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Research facility · Edinburgh · United Kingdom

Royal Observatory

In research, Royal Observatory stands highest in Physics and Astronomy (#537 of 1,417 worldwide), Astronomy and Astrophysics (#228 of 400 worldwide) and Physical Sciences (#6,472 of 10,670 worldwide), 2022-now. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Instrumentation, Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics and Astronomy (Instrumentation is 285.1× its share of world research).

roe.ac.ukROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022-now
#18,893
of 22,385 · #6,396 all time
Rank in United Kingdom
#676
of 862
Research works
1.9k
▼ 15% vs 2018-21
Citations
58k
30.7 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
19.0%
all institutions 10.0%
vs its own fields
1.19×
1.00× is exactly expected
Open access
59%
world 40%
International
44%
world 18%
Royal Observatory

What is Royal Observatory 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 #537 of 1,417 19.1%109 #711
Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield #228 of 400 18.2%78 #226
Physical SciencesDomain #6,472 of 10,670 19.5%129 #3182

Each strip is that field's whole ranked pool, with the notch where Royal Observatory 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#711 #537
  2. Astronomy and Astrophysics#226 #228
  3. Physical Sciences#3,182 #6,472
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 Royal Observatory work in?

In 2022-now, 97% of research at Royal Observatory is in Physical Sciences, 2% in Social Sciences. Its largest fields are Physics and Astronomy (83%), Engineering (6%), Computer Science (3%). It does 2.4× the world's share of Physical Sciences.

Physical Sciences: 145 fractional works · 97.3% of its workPhysics and Astronomy: 123 fractional works · 83.0% of its workAstronomy and Astrophysics: 86 fractional works · 58.1% of its workInstrumentation: 21 fractional works · 14.2% of its workNuclear and High Energy Physics: 9 fractional works · 5.8% of its workAtomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics: 5 fractional works · 3.2% of its workStatistical and Nonlinear Physics: 2 fractional works · 1.5% of its workRadiation: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEngineering: 9 fractional works · 6.1% of its workElectrical and Electronic Engineering: 3 fractional works · 1.8% of its workComputational Mechanics: 2 fractional works · 1.5% of its workAerospace Engineering: 2 fractional works · 1.1% of its workOcean Engineering: 1 fractional works · 0.6% of its workBiomedical Engineering: 1 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.4% of its workComputer Science: 4 fractional works · 2.9% of its workArtificial Intelligence: 2 fractional works · 1.4% of its workComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition: 1 fractional works · 0.5% of its workComputer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design: 1 fractional works · 0.5% of its workComputer Networks and Communications: 0 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEarth and Planetary Sciences: 3 fractional works · 2.2% of its workOceanography: 1 fractional works · 0.9% of its workAtmospheric Science: 1 fractional works · 0.7% of its workGeophysics: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEnvironmental Science: 2 fractional works · 1.5% of its workEcology: 1 fractional works · 0.6% of its workEnvironmental Engineering: 1 fractional works · 0.4% of its workGlobal and Planetary Change: 1 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workChemistry: 1 fractional works · 0.9% of its workSpectroscopy: 1 fractional works · 0.8% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workMathematics: 1 fractional works · 0.6% of its workApplied Mathematics: 1 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.2% of its workChemical Engineering: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workSocial Sciences: 3 fractional works · 1.8% of its workSocial Sciences: 2 fractional works · 1.2% of its workHealth: 1 fractional works · 0.7% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.5% of its workArts and Humanities: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workDecision Sciences: 0 fractional works · 0.2% of its workBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workLife Sciences: 1 fractional works · 0.7% of its workBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1 fractional works · 0.6% of its workMolecular Biology: 1 fractional works · 0.4% of its workBiophysics: 0 fractional works · 0.2% of its workAgricultural and Biological Sciences: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workImmunology and Microbiology: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workHealth Sciences: 0 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMedicine: 0 fractional works · 0.2% of its workHealth Professions: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workALL ITS WORKRoyal Observatory149fractional works, 2022-now
Life Sciences1%Physical Sciences97%Health Sciences0%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 18 fields, with their numbers
    1. Physics and Astronomy12383.0%
    2. Engineering96.1%
    3. Computer Science42.9%
    4. Earth and Planetary Sciences32.2%
    5. Environmental Science21.5%
    6. Chemistry10.9%
    7. Mathematics10.6%
    8. Chemical Engineering00.0%
    1. Social Sciences21.2%
    2. Arts and Humanities00.3%
    3. Decision Sciences00.2%
    4. Business, Management and Accounting00.1%
    5. Economics, Econometrics and Finance00.1%
    1. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology10.6%
    2. Agricultural and Biological Sciences00.0%
    3. Immunology and Microbiology00.0%
    1. Medicine00.2%
    2. Health Professions00.1%
All of science, and how each field's share has moved since 1950: the Science domain explorer

What does Royal Observatory specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Instrumentation takes 285.1× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. InstrumentationSubfield · 21.2 works285×
  2. Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield · 86.3 works112×
  3. Physics and AstronomyField · 123.4 works37×
← 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: 0.01× its world share, 0 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.11× its world share, 1 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksImmunology and Micro…Chemical Engineering: 0.11× its world share, 0 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.61× its world share, 1 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.37× its world share, 4 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.42× its world share, 3 worksEarth and Planetary …Engineering: 0.40× its world share, 9 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.30× its world share, 2 worksEnvironmental ScienceMathematics: 0.51× its world share, 1 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 37.34× its world share, 123 worksPhysics and AstronomyHealth Professions: 0.04× its world share, 0 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.01× its world share, 0 worksMedicineArts and Humanities: 0.11× its world share, 0 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.16× its world share, 0 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.03× its world share, 0 worksEconomics, Econometr…Social Sciences: 0.09× 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, 37.3×. Every wedge is a field page.

All 18 fields, with their numbers
  1. Physics and Astronomy37.34×123 works
  2. Earth and Planetary Sciences1.42×3 works
  3. Chemistry0.61×1 works
  4. Mathematics0.51×1 works
  5. Engineering0.40×9 works
  6. Computer Science0.37×4 works
  7. Environmental Science0.30×2 works
  8. Decision Sciences0.16×0 works
  9. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology0.11×1 works
  10. Chemical Engineering0.11×0 works
  11. Arts and Humanities0.11×0 works
  12. Social Sciences0.09×2 works
  13. Health Professions0.04×0 works
  14. Economics, Econometrics and Finance0.03×0 works
  15. Immunology and Microbiology0.02×0 works
  16. Business, Management and Accounting0.02×0 works
  17. Agricultural and Biological Sciences0.01×0 works
  18. Medicine0.01×0 works

Who are the top researchers at Royal Observatory?

Ranked on the quality score, Rob J. Ivison, John A. Peacock and R. K. Cochrane lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Royal Observatory.

  1. 1 Rob J. Ivison United Kingdom · #49,784 worldwide 62k citations · 951 works
  2. 2 John A. Peacock United Kingdom · #97,754 worldwide 113k citations · 627 works
  3. 3 R. K. Cochrane United Kingdom · #120,506 worldwide 4.7k citations · 124 works
  4. 4 E. Ibar United Kingdom · #133,561 worldwide 17k citations · 295 works
  5. 5 P. N. Best United Kingdom · #165,792 worldwide 23k citations · 411 works
  6. 6 Ho-Hin Leung United Kingdom · #169,763 worldwide 1.8k citations · 56 works
  7. 7 D. Scholte United Kingdom · #182,802 worldwide 1.7k citations · 80 works
  8. 8 R. Kondapally United Kingdom · #219,691 worldwide 3.4k citations · 77 works
  9. 9 Nathan Bourne United Kingdom · #254,703 worldwide 6.3k citations · 113 works
  10. 10 N. J. G. Cross United Kingdom · #275,978 worldwide 25k citations · 179 works
All ranked researchers at Royal Observatory

What are the most cited papers from Royal Observatory?

The most cited paper from Royal Observatory is "The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary" (Donald G. York et al., 2000), with 10,547 citations. Next come "Gaia Data Release 2" (8,734) and "The Astropy Project: Building an Open-science Project and Status of the v2.0 Core Package *" (7,690).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary Donald G. York et al. · The Astronomical Journal Open access144 authors Sep 2000 10,547
2 Gaia Data Release 2 A. G. A. Brown et al. · Astronomy and Astrophysics Open access453 authors 24 Apr 2018 8,734
3 The Astropy Project: Building an Open-science Project and Status of the v2.0 Core Package * Adrian M. Price-Whelan et al. · The Astronomical Journal Open access140 authors 23 Aug 2018 7,690
4 Review of Particle Physics Masaharu Tanabashi et al. · Physical review. D/Physical review. D. Open access232 authors 17 Aug 2018 7,268
5 The Gaia mission T. Prusti et al. · Astronomy and Astrophysics Open access625 authors 15 Sep 2016 7,118
All 57 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Which keywords describe research at Royal Observatory?

By fractional works in 2022-now, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Star Formation, Black Holes, Dark Matter, Cosmology, Galaxies, Stellar Populations, Astronomical Instrumentation and Spectrograph.

▲ 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. Star Formation37▲ 438×2 topics
  2. Black Holes32▲ 225×3 topics
  3. Dark Matter29▲ 168×3 topics
  4. Cosmology28▲ 282×3 topics
  5. Galaxies26▲ 601×1 topic
  6. Stellar Populations26▲ 601×1 topic
  7. Astronomical Instrumentation21▲ 430×1 topic
  8. Spectrograph21▲ 430×1 topic
  9. Exoplanets16▲ 273×1 topic
  10. Stellar Astrophysics16▲ 273×1 topic
  11. Accretion Disks16▲ 216×2 topics
  12. Magnetic Fields16▲ 162×2 topics
  13. Supernovae15▲ 120×2 topics
  14. Molecular Clouds11▲ 263×1 topic
  15. Protoplanetary Disks11▲ 263×1 topic
  16. Turbulence11▲ 79×2 topics
  17. Gravitational Waves9▲ 104×2 topics
  18. Galactic Center8▲ 113×2 topics
  19. Cosmological Parameters8▲ 93×1 topic
  20. Dark Energy8▲ 79×1 topic
  21. Nucleosynthesis7▲ 98×3 topics
  22. Gamma-Ray Bursts7▲ 177×1 topic
  23. Neutron Stars7▲ 177×1 topic
  24. Cosmic Rays6▲ 87×2 topics
  25. Neutrinos6▲ 87×2 topics
  26. X-Ray Spectroscopy6▲ 85×2 topics
  27. Event Horizon Telescope5▲ 160×1 topic
  28. X-Ray Astronomy5▲ 160×1 topic
  29. Radio Astronomy5▲ 140×2 topics
  30. Solar System Abundances4▲ 63×1 topic
  31. Terrestrial Planets4▲ 63×1 topic
  32. Epoch of Reionization4▲ 226×1 topic
  33. Low-Frequency Telescopes4▲ 226×1 topic
  34. High-Energy Astrophysics4▲ 105×1 topic
  35. Particle Acceleration4▲ 105×1 topic
  36. Adaptive Optics3▲ 178×1 topic
  37. Wavefront Sensing3▲ 178×1 topic
  38. Particle Physics3▲ 26×2 topics
  39. Axions2▲ 66×1 topic
  40. WIMPs2▲ 66×1 topic

Which research topics does Royal Observatory publish most on?

By volume in 2022-now: Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena, Astronomy and Astrophysical Research, Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies and Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies.

Galaxies: Formation, Evo…26Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena: 26 fractional worksAstronomy and Astrophysical Research: 21 fractional worksStellar, planetary, and galactic studies: 16 fractional worksAstrophysics and Star Formation Studies: 11 fractional worksCosmology and Gravitation Theories: 8 fractional worksGamma-ray bursts and sup…7Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae: 7 fractional worksAstrophysical Phenomena and Observations: 5 fractional worksAstro and Planetary Science: 4 fractional worksRadio Astronomy Observations and Technology: 4 fractional worksAstrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena: 4 fractional works
Astronomy and AstrophysicsInstrumentationNuclear and High Energy Physics

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

  1. 1 Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena Astronomy and Astrophysics 26 works
  2. 2 Astronomy and Astrophysical Research Instrumentation 21 works
  3. 3 Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 16 works
  4. 4 Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 11 works
  5. 5 Cosmology and Gravitation Theories Astronomy and Astrophysics 8 works
  6. 6 Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae Astronomy and Astrophysics 7 works
  7. 7 Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations Astronomy and Astrophysics 5 works
  8. 8 Astro and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics 4 works
  9. 9 Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology Astronomy and Astrophysics 4 works
  10. 10 Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena Nuclear and High Energy Physics 4 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 available58.6%not open41.4%

World: 40% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors43.5%domestic only56.5%

World: 18% is written across borders.

How has Royal Observatory's research output changed?

Output in 2022-2025 was 15% 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 Royal Observatory as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.00053% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Royal Observatory0.00053% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Royal Observatory 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%30%Royal Observatory22.0% in 2025all institutions10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's output, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for its field and year. Peak 26.5% in 2016.

Other research institutions in Edinburgh

All research institutions in Edinburgh

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Royal Observatory on Science Explorer

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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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