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University · Merced · United States

University of California, Merced

In research, University of California, Merced stands highest in Social Sciences (#760 of 10,521 worldwide), Social Sciences (#588 of 6,365 worldwide) and Physical Sciences (#1,230 of 12,888 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Global and Planetary Change — Global and Planetary Change is 3.7× its share of world research.

ucmerced.eduROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#1,288
of 28,054 · #1,205 all time
Rank in United States
#213
of 4,192
Research works
7.9k
▲ 22% vs 2013–17
Citations
221k
28.1 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
20.6%
record average 16.5%
Open access
51%
world 28%

What is University of California, Merced 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 #760 of 10,521 27.4%474 #663
Social SciencesField #588 of 6,365 30.9%238 #540
Physical SciencesDomain #1,230 of 12,888 18.4%1,103 #1184
Computer ScienceField #805 of 4,667 22.6%226 #587
Environmental ScienceField #670 of 3,551 24.0%209 #767
PsychologyField #463 of 2,181 25.9%118 #670
Life SciencesDomain #1,782 of 7,800 20.3%301 #1503
Agricultural and Biological SciencesField #885 of 3,409 33.0%93 #1354
EngineeringField #1,834 of 6,636 15.9%342 #1389
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #729 of 2,578 35.8%95 #543

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where University of California, Merced 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#663 #760
  2. Social Sciences#540 #588
  3. Physical Sciences#1,184 #1,230
  4. Computer Science#587 #805
  5. Environmental Science#767 #670
  6. Psychology#670 #463
  7. Life Sciences#1,503 #1,782
  8. Agricultural and Biological Sciences#1,354 #885
  9. Engineering#1,389 #1,834
  10. Sociology and Political Science#543 #729
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, Merced specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Global and Planetary Change takes 3.7× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Global and Planetary ChangeSubfield · 58.9 works3.7×
← 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: 0.94× its world share, 93 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.24× its world share, 138 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.96× its world share, 20 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.41× its world share, 47 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.41× its world share, 3 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.53× its world share, 4 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 1.18× its world share, 38 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.40× its world share, 226 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.75× its world share, 57 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 1.50× its world share, 28 worksEnergyEngineering: 1.10× its world share, 342 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 2.03× its world share, 210 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.91× its world share, 66 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.11× its world share, 27 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 2.25× its world share, 104 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.09× its world share, 1 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.76× its world share, 42 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.38× its world share, 150 worksMedicineNursing: 0.49× its world share, 5 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.25× its world share, 1 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.79× its world share, 48 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.30× its world share, 20 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.24× its world share, 25 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.58× its world share, 26 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.86× its world share, 118 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.91× its world share, 238 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Physics and Astronomy, 2.2×. Every wedge is a field page.

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

Ranked on the composite score, Ming–Hsuan Yang, Deqing Sun and Susan D. Amussen lead among researchers whose main affiliation is University of California, Merced.

  1. 1 Ming–Hsuan Yang United States · #714 worldwide 7.4k citations · 304 works
  2. 2 Deqing Sun United States · #24,112 worldwide 1.5k citations · 36 works
  3. 3 Susan D. Amussen United States · #39,138 worldwide 703 citations · 31 works
  4. 4 Sifei Liu United States · #44,401 worldwide 585 citations · 39 works
  5. 5 David M. Ojcius United States · #45,272 worldwide 279 citations · 44 works
  6. 6 Shawn Newsam United States · #48,817 worldwide 783 citations · 32 works
  7. 7 Roland Winston United States · #51,223 worldwide 543 citations · 84 works
  8. 8 YangQuan Chen United States · #68,955 worldwide 2.4k citations · 337 works
  9. 9 Jay E. Sharping United States · #102,233 worldwide 284 citations · 42 works
  10. 10 Alberto Cerpa United States · #108,970 worldwide 277 citations · 26 works
All ranked researchers at University of California, Merced

Which keywords describe research at University of California, Merced?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Climate Change, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Remote Sensing, Ecosystem Resilience, Hydrological Modeling, Neural Networks and Molecular Dynamics.

▲ 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 Change145▲ 2.6×79 topics
  2. Deep Learning112▲ 1.57×67 topics
  3. Machine Learning86▲ 1.27×60 topics
  4. Remote Sensing57▲ 2.2×30 topics
  5. Sustainability55◆ 1.08×59 topics
  6. Neural Networks52▲ 1.63×33 topics
  7. Mental Health46▲ 1.52×28 topics
  8. Globalization46◆ 1.12×56 topics
  9. Renewable Energy40▲ 1.32×31 topics
  10. Ecosystem Resilience30▲ 9.8×5 topics
  11. Hydrological Modeling28▲ 5.8×5 topics
  12. Convolutional Neural Networks26▲ 1.72×13 topics
  13. Global Warming25▲ 3.0×13 topics
  14. Health Effects25▲ 2.0×19 topics
  15. Microbial Communities25▲ 2.8×8 topics
  16. Molecular Dynamics22▲ 6.5×6 topics
  17. Nonlinear Systems22▲ 5.1×8 topics
  18. Electric Vehicles21▲ 3.4×4 topics
  19. Colonialism20▲ 2.1×20 topics
  20. Soil Properties18▲ 5.1×4 topics
  21. Health Disparities18▲ 3.2×7 topics
  22. Model Reduction17▲ 16×2 topics
  23. Emotion16▲ 3.7×9 topics
  24. Stability Analysis16▲ 4.7×5 topics
  25. Fluid Dynamics16▲ 5.4×4 topics
  26. Acculturation15▲ 9.6×2 topics
  27. Forest Fires15▲ 16×1 topic
  28. Wildfire Activity15▲ 16×1 topic
  29. Drought15▲ 7.5×3 topics
  30. Self-Regulation15▲ 4.0×6 topics
  31. Sea Level Rise14▲ 5.3×3 topics
  32. Evapotranspiration13▲ 8.3×2 topics
  33. Antifungal Therapy12▲ 6.7×3 topics
  34. Implicit Bias12▲ 13×2 topics
  35. Anaerobic11▲ 7.6×1 topic
  36. Gas Hydrates11▲ 7.6×1 topic
  37. Real-time Optimization11▲ 9.9×2 topics
  38. Industrial Automation11▲ 7.7×3 topics
  39. GRACE11▲ 10×1 topic
  40. groundwater depletion11▲ 10×1 topic

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

By volume in 2022–2025: Fire effects on ecosystems, Advanced Battery Technologies Research, Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena and Geophysics and Gravity Measurements.

Fire effects on ecosystems15Fire effects on ecosystems: 15 fractional worksAdvanced Battery Technol…11Advanced Battery Technologies Research: 11 fractional worksMethane Hydrates and Related Phenomena: 11 fractional worksGeophysics and Gravity Measurements: 11 fractional worksPlant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics: 10 fractional worksIonosphere and magnetosphere dynamics: 10 fractional worksBehavioral Health and Interventions: 10 fractional worksMigration, Health and Tr…9Migration, Health and Trauma: 9 fractional worksAdvanced Control Systems Design: 9 fractional worksSoil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics: 8 fractional works
Global and Planetary ChangeAutomotive EngineeringEnvironmental ChemistryOceanography5 others

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

  1. 1 Fire effects on ecosystems Global and Planetary Change 15 works
  2. 2 Advanced Battery Technologies Research Automotive Engineering 11 works
  3. 3 Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena Environmental Chemistry 11 works
  4. 4 Geophysics and Gravity Measurements Oceanography 11 works
  5. 5 Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics Global and Planetary Change 10 works
  6. 6 Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics Astronomy and Astrophysics 10 works
  7. 7 Behavioral Health and Interventions Applied Psychology 10 works
  8. 8 Migration, Health and Trauma Clinical Psychology 9 works
  9. 9 Advanced Control Systems Design Control and Systems Engineering 9 works
  10. 10 Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics Soil Science 8 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 available50.9%not open49.1%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors19.8%domestic only80.2%

World: 19% is written across borders.

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

Output in 2018–2022 was 22% 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 Merced

All research institutions in Merced

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.