Science Explorer Interactive view Map
University · Flagstaff · United States

Northern Arizona University

In research, Northern Arizona University stands highest in Social Sciences (#863 of 10,521 worldwide), Physical Sciences (#1,194 of 12,888 worldwide) and Computer Science (#692 of 4,667 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Nature and Landscape Conservation, Atmospheric Science and Global and Planetary Change — Nature and Landscape Conservation is 6.8× its share of world research.

nau.eduROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#1,342
of 28,054 · #1,281 all time
Rank in United States
#222
of 4,192
Research works
12k
▲ 49% vs 2013–17
Citations
317k
25.7 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
22.1%
record average 16.5%
Open access
31%
world 28%

What is Northern Arizona 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
Social SciencesDomain #863 of 10,521 22.9%773 #490
Physical SciencesDomain #1,194 of 12,888 22.6%812 #1358
Computer ScienceField #692 of 4,667 27.3%207 #1124
Environmental ScienceField #569 of 3,551 25.3%265 #315
Health SciencesDomain #2,115 of 11,982 17.1%291 #2319
Social SciencesField #1,172 of 6,365 21.6%389 #619
Arts and HumanitiesField #421 of 1,998 27.7%122 #227
Earth and Planetary SciencesField #258 of 1,209 22.1%99 #479
PsychologyField #650 of 2,181 22.7%158 #411
Health ProfessionsField #696 of 1,928 20.2%84 —

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Northern Arizona 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. Social Sciences#490 #863
  2. Physical Sciences#1,358 #1,194
  3. Computer Science#1,124 #692
  4. Environmental Science#315 #569
  5. Health Sciences#2,319 #2,115
  6. Social Sciences#619 #1,172
  7. Arts and Humanities#227 #421
  8. Earth and Planetary Sciences#479 #258
  9. Psychology#411 #650
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 Northern Arizona University specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Nature and Landscape Conservation takes 6.8× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Nature and Landscape ConservationSubfield · 33.7 works6.8×
  2. Atmospheric ScienceSubfield · 48.6 works5.3×
  3. Global and Planetary ChangeSubfield · 82.2 works5.2×
← 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: 0.95× its world share, 93 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.56× its world share, 62 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.57× its world share, 12 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.82× its world share, 28 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.09× its world share, 1 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.08× its world share, 1 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.14× its world share, 4 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.29× its world share, 207 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 3.04× its world share, 99 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.38× its world share, 7 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.43× its world share, 134 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 2.58× its world share, 265 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.20× its world share, 15 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.62× its world share, 15 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.42× its world share, 65 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.35× its world share, 4 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.53× its world share, 84 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.50× its world share, 197 worksMedicineNursing: 0.37× its world share, 4 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.05× its world share, 3 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 2.05× its world share, 122 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.77× its world share, 52 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.15× its world share, 23 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.65× its world share, 29 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 2.51× its world share, 158 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 1.48× its world share, 389 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Earth and Planetary Sciences, 3.0×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at Northern Arizona University?

Ranked on the composite score, Douglas Biber, Thomas E. Kolb and Peter W. Price lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Northern Arizona University.

  1. 1 Douglas Biber United States · #6,050 worldwide 881 citations · 73 works
  2. 2 Thomas E. Kolb United States · #12,450 worldwide 1.1k citations · 50 works
  3. 3 Peter W. Price United States · #15,496 worldwide 663 citations · 59 works
  4. 4 J. Gregory Caporaso United States · #37,738 worldwide 1.2k citations · 31 works
  5. 5 Paul Keim United States · #48,216 worldwide 393 citations · 76 works
  6. 6 Michelle C. Mack United States · #48,321 worldwide 592 citations · 62 works
  7. 7 Logan T. Berner United States · #49,423 worldwide 642 citations · 35 works
  8. 8 Andrew D. Richardson United States · #58,505 worldwide 619 citations · 69 works
  9. 9 Matthew A. Bowker United States · #69,369 worldwide 505 citations · 36 works
  10. 10 Alan A. Lew United States · #78,564 worldwide 171 citations · 50 works
All ranked researchers at Northern Arizona University

Which keywords describe research at Northern Arizona University?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Climate Change, Ecosystem Resilience, Biodiversity, Invasive Species, Conservation, Global Change, Corpus Linguistics and Remote Sensing.

▲ 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 Change221▲ 4.0×85 topics
  2. Machine Learning83▲ 1.23×71 topics
  3. Epidemiology81◆ 0.99×92 topics
  4. Biodiversity64▲ 4.1×28 topics
  5. Globalization61▲ 1.50×60 topics
  6. Remote Sensing60▲ 2.4×32 topics
  7. Mental Health53▲ 1.74×36 topics
  8. Invasive Species50▲ 5.7×20 topics
  9. Ecosystem Resilience50▲ 16×5 topics
  10. Conservation49▲ 5.5×18 topics
  11. Global Change37▲ 6.9×6 topics
  12. Corpus Linguistics35▲ 7.7×5 topics
  13. Resilience33▲ 3.3×12 topics
  14. Habitat Fragmentation32▲ 7.0×5 topics
  15. Higher Education31▲ 2.8×16 topics
  16. Global Warming31▲ 3.6×13 topics
  17. Language Teaching31▲ 5.8×5 topics
  18. Ecosystem29▲ 13×4 topics
  19. Paleoclimatology28▲ 16×2 topics
  20. Social Interaction27▲ 3.2×10 topics
  21. Soil Properties27▲ 7.5×5 topics
  22. Population Dynamics25▲ 4.9×13 topics
  23. Forest Fires25▲ 27×1 topic
  24. Wildfire Activity25▲ 27×1 topic
  25. Biomass Estimation23▲ 7.2×3 topics
  26. Second Language Learning22▲ 12×2 topics
  27. Drought20▲ 10×3 topics
  28. Holocene20▲ 8.5×3 topics
  29. Biological Invasions20▲ 11×3 topics
  30. Language Policy19▲ 6.7×4 topics
  31. Bilingual Education19▲ 7.8×3 topics
  32. Evapotranspiration19▲ 12×2 topics
  33. Conservation Biology19▲ 8.7×4 topics
  34. Sea Level18▲ 9.2×2 topics
  35. Model Evaluation18▲ 7.1×2 topics
  36. Carbon Balance18▲ 19×1 topic
  37. Tree Mortality18▲ 19×1 topic
  38. Species Richness18▲ 13×2 topics
  39. Second Language Acquisition18▲ 9.8×2 topics
  40. Speech Perception18▲ 10×3 topics

Which research topics does Northern Arizona University publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Fire effects on ecosystems, Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics, EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning and Geology and Paleoclimatology Research.

Fire effects on ecosystems25Fire effects on ecosystems: 25 fractional worksPlant Water Relations an…18Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics: 18 fractional worksEFL/ESL Teaching and Learning: 18 fractional worksGeology and Paleoclimato…17Geology and Paleoclimatology Research: 17 fractional worksEcology and Vegetation D…17Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies: 17 fractional worksAstro and Planetary Science: 14 fractional worksSpecies Distribution and Climate Change: 12 fractional worksPlanetary Science and Ex…12Planetary Science and Exploration: 12 fractional worksDiscourse Analysis in Language Studies: 12 fractional worksSecond Language Acquisition and Learning: 12 fractional works
Global and Planetary ChangeLanguage and LinguisticsAtmospheric ScienceNature and Landscape Conservation4 others

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

  1. 1 Fire effects on ecosystems Global and Planetary Change 25 works
  2. 2 Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics Global and Planetary Change 18 works
  3. 3 EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning Language and Linguistics 18 works
  4. 4 Geology and Paleoclimatology Research Atmospheric Science 17 works
  5. 5 Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies Nature and Landscape Conservation 17 works
  6. 6 Astro and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics 14 works
  7. 7 Species Distribution and Climate Change Ecological Modeling 12 works
  8. 8 Planetary Science and Exploration Astronomy and Astrophysics 12 works
  9. 9 Discourse Analysis in Language Studies Literature and Literary Theory 12 works
  10. 10 Second Language Acquisition and Learning Developmental and Educational Psychology 12 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 available30.9%not open69.1%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors13.2%domestic only86.8%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Northern Arizona University's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 49% 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 Flagstaff

All research institutions in Flagstaff

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.