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University · Berkeley · United States

University of California, Berkeley

In research, University of California, Berkeley stands highest in Social Sciences (#29 of 10,521 worldwide), Physical Sciences (#38 of 12,888 worldwide) and Computer Science (#19 of 4,667 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Environmental Chemistry, Geophysics and Oceanography — Environmental Chemistry is 23.5× its share of world research.

berkeley.eduROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#32
of 28,054 · #4 all time
Rank in United States
#6
of 4,192
Research works
204k
▼ 5% vs 2013–17
Citations
11M
54.2 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
21.8%
record average 16.5%
Open access
36%
world 28%

What is University of California, Berkeley 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 #29 of 10,521 25.8%4,157 #2
Physical SciencesDomain #38 of 12,888 17.9%10,159 #3
Computer ScienceField #19 of 4,667 27.8%1,460 #3
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #18 of 3,579 30.5%943 #7
Life SciencesDomain #46 of 7,800 31.3%1,826 #19
Social SciencesField #38 of 6,365 27.5%1,986 #5
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #31 of 2,578 28.8%682 #4
Physics and AstronomyField #20 of 1,646 21.7%1,589 #4
Artificial IntelligenceSubfield #25 of 1,884 29.3%622 #4
MathematicsField #14 of 1,053 24.4%429 #2

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where University of California, Berkeley 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#2 #29
  2. Physical Sciences#3 #38
  3. Computer Science#3 #19
  4. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#7 #18
  5. Life Sciences#19 #46
  6. Social Sciences#5 #38
  7. Sociology and Political Science#4 #31
  8. Physics and Astronomy#4 #20
  9. Artificial Intelligence#4 #25
  10. Mathematics#2 #14
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 University of California, Berkeley specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Environmental Chemistry takes 23.5× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Environmental ChemistrySubfield · 892.4 works23×
  2. GeophysicsSubfield · 1,180.9 works19×
  3. OceanographySubfield · 658.9 works14×
  4. Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield · 835.6 works9.2×
  5. Structural BiologySubfield · 23.7 works8.6×
  6. Earth and Planetary SciencesField · 2,011.4 works7.4×
  7. Physics and AstronomyField · 1,589.4 works4.1×
← 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: 0.49× its world share, 404 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.02× its world share, 943 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.40× its world share, 71 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.38× its world share, 389 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.32× its world share, 20 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.90× its world share, 55 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.85× its world share, 234 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.08× its world share, 1,460 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 7.37× its world share, 2,011 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.72× its world share, 115 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.81× its world share, 2,126 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.93× its world share, 1,671 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.77× its world share, 468 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 2.10× its world share, 429 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 4.11× its world share, 1,589 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.06× its world share, 5 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.52× its world share, 238 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.29× its world share, 978 worksMedicineNursing: 0.43× its world share, 36 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.20× its world share, 5 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 1.05× its world share, 527 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.62× its world share, 349 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.36× its world share, 229 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.33× its world share, 497 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.07× its world share, 568 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.90× its world share, 1,986 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Earth and Planetary Sciences, 7.4×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at University of California, Berkeley?

Ranked on the composite score, Ion Stoica, Jitendra Malik and Judith Butler lead among researchers whose main affiliation is University of California, Berkeley.

  1. 1 Ion Stoica · #22 worldwide 9.6k citations · 170 works
  2. 2 Jitendra Malik · #39 worldwide 12k citations · 179 works
  3. 3 Judith Butler · #70 worldwide 6.7k citations · 132 works
  4. 4 Loïc Wacquant · #89 worldwide 3.1k citations · 153 works
  5. 5 Randy H. Katz · #99 worldwide 5.7k citations · 135 works
  6. 6 David Culler · #182 worldwide 4.4k citations · 132 works
  7. 7 Manuel Castells · #259 worldwide 1.1k citations · 160 works
  8. 8 Dawn Song · #303 worldwide 3.8k citations · 150 works
  9. 9 David A. Patterson · #305 worldwide 5.1k citations · 113 works
  10. 10 Aaron Wíldavsky · #436 worldwide 1.7k citations · 137 works
All ranked researchers at University of California, Berkeley

Which keywords describe research at University of California, Berkeley?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Microbial Communities, Methane Oxidation, Anaerobic, Gas Hydrates, Tomography, Seismic Noise, Surface Wave and Hydrological Modeling.

▲ 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 Change1,133▲ 2.4×109 topics
  2. Microbial Communities908▲ 12×10 topics
  3. Methane Oxidation869▲ 61×2 topics
  4. Anaerobic868▲ 72×1 topic
  5. Gas Hydrates868▲ 72×1 topic
  6. Tomography806▲ 26×5 topics
  7. Seismic Noise761▲ 91×1 topic
  8. Surface Wave761▲ 91×1 topic
  9. Hydrological Modeling660▲ 16×5 topics
  10. Geodetic Measurements649▲ 34×2 topics
  11. Sea Level Rise642▲ 29×3 topics
  12. GRACE630▲ 70×1 topic
  13. groundwater depletion630▲ 70×1 topic
  14. Deep Learning554◆ 0.93×83 topics
  15. Machine Learning547◆ 0.96×86 topics
  16. Solar Wind520▲ 32×2 topics
  17. Electron Acceleration474▲ 40×2 topics
  18. Ionosphere471▲ 49×1 topic
  19. Magnetosphere471▲ 49×1 topic
  20. Globalization381◆ 1.12×125 topics
  21. Ionospheric Anomalies361▲ 54×1 topic
  22. Seismic Electromagnetics361▲ 54×1 topic
  23. Neural Networks322▲ 1.20×37 topics
  24. Sustainability290▼ 0.69×98 topics
  25. Mental Health212▼ 0.83×41 topics
  26. Identity173▲ 1.37×63 topics
  27. History173▲ 1.42×49 topics
  28. Economic Growth169◆ 1.14×30 topics
  29. Colonialism168▲ 2.0×43 topics
  30. Gender148▲ 1.57×48 topics
  31. Nationalism146▲ 1.81×31 topics
  32. Religion136▲ 1.65×37 topics
  33. Ethics131▲ 1.56×42 topics
  34. Neoliberalism114▲ 1.83×25 topics
  35. Molecular Dynamics110▲ 3.8×6 topics
  36. Cosmic Rays104▲ 12×2 topics
  37. Neutrinos104▲ 12×2 topics
  38. High-Energy Astrophysics81▲ 17×1 topic
  39. Particle Acceleration81▲ 17×1 topic
  40. Dark Matter80▲ 4.0×4 topics

Which research topics does University of California, Berkeley publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena, Seismic Waves and Analysis, Geophysics and Gravity Measurements and Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics.

Methane Hydrates and Rel…868Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena: 868 fractional worksSeismic Waves and Analysis761Seismic Waves and Analysis: 761 fractional worksGeophysics and Gravity Measurements: 630 fractional worksIonosphere and magnetosp…471Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics: 471 fractional worksEarthquake Detection and…361Earthquake Detection and Analysis: 361 fractional worksAstrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena: 81 fractional worksAstro and Planetary Science: 52 fractional worksSolar and Space Plasma Dynamics: 49 fractional worksAir Quality and Health Impacts: 42 fractional worksMachine Learning in Materials Science: 40 fractional works
Environmental ChemistryGeophysicsOceanographyAstronomy and Astrophysics3 others

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

  1. 1 Methane Hydrates and Related PhenomenaEnvironmental Chemistry 868 works
  2. 2 Seismic Waves and AnalysisGeophysics 761 works
  3. 3 Geophysics and Gravity MeasurementsOceanography 630 works
  4. 4 Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamicsAstronomy and Astrophysics 471 works
  5. 5 Earthquake Detection and AnalysisGeophysics 361 works
  6. 6 Astrophysics and Cosmic PhenomenaNuclear and High Energy Physics 81 works
  7. 7 Astro and Planetary ScienceAstronomy and Astrophysics 52 works
  8. 8 Solar and Space Plasma DynamicsAstronomy and Astrophysics 49 works
  9. 9 Air Quality and Health ImpactsHealth, Toxicology and Mutagenesis 42 works
  10. 10 Machine Learning in Materials ScienceMaterials Chemistry 40 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 available36.3%not open63.7%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors13.7%domestic only86.3%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has University of California, Berkeley's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 5% 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 Berkeley

All research institutions in Berkeley

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.