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Government institution · Bethesda · United States

National Institutes of Health

In research, National Institutes of Health stands highest in Life Sciences (#29 of 7,800 worldwide), Medicine (#90 of 10,443 worldwide) and Health Sciences (#116 of 11,982 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Virology, Immunology and Immunology and Microbiology — Virology is 8.8× its share of world research.

nih.govROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#161
of 28,054 · #27 all time
Rank in United States
#47
of 4,192
Research works
84k
▼ 14% vs 2013–17
Citations
6M
71.7 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
23.9%
record average 16.5%
Open access
44%
world 28%

What is National Institutes of Health 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
Life SciencesDomain #29 of 7,800 24.6%2,086 #3
MedicineField #90 of 10,443 24.7%2,378 #14
Health SciencesDomain #116 of 11,982 24.8%2,521 #19
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #42 of 3,579 23.9%1,301 #4
Molecular BiologySubfield #36 of 2,175 23.2%821 #4
Immunology and MicrobiologyField #18 of 682 26.2%351 #3
Infectious DiseasesSubfield #10 of 345 32.2%181 #3
EpidemiologySubfield #34 of 976 29.0%219 #3
NeuroscienceField #50 of 1,168 23.3%336 #9
ImmunologySubfield #24 of 455 25.9%287 #3

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where National Institutes of Health 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. Life Sciences#3 #29
  2. Medicine#14 #90
  3. Health Sciences#19 #116
  4. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#4 #42
  5. Molecular Biology#4 #36
  6. Immunology and Microbiology#3 #18
  7. Infectious Diseases#3 #10
  8. Epidemiology#3 #34
  9. Neuroscience#9 #50
  10. Immunology#3 #24
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 National Institutes of Health specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Virology takes 8.8× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. VirologySubfield · 27.9 works8.8×
  2. ImmunologySubfield · 286.5 works7.6×
  3. Immunology and MicrobiologyField · 350.5 works6.4×
  4. Cellular and Molecular NeuroscienceSubfield · 108.6 works6.4×
  5. GeneticsSubfield · 81.4 works5.5×
← 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: 0.30× its world share, 78 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 4.47× its world share, 1,301 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 6.38× its world share, 350 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 3.80× its world share, 336 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 1.08× its world share, 21 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.05× its world share, 1 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.65× its world share, 56 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.21× its world share, 88 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.29× its world share, 110 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.03× its world share, 2 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.13× its world share, 103 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.43× its world share, 118 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.17× its world share, 32 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.39× its world share, 25 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.50× its world share, 61 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.34× its world share, 9 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.65× its world share, 93 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 2.27× its world share, 2,378 worksMedicineNursing: 1.18× its world share, 32 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.22× its world share, 9 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.04× its world share, 7 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.05× its world share, 9 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.36× its world share, 19 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.24× its world share, 28 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.69× its world share, 114 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.11× its world share, 76 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Immunology and Microbiology, 6.4×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at National Institutes of Health?

Ranked on the composite score, Francis S. Collins, Karel Pacák and Henry Masur lead among researchers whose main affiliation is National Institutes of Health.

  1. 1 Francis S. Collins United States · #961 worldwide 2.7k citations · 100 works
  2. 2 Karel Pacák United States · #1,185 worldwide 1.6k citations · 105 works
  3. 3 Henry Masur United States · #1,702 worldwide 1.9k citations · 86 works
  4. 4 Paul T. Costa United States · #2,868 worldwide 2.7k citations · 74 works
  5. 5 Warren Strober United States · #2,879 worldwide 1.1k citations · 116 works
  6. 6 Ad Bax United States · #3,485 worldwide 1.5k citations · 80 works
  7. 7 Bernard B. Brodie United States · #4,312 worldwide 1k citations · 64 works
  8. 8 Jay H. Hoofnagle United States · #5,138 worldwide 931 citations · 68 works
  9. 9 Paul S. Meltzer United States · #6,541 worldwide 951 citations · 80 works
  10. 10 George H. Weiss United States · #7,114 worldwide 2.4k citations · 236 works
All ranked researchers at National Institutes of Health

Which keywords describe research at National Institutes of Health?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Inflammation, Cancer, Immunotherapy, Oxidative Stress, Immunity, Immune Response and Vaccine.

▲ 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. Epidemiology513▲ 2.4×128 topics
  2. Inflammation356▲ 3.1×82 topics
  3. Cancer253▲ 3.5×53 topics
  4. Oxidative Stress234▲ 2.6×59 topics
  5. Immunotherapy191▲ 4.9×19 topics
  6. Public Health156▲ 1.97×55 topics
  7. Immune Response153▲ 5.0×22 topics
  8. Immunity144▲ 6.6×11 topics
  9. Treatment140▲ 2.1×50 topics
  10. Genetic Mutations138▲ 5.8×23 topics
  11. Vaccine136▲ 6.2×11 topics
  12. Cardiovascular Disease127▲ 2.1×38 topics
  13. Metabolic Syndrome124▲ 2.8×23 topics
  14. Neurological Disorders123▲ 4.0×20 topics
  15. Biomarkers120▲ 3.2×18 topics
  16. Gene Expression112▲ 3.4×19 topics
  17. Innate Immunity107▲ 6.1×11 topics
  18. Cancer Therapy105▲ 3.4×18 topics
  19. Tumor Microenvironment104▲ 4.3×8 topics
  20. Pathogenesis100▲ 3.6×24 topics
  21. Genetics98▲ 2.6×24 topics
  22. Clinical Trials96▲ 2.6×18 topics
  23. Aging92▲ 3.1×18 topics
  24. Cancer Immunotherapy91▲ 11×3 topics
  25. Tomography86▲ 8.7×5 topics
  26. SARS-CoV-284▲ 4.8×6 topics
  27. Seismic Noise83▲ 32×1 topic
  28. Surface Wave83▲ 32×1 topic
  29. Vaccine Development76▲ 5.5×11 topics
  30. Mitochondrial Dysfunction75▲ 4.7×12 topics
  31. Neurodegeneration74▲ 4.5×10 topics
  32. ACE2 Receptor72▲ 5.4×3 topics
  33. Cell Death68▲ 5.4×6 topics
  34. Lymphoma67▲ 7.6×4 topics
  35. Genetic Variants66▲ 7.0×7 topics
  36. Mutation63▲ 6.2×5 topics
  37. Gene Therapy63▲ 6.0×6 topics
  38. Autoimmunity62▲ 7.9×6 topics
  39. Tumor Regression59▲ 9.8×2 topics
  40. Viral Transmission56▲ 6.9×4 topics

Which research topics does National Institutes of Health publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Seismic Waves and Analysis, CAR-T cell therapy research, Immune Cell Function and Interaction and SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research.

Seismic Waves and Analysis: 83 fractional worksCAR-T cell therapy research: 47 fractional worksImmune Cell Function and…47Immune Cell Function and Interaction: 47 fractional worksSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 …45SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research: 45 fractional worksImmunotherapy and Immune Responses: 36 fractional worksCRISPR and Genetic Engineering: 33 fractional worksRNA and protein synthesi…32RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms: 32 fractional worksRNA modifications and cancer: 31 fractional worksRNA Research and Splicing: 31 fractional worksCancer Immunotherapy and…30Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers: 30 fractional works
GeophysicsOncologyImmunologyInfectious Diseases1 others

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

  1. 1 Seismic Waves and Analysis Geophysics 83 works
  2. 2 CAR-T cell therapy research Oncology 47 works
  3. 3 Immune Cell Function and Interaction Immunology 47 works
  4. 4 SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research Infectious Diseases 45 works
  5. 5 Immunotherapy and Immune Responses Immunology 36 works
  6. 6 CRISPR and Genetic Engineering Molecular Biology 33 works
  7. 7 RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms Molecular Biology 32 works
  8. 8 RNA modifications and cancer Molecular Biology 31 works
  9. 9 RNA Research and Splicing Molecular Biology 31 works
  10. 10 Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers Oncology 30 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 available44.1%not open55.9%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors19.4%domestic only80.6%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has National Institutes of Health's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 14% lower 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 Bethesda

All research institutions in Bethesda

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.