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Government institution · Alexandria · United States

U.S. National Science Foundation

In research, U.S. National Science Foundation stands highest in Physical Sciences (#4,622 of 12,888 worldwide), Health Sciences (#5,295 of 11,982 worldwide) and Social Sciences (#6,142 of 10,521 worldwide), 2022–2025.

nsf.govROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#5,904
of 28,054 · #1,082 all time
Rank in United States
#798
of 4,192
Research works
7.2k
▼ 23% vs 2013–17
Citations
335k
46.4 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
23.2%
record average 16.5%
Open access
24%
world 28%

What is U.S. National Science Foundation 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
Physical SciencesDomain #4,622 of 12,888 22.9%158 #1021
Health SciencesDomain #5,295 of 11,982 22.5%66 #2815
Social SciencesDomain #6,142 of 10,521 24.0%94 #791

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where U.S. National Science Foundation 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. Physical Sciences#1,021 #4,622
  2. Health Sciences#2,815 #5,295
  3. Social Sciences#791 #6,142
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.

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: 0.46× its world share, 8 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.93× its world share, 18 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.53× its world share, 2 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.37× its world share, 8 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.31× its world share, 0 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.43× its world share, 0 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.44× its world share, 2 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.44× its world share, 40 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 3.70× its world share, 20 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.12× its world share, 0 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.77× its world share, 40 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.44× its world share, 25 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.39× its world share, 5 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 2.03× its world share, 8 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.94× its world share, 15 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.16× its world share, 0 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.08× its world share, 10 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.78× its world share, 53 worksMedicineNursing: 1.40× its world share, 2 worksNursingArts and Humanities: 0.59× its world share, 6 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.77× its world share, 9 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 4.50× its world share, 15 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.02× its world share, 8 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.45× its world share, 16 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.91× its world share, 41 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Decision Sciences, 4.5×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at U.S. National Science Foundation?

Ranked on the composite score, Mihail C. Roco, Junping Wang and Harry Alpert lead among researchers whose main affiliation is U.S. National Science Foundation.

  1. 1 Mihail C. Roco United States · #43,889 worldwide 277 citations · 36 works
  2. 2 Junping Wang United States · #44,571 worldwide 312 citations · 38 works
  3. 3 Harry Alpert United States · #72,268 worldwide 261 citations · 27 works
  4. 4 Raymond J. Seeger United States · #83,709 worldwide 174 citations · 39 works
  5. 5 Paul J. Werbos United States · #105,692 worldwide 325 citations · 49 works
  6. 6 Samuel M. Scheiner United States · #121,577 worldwide 218 citations · 34 works
  7. 7 William Sims Bainbridge United States · #192,239 worldwide 220 citations · 121 works
  8. 8 John E. Yellen United States · #203,797 worldwide 164 citations · 23 works
  9. 9 Stuart Plattner United States · #210,721 worldwide 159 citations · 18 works
  10. 10 Hans Walter Gabler United States · #296,645 worldwide 15 citations · 31 works
All ranked researchers at U.S. National Science Foundation

Which keywords describe research at U.S. National Science Foundation?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Climate Change, Bioinformatics, Global Warming, Education, Meta-Analysis, Semantic Web Services, Data Assimilation and Career Development.

▲ 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 Change23▲ 2.4×55 topics
  2. Education12▲ 1.90×22 topics
  3. Machine Learning11◆ 0.95×36 topics
  4. Meta-Analysis7▲ 3.6×11 topics
  5. Global Warming7▲ 4.8×9 topics
  6. Healthcare7▲ 1.69×13 topics
  7. Big Data6▲ 2.0×9 topics
  8. Bioinformatics6▲ 15×3 topics
  9. STEM Education5▲ 3.3×5 topics
  10. Semantic Web Services5▲ 27×2 topics
  11. Data Assimilation5▲ 8.6×3 topics
  12. Probabilistic Forecasting5▲ 6.8×3 topics
  13. Career Development5▲ 11×5 topics
  14. Ocean Circulation5▲ 10×3 topics
  15. Reproducibility5▲ 38×1 topic
  16. Scientific Workflows5▲ 38×1 topic
  17. Workflow Management5▲ 19×2 topics
  18. Greenhouse Gas Emissions4▲ 4.5×5 topics
  19. Open Innovation4▲ 20×2 topics
  20. Hydrological Cycle4▲ 13×2 topics
  21. Nursing Education4▲ 8.8×4 topics
  22. Boundary Layer4▲ 9.4×2 topics
  23. Approximation Algorithms4▲ 16×5 topics
  24. Ensemble Kalman Filter4▲ 11×2 topics
  25. Social Cognitive Theory4▲ 26×2 topics
  26. Sea Level Rise4▲ 8.5×3 topics
  27. Climate Modeling4▲ 15×1 topic
  28. Extreme Events4▲ 12×2 topics
  29. Precipitation Extremes4▲ 15×1 topic
  30. Convective Parameterization4▲ 19×1 topic
  31. Ecology4▲ 6.6×4 topics
  32. Evidence-Based Practice4▲ 7.8×3 topics
  33. Mesoscale Modeling4▲ 19×1 topic
  34. Gender Disparities4▲ 43×1 topic
  35. Underrepresented Minorities4▲ 49×1 topic
  36. Engineering Education3▲ 11×4 topics
  37. Complexity Theory3▲ 18×2 topics
  38. Algorithmic Applications3▲ 24×2 topics
  39. Challenge-Based Learning3▲ 22×1 topic
  40. Hackathons3▲ 22×1 topic

Which research topics does U.S. National Science Foundation publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Scientific Computing and Data Management, Climate variability and models, Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations and Career Development and Diversity.

Scientific Computing and…5Scientific Computing and Data Management: 5 fractional worksClimate variability and …4Climate variability and models: 4 fractional worksMeteorological Phenomena…4Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations: 4 fractional worksCareer Development and D…4Career Development and Diversity: 4 fractional worksBiomedical and Engineering Education: 3 fractional worksAdvanced Numerical Methods in Computational Mathematics: 2 fractional worksMeta-analysis and system…2Meta-analysis and systematic reviews: 2 fractional worksResearch Data Management Practices: 2 fractional worksBig Data and Business Intelligence: 2 fractional worksHealth Sciences Research…2Health Sciences Research and Education: 2 fractional works
Information Systems and ManagementGlobal and Planetary ChangeAtmospheric ScienceSafety Research6 others

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

  1. 1 Scientific Computing and Data Management Information Systems and Management 5 works
  2. 2 Climate variability and models Global and Planetary Change 4 works
  3. 3 Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations Atmospheric Science 4 works
  4. 4 Career Development and Diversity Safety Research 4 works
  5. 5 Biomedical and Engineering Education Biomedical Engineering 3 works
  6. 6 Advanced Numerical Methods in Computational Mathematics Computational Mechanics 2 works
  7. 7 Meta-analysis and systematic reviews Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty 2 works
  8. 8 Research Data Management Practices Information Systems 2 works
  9. 9 Big Data and Business Intelligence Management Information Systems 2 works
  10. 10 Health Sciences Research and Education General Health Professions 2 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 available24.0%not open76.0%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors19.5%domestic only80.5%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has U.S. National Science Foundation's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 23% 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 Alexandria

All research institutions in Alexandria

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.