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Government institution · Exeter · United Kingdom

Met Office

In research, Met Office stands highest in Physical Sciences (#1,635 of 10,670 worldwide), Environmental Science (#717 of 3,334 worldwide) and Earth and Planetary Sciences (#250 of 1,088 worldwide), 2022-now. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Atmospheric Science, Global and Planetary Change and Earth and Planetary Sciences (Atmospheric Science is 68.1× its share of world research).

metoffice.gov.ukROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022-now
#4,054
of 22,385 · #2,112 all time
Rank in United Kingdom
#187
of 862
Research works
6.9k
▼ 38% vs 2018-21
Citations
320k
46.4 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
11.8%
all institutions 10.0%
vs its own fields
1.05×
1.00× is exactly expected
Open access
40%
world 40%
International
23%
world 18%
Met Office

What is Met Office 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 #1,635 of 10,670 12.2%440 #1350
Environmental ScienceField #717 of 3,334 10.9%201 #626
Earth and Planetary SciencesField #250 of 1,088 13.3%192 #240
Global and Planetary ChangeSubfield #135 of 544 11.4%151 #111
Atmospheric ScienceSubfield #84 of 294 13.7%145 #101

Each strip is that field's whole ranked pool, with the notch where Met Office 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#1,350 #1,635
  2. Environmental Science#626 #717
  3. Earth and Planetary Sciences#240 #250
  4. Global and Planetary Change#111 #135
  5. Atmospheric Science#101 #84
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 Met Office work in?

In 2022-now, 90% of research at Met Office is in Physical Sciences, 7% in Social Sciences. Its largest fields are Environmental Science (41%), Earth and Planetary Sciences (39%), Engineering (5%). It does 2.3× the world's share of Physical Sciences.

Physical Sciences: 554 fractional works · 90.1% of its workEnvironmental Science: 255 fractional works · 41.4% of its workGlobal and Planetary Change: 193 fractional works · 31.5% of its workEnvironmental Engineering: 23 fractional works · 3.7% of its workHealth, Toxicology and Mutagenesis: 13 fractional works · 2.1% of its workEcology: 8 fractional works · 1.3% of its workWater Science and Technology: 6 fractional works · 0.9% of its workManagement, Monitoring, Policy and Law: 5 fractional works · 0.8% of its workEcological Modeling: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEnvironmental Chemistry: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workNature and Landscape Conservation: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workPollution: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEarth and Planetary Sciences: 238 fractional works · 38.8% of its workAtmospheric Science: 185 fractional works · 30.1% of its workOceanography: 41 fractional works · 6.7% of its workEarth-Surface Processes: 6 fractional works · 0.9% of its workGeophysics: 4 fractional works · 0.6% of its workGeology: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEngineering: 32 fractional works · 5.2% of its workAerospace Engineering: 9 fractional works · 1.4% of its workComputational Mechanics: 5 fractional works · 0.8% of its workOcean Engineering: 4 fractional works · 0.7% of its workElectrical and Electronic Engineering: 4 fractional works · 0.6% of its workCivil and Structural Engineering: 3 fractional works · 0.4% of its workMechanical Engineering: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMechanics of Materials: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.7% of its workPhysics and Astronomy: 15 fractional works · 2.5% of its workAstronomy and Astrophysics: 11 fractional works · 1.8% of its workStatistical and Nonlinear Physics: 3 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workComputer Science: 10 fractional works · 1.6% of its workArtificial Intelligence: 6 fractional works · 0.9% of its workInformation Systems: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 3 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEnergy: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workRenewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workMathematics: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workChemistry: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workMaterials Science: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workSocial Sciences: 41 fractional works · 6.6% of its workSocial Sciences: 20 fractional works · 3.3% of its workSociology and Political Science: 13 fractional works · 2.2% of its workTransportation: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.7% of its workDecision Sciences: 9 fractional works · 1.4% of its workManagement Science and Operations Research: 5 fractional works · 0.8% of its workInformation Systems and Management: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 6 fractional works · 1.0% of its workEconomics and Econometrics: 5 fractional works · 0.8% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.2% of its workArts and Humanities: 3 fractional works · 0.5% of its workArcheology: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workBusiness, Management and Accounting: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPsychology: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workLife Sciences: 16 fractional works · 2.6% of its workAgricultural and Biological Sciences: 14 fractional works · 2.2% of its workEcology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics: 6 fractional works · 1.0% of its workPlant Science: 4 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSoil Science: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMolecular Biology: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workNeuroscience: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workHealth Sciences: 4 fractional works · 0.7% of its workMedicine: 3 fractional works · 0.4% of its workHealth Professions: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workVeterinary: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workNursing: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workALL ITS WORKMet Office615fractional works, 2022-now
Life Sciences3%Physical Sciences90%Health Sciences1%Social Sciences7%

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 24 fields, with their numbers
    1. Environmental Science25541.4%
    2. Earth and Planetary Sciences23838.8%
    3. Engineering325.2%
    4. Physics and Astronomy152.5%
    5. Computer Science101.6%
    6. Energy10.2%
    7. Mathematics10.2%
    8. Chemistry10.1%
    9. Materials Science00.1%
    10. Chemical Engineering00.0%
    1. Social Sciences203.3%
    2. Decision Sciences91.4%
    3. Economics, Econometrics and Finance61.0%
    4. Arts and Humanities30.5%
    5. Business, Management and Accounting20.3%
    6. Psychology10.1%
    1. Agricultural and Biological Sciences142.2%
    2. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology20.3%
    3. Neuroscience00.0%
    4. Immunology and Microbiology00.0%
    1. Medicine30.4%
    2. Health Professions20.3%
    3. Veterinary00.0%
    4. Nursing00.0%
All of science, and how each field's share has moved since 1950: the Science domain explorer

What does Met Office specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Atmospheric Science takes 68.1× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Atmospheric ScienceSubfield · 184.9 works68×
  2. Global and Planetary ChangeSubfield · 193.4 works41×
  3. Earth and Planetary SciencesField · 238.2 works25×
  4. OceanographySubfield · 40.9 works24×
  5. Environmental ScienceField · 254.7 works8.3×
  6. Environmental EngineeringSubfield · 22.9 works6.9×
← 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: 0.47× its world share, 14 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.06× its world share, 2 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.01× its world share, 0 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksNeuroscienceChemical Engineering: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.06× its world share, 1 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.21× its world share, 10 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 24.71× its world share, 238 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.25× its world share, 1 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.35× its world share, 32 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 8.34× its world share, 255 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.14× its world share, 1 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.12× its world share, 15 worksPhysics and AstronomyHealth Professions: 0.10× its world share, 2 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.02× its world share, 2 worksMedicineNursing: 0.05× its world share, 0 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.20× its world share, 0 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.18× its world share, 3 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.09× its world share, 2 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.43× its world share, 8 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.47× its world share, 6 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.03× its world share, 1 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.26× its world share, 20 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Earth and Planetary Sciences, 24.7×. Every wedge is a field page.

All 24 fields, with their numbers
  1. Earth and Planetary Sciences24.71×238 works
  2. Environmental Science8.34×255 works
  3. Decision Sciences1.43×8 works
  4. Physics and Astronomy1.12×15 works
  5. Agricultural and Biological Sciences0.47×14 works
  6. Economics, Econometrics and Finance0.47×6 works
  7. Engineering0.35×32 works
  8. Social Sciences0.26×20 works
  9. Energy0.25×1 works
  10. Computer Science0.21×10 works
  11. Veterinary0.20×0 works
  12. Arts and Humanities0.18×3 works
  13. Mathematics0.14×1 works
  14. Health Professions0.10×2 works
  15. Business, Management and Accounting0.09×2 works
  16. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology0.06×2 works
  17. Chemistry0.06×1 works
  18. Nursing0.05×0 works
  19. Psychology0.03×1 works
  20. Neuroscience0.02×0 works
  21. Chemical Engineering0.02×0 works
  22. Materials Science0.02×0 works
  23. Medicine0.02×2 works
  24. Immunology and Microbiology0.01×0 works

Who are the top researchers at Met Office?

Ranked on the quality score, Timothy Andrews, Richard Betts and Andrew J. Wiltshire lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Met Office.

  1. 1 Timothy Andrews United Kingdom · #17,410 worldwide 16k citations · 170 works
  2. 2 Richard Betts United Kingdom · #18,766 worldwide 51k citations · 367 works
  3. 3 Andrew J. Wiltshire United Kingdom · #22,919 worldwide 23k citations · 154 works
  4. 4 Jonathan M. Gregory United Kingdom · #23,266 worldwide 47k citations · 570 works
  5. 5 Andy Jones United Kingdom · #25,156 worldwide 14k citations · 149 works
  6. 6 Elizabeth Kendon United Kingdom · #25,295 worldwide 13k citations · 166 works
  7. 7 Jim Haywood United Kingdom · #25,614 worldwide 30k citations · 486 works
  8. 8 Chris K. Folland United Kingdom · #26,963 worldwide 23k citations · 138 works
  9. 9 Gerd Folberth United Kingdom · #27,683 worldwide 12k citations · 177 works
  10. 10 Doug M Smith United Kingdom · #33,709 worldwide 16k citations · 264 works
All ranked researchers at Met Office

What are the most cited papers from Met Office?

The most cited paper from Met Office is "Overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) experimental design and organization" (Veronika Eyring, Sandrine Bony, Gerald A. Meehl et al., 2016), with 12,432 citations. Next come "Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century" (11,470) and "The ERA‐40 re‐analysis" (7,164).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) experimental design and organization Veronika Eyring, Sandrine Bony, Gerald A. Meehl et al. · Geoscientific model development Open access 26 May 2016 12,432
2 Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century Nick A Rayner, D. E. Parker, E. B. Horton et al. · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres 17 Jul 2003 11,470
3 The ERA‐40 re‐analysis S. Uppala et al. · Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society Open access Oct 2005 7,164
4 Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment Tami C. Bond et al. · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres Open access 22 Apr 2013 6,885
5 The next generation of scenarios for climate change research and assessment Richard H. Moss, Jae Edmonds, Kathy A. Hibbard et al. · Nature Feb 2010 6,734
All 60 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Which keywords describe research at Met Office?

By fractional works in 2022-now, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Climate Change, Global Warming, Ocean Circulation, Hydrological Cycle, Data Assimilation, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Extreme Events and Climate Modeling.

▲ 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. Climate Change268▲ 16×75 topics
  2. Global Warming164▲ 63×13 topics
  3. Ocean Circulation129▲ 153×3 topics
  4. Hydrological Cycle120▲ 192×2 topics
  5. Data Assimilation108▲ 107×4 topics
  6. Greenhouse Gas Emissions104▲ 61×6 topics
  7. Extreme Events102▲ 180×2 topics
  8. Climate Modeling98▲ 214×1 topic
  9. Precipitation Extremes98▲ 214×1 topic
  10. Boundary Layer90▲ 116×3 topics
  11. Ensemble Kalman Filter84▲ 133×2 topics
  12. Probabilistic Forecasting83▲ 70×3 topics
  13. Convective Parameterization82▲ 234×1 topic
  14. Mesoscale Modeling82▲ 234×1 topic
  15. Remote Sensing82▲ 11×26 topics
  16. Air Quality50▲ 43×6 topics
  17. Satellite Observations48▲ 78×3 topics
  18. Sea Level Rise44▲ 56×3 topics
  19. Tropical Cyclones32▲ 90×2 topics
  20. Hydrological Modeling31▲ 21×5 topics
  21. Hurricanes28▲ 132×1 topic
  22. Storm Surge28▲ 132×1 topic
  23. Emissions26▲ 22×5 topics
  24. Water Quality26▲ 11×6 topics
  25. Shale Gas25▲ 34×2 topics
  26. Hydraulic Fracturing25▲ 38×2 topics
  27. Natural Gas24▲ 43×2 topics
  28. Atmospheric24▲ 85×1 topic
  29. Methane24▲ 85×1 topic
  30. Climate24▲ 40×2 topics
  31. Climate Change Impact24▲ 17×5 topics
  32. Oceanic Modeling23▲ 103×1 topic
  33. Tidal Analysis23▲ 103×1 topic
  34. Aerosols22▲ 51×1 topic
  35. Atmospheric Dust22▲ 132×1 topic
  36. Vulnerability18▲ 13×6 topics
  37. Hydrology18▲ 23×4 topics
  38. Atmospheric Aerosols18▲ 51×1 topic
  39. Black Carbon18▲ 51×1 topic
  40. Ecosystem Resilience17▲ 18×5 topics

Which research topics does Met Office publish most on?

By volume in 2022-now: Climate variability and models, Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations, Tropical and Extratropical Cyclones Research and Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics.

Climate variability and …98Climate variability and models: 98 fractional worksMeteorological Phenomena…82Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations: 82 fractional worksTropical and Extratropical Cyclones Research: 28 fractional worksAtmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics: 24 fractional worksOceanographic and Atmosp…23Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes: 23 fractional worksAtmospheric aerosols and clouds: 22 fractional worksAtmospheric chemistry and aerosols: 18 fractional worksAtmospheric Ozone and Climate: 15 fractional worksPrecipitation Measurement and Analysis: 9 fractional worksFlood Risk Assessment and Management: 9 fractional works
Global and Planetary ChangeAtmospheric ScienceOceanography

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

  1. 1 Climate variability and models Global and Planetary Change 98 works
  2. 2 Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations Atmospheric Science 82 works
  3. 3 Tropical and Extratropical Cyclones Research Atmospheric Science 28 works
  4. 4 Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics Global and Planetary Change 24 works
  5. 5 Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes Oceanography 23 works
  6. 6 Atmospheric aerosols and clouds Global and Planetary Change 22 works
  7. 7 Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols Atmospheric Science 18 works
  8. 8 Atmospheric Ozone and Climate Atmospheric Science 15 works
  9. 9 Precipitation Measurement and Analysis Atmospheric Science 9 works
  10. 10 Flood Risk Assessment and Management Global and Planetary Change 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 available39.5%not open60.5%

World: 40% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors23.4%domestic only76.6%

World: 18% is written across borders.

How has Met Office's research output changed?

Output in 2022-2025 was 38% lower 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 Met Office as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0021% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Met Office0.0019% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Met Office 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%30%Met Office11.2% 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 22.8% in 1991.

Other research institutions in Exeter

All research institutions in Exeter

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Met Office on Science Explorer

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