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University · Bozeman · United States

Montana State University

In research, Montana State University stands highest in Physical Sciences (#2,184 of 12,888 worldwide), Social Sciences (#2,069 of 10,521 worldwide) and Computer Science (#1,159 of 4,667 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Hardware and Architecture, Environmental Chemistry and Agronomy and Crop Science — Hardware and Architecture is 13.7× its share of world research.

montana.eduROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#2,377
of 28,054 · #906 all time
Rank in United States
#363
of 4,192
Research works
19k
▲ 8% vs 2013–17
Citations
601k
31.7 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
16.5%
record average 16.5%
Open access
33%
world 28%

What is Montana State 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
Physical SciencesDomain #2,184 of 12,888 13.3%1,065 #864
Social SciencesDomain #2,069 of 10,521 22.2%382 #785
Computer ScienceField #1,159 of 4,667 10.0%177 #1624
Life SciencesDomain #2,089 of 7,800 20.8%446 #858
Environmental ScienceField #1,078 of 3,551 17.2%267 #365
Health SciencesDomain #3,643 of 11,982 13.8%240 #1977
PsychologyField #682 of 2,181 20.5%82 #546
Agricultural and Biological SciencesField #1,102 of 3,409 23.4%231 #444
Social SciencesField #2,413 of 6,365 24.5%199 #672
EngineeringField #2,916 of 6,636 10.6%273 #1371

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Montana State 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. Physical Sciences#864 #2,184
  2. Social Sciences#785 #2,069
  3. Computer Science#1,624 #1,159
  4. Life Sciences#858 #2,089
  5. Environmental Science#365 #1,078
  6. Health Sciences#1,977 #3,643
  7. Psychology#546 #682
  8. Agricultural and Biological Sciences#444 #1,102
  9. Social Sciences#672 #2,413
  10. Engineering#1,371 #2,916
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 Montana State University specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Hardware and Architecture takes 13.7× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Hardware and ArchitectureSubfield · 32.9 works14×
  2. Environmental ChemistrySubfield · 49.1 works11×
  3. Agronomy and Crop ScienceSubfield · 30.1 works6.0×
← 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: 2.28× its world share, 231 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.44× its world share, 163 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.74× its world share, 16 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.94× its world share, 33 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.36× its world share, 3 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.78× its world share, 6 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 1.48× its world share, 49 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.07× its world share, 177 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 3.21× its world share, 107 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.68× its world share, 13 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.85× its world share, 273 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 2.52× its world share, 267 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.74× its world share, 55 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.79× its world share, 20 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 2.04× its world share, 97 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.24× its world share, 2 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.99× its world share, 56 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.39× its world share, 161 worksMedicineNursing: 1.03× its world share, 11 worksNursingVeterinary: 3.46× its world share, 10 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.58× its world share, 36 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.33× its world share, 22 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.83× its world share, 17 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.57× its world share, 26 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.26× its world share, 82 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.74× its world share, 199 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Veterinary, 3.5×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at Montana State University?

Ranked on the composite score, T. B. Littenberg, Robert A. Garrott and Philip S. Stewart lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Montana State University.

  1. 1 T. B. Littenberg United States · #9,321 worldwide 1.6k citations · 80 works
  2. 2 Robert A. Garrott United States · #15,607 worldwide 808 citations · 48 works
  3. 3 Philip S. Stewart United States · #20,366 worldwide 798 citations · 44 works
  4. 4 J. S. Key United States · #31,703 worldwide 893 citations · 54 works
  5. 5 Neil J. Cornish United States · #40,006 worldwide 1.7k citations · 136 works
  6. 6 John M. Antle United States · #40,260 worldwide 372 citations · 63 works
  7. 7 Gary A. Strobel United States · #42,896 worldwide 387 citations · 64 works
  8. 8 Mark T. Quinn United States · #45,816 worldwide 363 citations · 32 works
  9. 9 David M. Ward United States · #47,479 worldwide 645 citations · 31 works
  10. 10 L. L. Eberhardt United States · #47,561 worldwide 391 citations · 41 works
All ranked researchers at Montana State University

Which keywords describe research at Montana State University?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Climate Change, Microbial Communities, Invasive Species, Biodiversity, Anaerobic, Methane Oxidation, Conservation and Engineering Education.

▲ 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. Climate Change162▲ 2.8×74 topics
  2. Machine Learning66◆ 0.95×58 topics
  3. Biodiversity65▲ 4.1×27 topics
  4. Microbial Communities61▲ 6.7×8 topics
  5. Invasive Species55▲ 6.0×17 topics
  6. Remote Sensing48▲ 1.84×30 topics
  7. Mental Health43▲ 1.37×31 topics
  8. Conservation43▲ 4.7×19 topics
  9. Anaerobic37▲ 25×1 topic
  10. Methane Oxidation37▲ 21×1 topic
  11. Engineering Education33▲ 18×4 topics
  12. Habitat Fragmentation31▲ 6.5×4 topics
  13. Resilience28▲ 2.8×13 topics
  14. Global Change27▲ 4.9×6 topics
  15. Phylogenetic Analysis26▲ 4.0×15 topics
  16. Tomography24▲ 6.2×4 topics
  17. Population Dynamics24▲ 4.5×12 topics
  18. Ecosystem22▲ 9.6×4 topics
  19. Genomics22▲ 3.5×11 topics
  20. FPGA21▲ 26×4 topics
  21. Seismic Noise21▲ 21×1 topic
  22. Surface Wave21▲ 21×1 topic
  23. Sea Level Rise21▲ 7.7×3 topics
  24. Biogeography20▲ 3.7×14 topics
  25. Microbial Ecology19▲ 5.2×5 topics
  26. Solar Wind19▲ 9.7×2 topics
  27. Embedded Systems19▲ 20×5 topics
  28. High-Performance Computing18▲ 9.9×2 topics
  29. Assessment Methods16▲ 6.8×3 topics
  30. Nitrogen Fixation15▲ 10×3 topics
  31. Plant Breeding15▲ 7.4×4 topics
  32. Breeding15▲ 9.2×5 topics
  33. High-Level Synthesis14▲ 33×1 topic
  34. Reconfigurable Computing14▲ 28×1 topic
  35. Control System14▲ 12×3 topics
  36. Electron Acceleration14▲ 9.6×2 topics
  37. Performance Optimization14▲ 10×2 topics
  38. GPU Computing14▲ 17×1 topic
  39. Ionosphere14▲ 12×1 topic
  40. Magnetosphere14▲ 12×1 topic

Which research topics does Montana State University publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena, Seismic Waves and Analysis, Embedded Systems Design Techniques and Parallel Computing and Optimization Techniques.

Methane Hydrates and Rel…37Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena: 37 fractional worksSeismic Waves and Analysis: 21 fractional worksEmbedded Systems Design Techniques: 14 fractional worksParallel Computing and Optimization Techniques: 14 fractional worksIonosphere and magnetosphere dynamics: 14 fractional worksMicrobial Community Ecology and Physiology: 13 fractional worksGeophysics and Gravity M…13Geophysics and Gravity Measurements: 13 fractional worksEngineering Education and Curriculum Development: 12 fractional worksExperimental Learning in Engineering: 12 fractional worksEcology and Vegetation D…11Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies: 11 fractional works
Environmental ChemistryGeophysicsHardware and ArchitectureAstronomy and Astrophysics4 others

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

  1. 1 Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena Environmental Chemistry 37 works
  2. 2 Seismic Waves and Analysis Geophysics 21 works
  3. 3 Embedded Systems Design Techniques Hardware and Architecture 14 works
  4. 4 Parallel Computing and Optimization Techniques Hardware and Architecture 14 works
  5. 5 Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics Astronomy and Astrophysics 14 works
  6. 6 Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology Ecology 13 works
  7. 7 Geophysics and Gravity Measurements Oceanography 13 works
  8. 8 Engineering Education and Curriculum Development Media Technology 12 works
  9. 9 Experimental Learning in Engineering Media Technology 12 works
  10. 10 Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies Nature and Landscape Conservation 11 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 available33.2%not open66.8%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors11.0%domestic only89.0%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Montana State University's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 8% 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 Bozeman

All research institutions in Bozeman

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.