Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Government institution · Washington · United States

National Park Service

In research, National Park Service stands highest in Environmental Science (#1,115 of 3,334 worldwide), Physical Sciences (#5,558 of 10,670 worldwide) and Ecology (#340 of 600 worldwide), 2022-now. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation and Atmospheric Science (Ecology is 28.3× its share of world research).

nps.govROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022-now
#7,113
of 22,385 · #3,336 all time
Rank in United States
#948
of 3,332
Research works
3.1k
▼ 17% vs 2018-21
Citations
70k
22.3 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
7.5%
all institutions 10.0%
vs its own fields
0.89×
1.00× is exactly expected
Open access
36%
world 40%
International
11%
world 18%
National Park Service

What is National Park Service 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
Environmental ScienceField #1,115 of 3,334 6.7%183 #849
Physical SciencesDomain #5,558 of 10,670 6.4%254 #3239
EcologySubfield #340 of 600 7.1%84 #395

Each strip is that field's whole ranked pool, with the notch where National Park Service 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. Environmental Science#849 #1,115
  2. Physical Sciences#3,239 #5,558
  3. Ecology#395 #340
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 National Park Service work in?

In 2022-now, 66% of research at National Park Service is in Physical Sciences, 16% in Social Sciences. Its largest fields are Environmental Science (48%), Earth and Planetary Sciences (13%), Agricultural and Biological Sciences (8%). It does 1.7× the world's share of Physical Sciences.

Physical Sciences: 287 fractional works · 65.6% of its workEnvironmental Science: 208 fractional works · 47.6% of its workEcology: 97 fractional works · 22.3% of its workGlobal and Planetary Change: 32 fractional works · 7.3% of its workNature and Landscape Conservation: 24 fractional works · 5.5% of its workEcological Modeling: 18 fractional works · 4.1% of its workManagement, Monitoring, Policy and Law: 11 fractional works · 2.6% of its workHealth, Toxicology and Mutagenesis: 8 fractional works · 1.8% of its workEnvironmental Chemistry: 5 fractional works · 1.2% of its workWater Science and Technology: 5 fractional works · 1.1% of its workPollution: 4 fractional works · 0.9% of its workEnvironmental Engineering: 3 fractional works · 0.8% of its workEarth and Planetary Sciences: 58 fractional works · 13.3% of its workAtmospheric Science: 27 fractional works · 6.2% of its workPaleontology: 9 fractional works · 2.0% of its workOceanography: 8 fractional works · 1.8% of its workEarth-Surface Processes: 5 fractional works · 1.1% of its workGeology: 5 fractional works · 1.0% of its workGeochemistry and Petrology: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workGeophysics: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSpace and Planetary Science: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEngineering: 10 fractional works · 2.2% of its workAerospace Engineering: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workAutomotive Engineering: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workOcean Engineering: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMechanics of Materials: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.8% of its workComputer Science: 8 fractional works · 1.8% of its workArtificial Intelligence: 5 fractional works · 1.1% of its workInformation Systems: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMathematics: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workChemistry: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEnergy: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workMaterials Science: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workPhysics and Astronomy: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workChemical Engineering: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workSocial Sciences: 68 fractional works · 15.6% of its workSocial Sciences: 34 fractional works · 7.7% of its workAnthropology: 12 fractional works · 2.6% of its workSociology and Political Science: 7 fractional works · 1.6% of its workGeography, Planning and Development: 5 fractional works · 1.1% of its workPolitical Science and International Relations: 3 fractional works · 0.7% of its workTransportation: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workCultural Studies: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.9% of its workArts and Humanities: 16 fractional works · 3.6% of its workArcheology: 5 fractional works · 1.1% of its workConservation: 4 fractional works · 0.8% of its workMuseology: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workHistory and Philosophy of Science: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workHistory: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPsychology: 12 fractional works · 2.6% of its workSocial Psychology: 11 fractional works · 2.5% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 5 fractional works · 1.1% of its workEconomics and Econometrics: 4 fractional works · 1.0% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workBusiness, Management and Accounting: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workMarketing: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workDecision Sciences: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workLife Sciences: 61 fractional works · 14.0% of its workAgricultural and Biological Sciences: 37 fractional works · 8.3% of its workEcology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics: 16 fractional works · 3.7% of its workPlant Science: 8 fractional works · 1.9% of its workInsect Science: 4 fractional works · 0.9% of its workAgronomy and Crop Science: 2 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSoil Science: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workFood Science: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workAquatic Science: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 19 fractional works · 4.4% of its workGenetics: 11 fractional works · 2.4% of its workMolecular Biology: 5 fractional works · 1.0% of its workDevelopmental Biology: 3 fractional works · 0.7% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workImmunology and Microbiology: 4 fractional works · 0.9% of its workMicrobiology: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workParasitology: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workNeuroscience: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workHealth Sciences: 21 fractional works · 4.8% of its workMedicine: 11 fractional works · 2.5% of its workPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workInfectious Diseases: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEpidemiology: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workReproductive Medicine: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPulmonary and Respiratory Medicine: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.9% of its workHealth Professions: 7 fractional works · 1.5% of its workGeneral Health Professions: 4 fractional works · 0.9% of its workSpeech and Hearing: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workVeterinary: 3 fractional works · 0.7% of its workSmall Animals: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workDentistry: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workALL ITS WORKNational ParkService438fractional works, 2022-now
Life Sciences14%Physical Sciences66%Health Sciences5%Social Sciences16%

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 26 fields, with their numbers
    1. Environmental Science20847.6%
    2. Earth and Planetary Sciences5813.3%
    3. Engineering102.2%
    4. Computer Science81.8%
    5. Mathematics10.3%
    6. Chemistry10.2%
    7. Energy00.1%
    8. Materials Science00.1%
    9. Physics and Astronomy00.0%
    10. Chemical Engineering00.0%
    1. Social Sciences347.7%
    2. Arts and Humanities163.6%
    3. Psychology122.6%
    4. Economics, Econometrics and Finance51.1%
    5. Business, Management and Accounting20.4%
    6. Decision Sciences10.2%
    1. Agricultural and Biological Sciences378.3%
    2. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology194.4%
    3. Immunology and Microbiology40.9%
    4. Neuroscience10.2%
    5. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics00.1%
    1. Medicine112.5%
    2. Health Professions71.5%
    3. Veterinary30.7%
    4. Dentistry00.0%
    5. Nursing00.0%
All of science, and how each field's share has moved since 1950: the Science domain explorer

What does National Park Service specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Ecology takes 28.3× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. EcologySubfield · 97.5 works28×
  2. Nature and Landscape ConservationSubfield · 24.1 works23×
  3. Atmospheric ScienceSubfield · 27.0 works14×
  4. Global and Planetary ChangeSubfield · 32.2 works9.7×
← 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: 1.76× its world share, 36 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.83× its world share, 19 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.93× its world share, 4 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.15× its world share, 1 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.16× its world share, 0 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.07× its world share, 0 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.10× its world share, 1 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.23× its world share, 8 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 8.50× its world share, 58 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.07× its world share, 0 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.15× its world share, 10 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 9.58× its world share, 208 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.23× its world share, 1 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.10× its world share, 0 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.58× its world share, 7 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.13× its world share, 11 worksMedicineNursing: 0.04× its world share, 0 worksNursingVeterinary: 5.32× its world share, 3 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 1.26× its world share, 16 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.13× its world share, 2 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.17× its world share, 1 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.50× its world share, 5 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.86× its world share, 12 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.61× its world share, 34 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Environmental Science, 9.6×. Every wedge is a field page.

All 26 fields, with their numbers
  1. Environmental Science9.58×208 works
  2. Earth and Planetary Sciences8.50×58 works
  3. Veterinary5.32×3 works
  4. Agricultural and Biological Sciences1.76×36 works
  5. Arts and Humanities1.26×16 works
  6. Immunology and Microbiology0.93×4 works
  7. Psychology0.86×12 works
  8. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology0.83×19 works
  9. Social Sciences0.61×34 works
  10. Health Professions0.58×7 works
  11. Economics, Econometrics and Finance0.50×5 works
  12. Computer Science0.23×8 works
  13. Mathematics0.23×1 works
  14. Decision Sciences0.17×1 works
  15. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics0.16×0 works
  16. Neuroscience0.15×1 works
  17. Engineering0.15×10 works
  18. Medicine0.13×11 works
  19. Business, Management and Accounting0.13×2 works
  20. Chemistry0.10×1 works
  21. Dentistry0.10×0 works
  22. Chemical Engineering0.07×0 works
  23. Energy0.07×0 works
  24. Nursing0.04×0 works
  25. Materials Science0.02×0 works
  26. Physics and Astronomy0.02×0 works

Who are the top researchers at National Park Service?

Ranked on the quality score, James A. Comiskey, Abraham J. Miller‐Rushing and Jonathan A. O’Donnell lead among researchers whose main affiliation is National Park Service.

  1. 1 James A. Comiskey United States · #34,904 worldwide 9.1k citations · 123 works
  2. 2 Abraham J. Miller‐Rushing United States · #69,829 worldwide 11k citations · 110 works
  3. 3 Jonathan A. O’Donnell United States · #98,641 worldwide 8.1k citations · 163 works
  4. 4 Kurt M. Fristrup United States · #113,463 worldwide 7.2k citations · 139 works
  5. 5 Megan F. McKenna United States · #142,324 worldwide 4.8k citations · 94 works
  6. 6 Seth P. D. Riley United States · #212,310 worldwide 4.7k citations · 79 works
  7. 7 Patrick J. C. White United States · #252,231 worldwide 5.8k citations · 200 works
  8. 8 Daniel J. Mennitt United States · #291,622 worldwide 1.9k citations · 29 works
  9. 9 BRIAN R. MITCHELL United States · #307,474 worldwide 9.9k citations · 165 works
  10. 10 Raymond M. Sauvajot United States · #332,433 worldwide 4.3k citations · 28 works
All ranked researchers at National Park Service

What are the most cited papers from National Park Service?

The most cited paper from National Park Service is "Global conservation outcomes depend on marine protected areas with five key features" (Graham J. Edgar et al., 2014), with 1,943 citations. Next come "Estimated stocks of circumpolar permafrost carbon with quantified uncertainty ranges and identified data gaps" (1,798) and "The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness" (1,674).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Global conservation outcomes depend on marine protected areas with five key features Graham J. Edgar et al. · Nature Open access 4 Feb 2014 1,943
2 Estimated stocks of circumpolar permafrost carbon with quantified uncertainty ranges and identified data gaps Gustaf Hugelius, Jens Strauß, Sebastian Zubrzycki et al. · Biogeosciences Open access Dec 2014 1,798
3 The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness Fabio Falchi, Pierantonio Cinzano, Dan M. Duriscoe et al. · Science Advances Open access 3 Jun 2016 1,674
4 Global threats from invasive alien species in the twenty-first century and national response capacities Regan Early, Bethany A. Bradley, Jeffrey S. Dukes et al. · Nature Communications Open access 23 Aug 2016 1,390
5 WOLVES INFLUENCE ELK MOVEMENTS: BEHAVIOR SHAPES A TROPHIC CASCADE IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK Daniel Fortin, Hawthorne L. Beyer, Mark S. Boyce et al. · Ecology May 2005 1,386
All 60 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Which keywords describe research at National Park Service?

By fractional works in 2022-now, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Climate Change, Biodiversity, Conservation, Invasive Species, Population Dynamics, Remote Sensing, Habitat Selection and Trophic Cascades.

▲ 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 Change137▲ 11×65 topics
  2. Biodiversity60▲ 18×26 topics
  3. Conservation52▲ 27×22 topics
  4. Invasive Species51▲ 28×20 topics
  5. Population Dynamics47▲ 41×11 topics
  6. Remote Sensing38▲ 7.1×22 topics
  7. Habitat Selection29▲ 92×2 topics
  8. Trophic Cascades28▲ 70×2 topics
  9. Conservation Biology25▲ 53×4 topics
  10. Animal Movement25▲ 112×1 topic
  11. Occupancy Rates25▲ 112×1 topic
  12. Habitat Fragmentation24▲ 26×5 topics
  13. Ecosystem24▲ 51×4 topics
  14. Ecosystem Resilience20▲ 30×5 topics
  15. Model Evaluation20▲ 36×2 topics
  16. Citizen Science20▲ 45×3 topics
  17. Ecological Niche18▲ 69×1 topic
  18. Species Distribution Modeling18▲ 69×1 topic
  19. Ecosystem Services18▲ 11×10 topics
  20. Resilience14▲ 6.7×4 topics
  21. Global Change14▲ 12×6 topics
  22. Species Richness14▲ 50×2 topics
  23. Hydrology14▲ 24×3 topics
  24. Sagebrush14▲ 219×1 topic
  25. Wildlife Habitat14▲ 219×1 topic
  26. Soil Properties13▲ 18×5 topics
  27. Biogeography13▲ 10×18 topics
  28. Forest Fires12▲ 64×1 topic
  29. Wildfire Activity12▲ 64×1 topic
  30. Predator-Prey Interactions12▲ 35×3 topics
  31. Cultural Heritage12▲ 5.2×13 topics
  32. Freshwater Biodiversity12▲ 45×2 topics
  33. Fisheries Sustainability12▲ 31×2 topics
  34. Arctic12▲ 24×4 topics
  35. Sea-Level Rise11▲ 21×5 topics
  36. Acoustic Communication11▲ 47×3 topics
  37. Biological Invasions10▲ 26×3 topics
  38. Community Ecology10▲ 27×2 topics
  39. Sediment Transport10▲ 14×6 topics
  40. Functional Diversity9▲ 38×1 topic

Which research topics does National Park Service publish most on?

By volume in 2022-now: Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Species Distribution and Climate Change, Rangeland and Wildlife Management and Fire effects on ecosystems.

Wildlife Ecology and Con…25Wildlife Ecology and Conservation: 25 fractional worksSpecies Distribution and Climate Change: 18 fractional worksRangeland and Wildlife Management: 14 fractional worksFire effects on ecosystems: 12 fractional worksEcology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies: 9 fractional worksFish Ecology and Managem…9Fish Ecology and Management Studies: 9 fractional worksMarine animal studies overview: 8 fractional worksClimate change and permafrost: 7 fractional worksCryospheric studies and observations: 6 fractional worksAmerican Environmental and Regional History: 6 fractional works
EcologyEcological ModelingGlobal and Planetary ChangeNature and Landscape Conservation2 others

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

  1. 1 Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Ecology 25 works
  2. 2 Species Distribution and Climate Change Ecological Modeling 18 works
  3. 3 Rangeland and Wildlife Management Ecology 14 works
  4. 4 Fire effects on ecosystems Global and Planetary Change 12 works
  5. 5 Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies Nature and Landscape Conservation 9 works
  6. 6 Fish Ecology and Management Studies Nature and Landscape Conservation 9 works
  7. 7 Marine animal studies overview Ecology 8 works
  8. 8 Climate change and permafrost Atmospheric Science 7 works
  9. 9 Cryospheric studies and observations Atmospheric Science 6 works
  10. 10 American Environmental and Regional History Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law 6 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 available36.0%not open64.0%

World: 40% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors10.6%domestic only89.4%

World: 18% is written across borders.

How has National Park Service's research output changed?

Output in 2022-2025 was 17% 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 National Park Service as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0016% in 2024.

still counting0.0025%0.0050%0.0075%National Park Service0.0016% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of National Park Service 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%all institutions10.0% in 2025National Park Service8.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's output, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for its field and year. Peak 17.0% in 2003.

Other research institutions in Washington

All research institutions in Washington

Share National Park Service's ranking

National Park Service on Science Explorer

A card with National Park Service's standing and the fields it leads in, for a post or a slide. A link to this page previews as the same card.

Download the card

1200 × 630 PNG, sized for social posts, drawn from the latest snapshot.

Badges for a website1Each links back here and updates with every snapshot

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 National Park Service. 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.