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Research facility · Waterloo · Canada

Perimeter Institute

In research, Perimeter Institute stands highest in Physics and Astronomy (#47 of 1,417 worldwide), Physical Sciences (#754 of 10,670 worldwide) and Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics (#71 of 547 worldwide), 2022-now. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Nuclear and High Energy Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics and Astronomy (Nuclear and High Energy Physics is 66.2× its share of world research).

perimeterinstitute.caROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022-now
#1,934
of 22,385 · #824 all time
Rank in Canada
#51
of 305
Research works
2.8k
▼ 13% vs 2018-21
Citations
148k
52.5 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
21.6%
all institutions 10.0%
vs its own fields
1.55×
1.00× is exactly expected
Open access
85%
world 40%
International
53%
world 18%
Perimeter Institute

What is Perimeter Institute 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
Physics and AstronomyField #47 of 1,417 20.8%370 #28
Physical SciencesDomain #754 of 10,670 22.0%486 #425
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and OpticsSubfield #71 of 547 21.6%80 #61
Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield #54 of 400 20.4%123 #30
Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsSubfield #35 of 254 20.1%104 #21

Each strip is that field's whole ranked pool, with the notch where Perimeter Institute 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. Physics and Astronomy#28 #47
  2. Physical Sciences#425 #754
  3. Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics#61 #71
  4. Astronomy and Astrophysics#30 #54
  5. Nuclear and High Energy Physics#21 #35
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 Perimeter Institute work in?

In 2022-now, 97% of research at Perimeter Institute is in Physical Sciences, 2% in Social Sciences. Its largest fields are Physics and Astronomy (73%), Computer Science (12%), Mathematics (8%). It does 2.5× the world's share of Physical Sciences.

Physical Sciences: 532 fractional works · 96.9% of its workPhysics and Astronomy: 400 fractional works · 72.8% of its workAstronomy and Astrophysics: 133 fractional works · 24.2% of its workNuclear and High Energy Physics: 114 fractional works · 20.8% of its workAtomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics: 86 fractional works · 15.7% of its workStatistical and Nonlinear Physics: 45 fractional works · 8.2% of its workCondensed Matter Physics: 16 fractional works · 2.9% of its workInstrumentation: 5 fractional works · 1.0% of its workComputer Science: 65 fractional works · 11.8% of its workArtificial Intelligence: 53 fractional works · 9.6% of its workComputational Theory and Mathematics: 6 fractional works · 1.2% of its workComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition: 3 fractional works · 0.5% of its workComputer Networks and Communications: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMathematics: 42 fractional works · 7.6% of its workGeometry and Topology: 16 fractional works · 2.9% of its workMathematical Physics: 13 fractional works · 2.4% of its workAlgebra and Number Theory: 4 fractional works · 0.8% of its workApplied Mathematics: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workStatistics and Probability: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workDiscrete Mathematics and Combinatorics: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEngineering: 10 fractional works · 1.9% of its workElectrical and Electronic Engineering: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workComputational Mechanics: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workAerospace Engineering: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workControl and Systems Engineering: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workEarth and Planetary Sciences: 6 fractional works · 1.1% of its workOceanography: 3 fractional works · 0.5% of its workGeophysics: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workMaterials Science: 5 fractional works · 0.9% of its workMaterials Chemistry: 4 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workChemistry: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSpectroscopy: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEnvironmental Science: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEnvironmental Engineering: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSocial Sciences: 8 fractional works · 1.5% of its workArts and Humanities: 3 fractional works · 0.5% of its workHistory and Philosophy of Science: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSocial Sciences: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workDecision Sciences: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPsychology: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workLife Sciences: 5 fractional works · 0.8% of its workBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 3 fractional works · 0.5% of its workMolecular Biology: 3 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workNeuroscience: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workAgricultural and Biological Sciences: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workHealth Sciences: 4 fractional works · 0.7% of its workMedicine: 4 fractional works · 0.7% of its workALL ITS WORKPerimeterInstitute549fractional works, 2022-now
Life Sciences1%Physical Sciences97%Health Sciences1%Social Sciences2%

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 21 fields, with their numbers
    1. Physics and Astronomy40072.8%
    2. Computer Science6511.8%
    3. Mathematics427.6%
    4. Engineering101.9%
    5. Earth and Planetary Sciences61.1%
    6. Materials Science50.9%
    7. Chemistry20.5%
    8. Environmental Science20.4%
    9. Chemical Engineering00.0%
    10. Energy00.0%
    1. Arts and Humanities30.5%
    2. Social Sciences20.4%
    3. Decision Sciences20.3%
    4. Psychology10.2%
    5. Economics, Econometrics and Finance10.2%
    6. Business, Management and Accounting00.0%
    1. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology30.5%
    2. Neuroscience10.2%
    3. Agricultural and Biological Sciences10.1%
    1. Medicine40.7%
    2. Health Professions00.0%
All of science, and how each field's share has moved since 1950: the Science domain explorer

What does Perimeter Institute specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Nuclear and High Energy Physics takes 66.2× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsSubfield · 114.4 works66×
  2. Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield · 132.8 works47×
  3. Physics and AstronomyField · 399.6 works33×
  4. Statistical and Nonlinear PhysicsSubfield · 45.0 works26×
  5. Atomic and Molecular Physics, and OpticsSubfield · 86.0 works22×
← 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: 0.02× its world share, 1 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.10× its world share, 3 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Neuroscience: 0.13× its world share, 1 worksNeuroscienceChemical Engineering: 0.03× its world share, 0 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.29× its world share, 2 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.52× its world share, 65 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.70× its world share, 6 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.01× its world share, 0 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.13× its world share, 10 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.09× its world share, 2 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.25× its world share, 5 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 6.46× its world share, 42 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 32.72× its world share, 400 worksPhysics and AstronomyHealth Professions: 0.01× its world share, 0 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.04× its world share, 4 worksMedicineArts and Humanities: 0.17× its world share, 3 worksArts and HumanitiesDecision Sciences: 0.29× its world share, 2 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.07× its world share, 1 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.07× its world share, 1 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.03× its world share, 2 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Physics and Astronomy, 32.7×. Every wedge is a field page.

All 20 fields, with their numbers
  1. Physics and Astronomy32.72×400 works
  2. Mathematics6.46×42 works
  3. Computer Science1.52×65 works
  4. Earth and Planetary Sciences0.70×6 works
  5. Chemistry0.29×2 works
  6. Decision Sciences0.29×2 works
  7. Materials Science0.25×5 works
  8. Arts and Humanities0.17×3 works
  9. Neuroscience0.13×1 works
  10. Engineering0.13×10 works
  11. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology0.10×3 works
  12. Environmental Science0.09×2 works
  13. Economics, Econometrics and Finance0.07×1 works
  14. Psychology0.07×1 works
  15. Medicine0.04×4 works
  16. Chemical Engineering0.03×0 works
  17. Social Sciences0.03×2 works
  18. Agricultural and Biological Sciences0.02×1 works
  19. Energy0.01×0 works
  20. Health Professions0.01×0 works

Who are the top researchers at Perimeter Institute?

Ranked on the quality score, Davide Gaiotto, Kendrick M. Smith and Avery E. Broderick lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Perimeter Institute.

  1. 1 Davide Gaiotto Canada · #2,953 worldwide 19k citations · 186 works
  2. 2 Kendrick M. Smith Canada · #11,621 worldwide 25k citations · 226 works
  3. 3 Avery E. Broderick Canada · #16,424 worldwide 25k citations · 230 works
  4. 4 Timothy H. Hsieh Canada · #17,366 worldwide 11k citations · 145 works
  5. 5 Robert Cobb Myers Canada · #17,816 worldwide 31k citations · 340 works
  6. 6 Laurent Freidel Canada · #21,893 worldwide 7.3k citations · 165 works
  7. 7 Robert W. Spekkens Canada · #23,519 worldwide 11k citations · 155 works
  8. 8 Roman Gold Canada · #24,397 worldwide 20k citations · 129 works
  9. 9 Boris Georgiev Canada · #24,717 worldwide 18k citations · 80 works
  10. 10 Dustin Lang Canada · #27,639 worldwide 23k citations · 209 works
All ranked researchers at Perimeter Institute

What are the most cited papers from Perimeter Institute?

The most cited paper from Perimeter Institute is "Review of Particle Physics" (Particle Data Group et al., 2020), with 5,261 citations. Next come "NINE-YEAR WILKINSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBE ( WMAP ) OBSERVATIONS: COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETER RESULTS" (5,171) and "First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole" (4,300).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Review of Particle Physics Particle Data Group et al. · Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics Open access243 authors 13 Jul 2020 5,261
2 NINE-YEAR WILKINSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBE ( WMAP ) OBSERVATIONS: COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETER RESULTS G. Hinshaw et al. · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series Open access 20 Sep 2013 5,171
3 First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole Kazunori Akiyama et al. · The Astrophysical Journal Letters Open access348 authors 9 Apr 2019 4,300
4 Quantum computers Thaddeus D. Ladd, Fedor Jelezko, Raymond Laflamme et al. · Nature Open access Mar 2010 3,589
5 Viscosity in Strongly Interacting Quantum Field Theories from Black Hole Physics Pavel K. Kovtun, Dam Thanh Son, Andrei O. Starinets · Physical Review Letters Open access 22 Mar 2005 2,886
All 59 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Which keywords describe research at Perimeter Institute?

By fractional works in 2022-now, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Quantum Gravity, Black Holes, Supernovae, Quantum Entanglement, String Theory, Field Theories, Holographic and General Relativity.

▲ 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. Quantum Gravity94▲ 204×4 topics
  2. Black Holes90▲ 169×3 topics
  3. Supernovae68▲ 152×2 topics
  4. Quantum Entanglement64▲ 182×2 topics
  5. String Theory64▲ 210×2 topics
  6. Field Theories63▲ 256×1 topic
  7. Holographic63▲ 256×1 topic
  8. General Relativity63▲ 171×2 topics
  9. Entanglement62▲ 75×4 topics
  10. Dark Energy61▲ 171×2 topics
  11. Cosmic Microwave Background60▲ 200×1 topic
  12. Cosmological Parameters60▲ 200×1 topic
  13. Quantum Information44▲ 69×3 topics
  14. Dark Matter43▲ 68×4 topics
  15. Superconducting Circuits36▲ 96×2 topics
  16. Cosmology30▲ 80×3 topics
  17. Particle Physics27▲ 67×2 topics
  18. Gravitational Waves27▲ 86×2 topics
  19. Lorentz Violation27▲ 288×1 topic
  20. Noncommutative Field Theory27▲ 288×1 topic
  21. Renormalization Group26▲ 83×2 topics
  22. Cryptography24▲ 37×2 topics
  23. Galactic Center24▲ 95×2 topics
  24. Quantum Simulation24▲ 54×2 topics
  25. Computation24▲ 60×2 topics
  26. Security24▲ 6.4×3 topics
  27. Metrology23▲ 72×1 topic
  28. Quantum23▲ 54×1 topic
  29. Cosmic Rays21▲ 76×2 topics
  30. Neutrinos21▲ 76×2 topics
  31. Bell Inequality20▲ 101×1 topic
  32. Decoherence20▲ 101×1 topic
  33. Topological Order20▲ 77×2 topics
  34. Quantum Algorithms19▲ 64×1 topic
  35. Quantum Computation19▲ 64×1 topic
  36. Binary Black Hole19▲ 116×1 topic
  37. Neutron Star19▲ 116×1 topic
  38. Dynamics17▲ 69×3 topics
  39. Star Formation16▲ 53×2 topics
  40. Many-Body Localization16▲ 131×1 topic

Which research topics does Perimeter Institute publish most on?

By volume in 2022-now: Black Holes and Theoretical Physics, Cosmology and Gravitation Theories, Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories and Quantum Information and Cryptography.

Black Holes and Theoreti…63Black Holes and Theoretical Physics: 63 fractional worksCosmology and Gravitatio…60Cosmology and Gravitation Theories: 60 fractional worksNoncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories: 27 fractional worksQuantum Information and Cryptography: 23 fractional worksQuantum Mechanics and Applications: 20 fractional worksQuantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture: 19 fractional worksPulsars and Gravitational Waves Research: 19 fractional worksQuantum many-body systems: 16 fractional worksParticle physics theoretical and experimental studies: 15 fractional worksGalaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena: 15 fractional works
Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsAstronomy and AstrophysicsStatistical and Nonlinear PhysicsArtificial Intelligence1 others

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

  1. 1 Black Holes and Theoretical Physics Nuclear and High Energy Physics 63 works
  2. 2 Cosmology and Gravitation Theories Astronomy and Astrophysics 60 works
  3. 3 Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories Statistical and Nonlinear Physics 27 works
  4. 4 Quantum Information and Cryptography Artificial Intelligence 23 works
  5. 5 Quantum Mechanics and Applications Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics 20 works
  6. 6 Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture Artificial Intelligence 19 works
  7. 7 Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research Astronomy and Astrophysics 19 works
  8. 8 Quantum many-body systems Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics 16 works
  9. 9 Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies Nuclear and High Energy Physics 15 works
  10. 10 Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena Astronomy and Astrophysics 15 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 available85.0%not open15.0%

World: 40% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors53.0%domestic only47.0%

World: 18% is written across borders.

How has Perimeter Institute's research output changed?

Output in 2022-2025 was 13% lower than in 2018-2021.

still counting20052010201520202025
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 Perimeter Institute as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0022% in 2024.

still counting0.0020%0.0040%0.0060%Perimeter Institute0.0022% in 202520102020

Fractional works of Perimeter Institute 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 counting20%40%Perimeter Institute22.8% in 2025all institutions10.0% in 202520102020

Of each year's output, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for its field and year. Peak 31.0% in 2010.

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Perimeter Institute on Science Explorer

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Its overall standing, then the domains, fields and subfields where Perimeter Institute is in the world's top ten or its top 1%. Each has an image of its own.

Overall

Fields

Research measures only: rankings here say nothing about teaching, admissions or student experience. Comparable institutions and collaboration partners have tabs of their own, above.

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