4 topics
  14. GRACE3▲ 78×1 topic
  15. Geodetic Measurements3▲ 30×2 topics
  16. Sea Level Rise3▲ 30×1 topic
  17. Accretion Disks3▲ 43×2 topics
  18. Adaptive Optics3▲ 173×1 topic
  19. Black Holes3▲ 24×3 topics
  20. Magnetic Fields3▲ 34×2 topics
  21. Wavefront Sensing3▲ 173×1 topic
  22. Seismic Noise2▲ 65×1 topic
  23. Surface Wave2▲ 65×1 topic
  24. Galactic Center2▲ 45×2 topics
  25. Event Horizon Telescope2▲ 84×1 topic
  26. X-Ray Astronomy2▲ 84×1 topic
  27. Dimensional Metrology2▲ 60×1 topic
  28. Error Compensation2▲ 60×1 topic
  29. Exoplanets2▲ 30×1 topic
  30. Spectroscopy2▲ 6.7×5 topics
  31. Stellar Astrophysics2▲ 30×1 topic
  32. Earthquake Detection2▲ 104×1 topic
  33. Seismic Signals2▲ 104×1 topic
  34. Quantum Simulation1▲ 23×1 topic
  35. Ultracold Gases1▲ 37×1 topic
  36. Astronomical Instrumentation1▲ 32×1 topic
  37. Cosmological Parameters1▲ 23×1 topic
  38. Dark Energy1▲ 20×1 topic
  39. Microfabrication1▲ 23×2 topics
  40. Spectrograph1▲ 32×1 topic

Which research topics does LIGO Scientific Collaboration publish most on?

By volume in 2022-now: Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research, Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae, Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations and Geophysics and Sensor Technology.

Pulsars and Gravitationa…2Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research: 2 fractional worksGamma-ray bursts and sup…1Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae: 1 fractional worksAstrophysical Phenomena …1Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations: 1 fractional worksGeophysics and Sensor Technology: 1 fractional worksSeismic Waves and Analysis: 0 fractional worksInnovative Teaching Meth…0Innovative Teaching Methods: 0 fractional worksGeophysics and Gravity Measurements: 0 fractional worksSeismology and Earthquake Studies: 0 fractional worksCosmology and Gravitation Theories: 0 fractional worksEducation and Teacher Training: 0 fractional works
Astronomy and AstrophysicsOcean EngineeringGeophysicsEducation2 others

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

  1. 1 Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research Astronomy and Astrophysics 2 works
  2. 2 Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae Astronomy and Astrophysics 1 works
  3. 3 Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations Astronomy and Astrophysics 1 works
  4. 4 Geophysics and Sensor Technology Ocean Engineering 1 works
  5. 5 Seismic Waves and Analysis Geophysics 0 works
  6. 6 Innovative Teaching Methods Education 0 works
  7. 7 Geophysics and Gravity Measurements Oceanography 0 works
  8. 8 Seismology and Earthquake Studies Artificial Intelligence 0 works
  9. 9 Cosmology and Gravitation Theories Astronomy and Astrophysics 0 works
  10. 10 Education and Teacher Training Education 0 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 available54.1%not open45.9%

World: 40% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors32.0%domestic only68.0%

World: 18% is written across borders.

How has LIGO Scientific Collaboration's research output changed?

Output in 2022-2025 was 3% 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 LIGO Scientific Collaboration as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.000027% in 2024.

still counting0.00020%0.00040%0.00060%LIGO Scientific Collaboration0.000088% in 20251990200020102020

Fractional works of LIGO Scientific Collaboration over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

Other research institutions in Pasadena

All research institutions in Pasadena

Research measures only: rankings here say nothing about teaching, admissions or student experience. Comparable institutions and collaboration partners have tabs of their own, above.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Keep it to the research: no personal attacks, advertising or links. Any reader can report a post, which collapses it for everyone until it is opened.