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University · Los Angeles · United States

University of Southern California

In research, University of Southern California stands highest in Social Sciences (#54 of 10,521 worldwide), Health Sciences (#112 of 11,982 worldwide) and Medicine (#104 of 10,443 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Aging, Sensory Systems and Statistics and Probability — Aging is 6.5× its share of world research.

usc.eduROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#129
of 28,054 · #54 all time
Rank in United States
#37
of 4,192
Research works
124k
▲ 9% vs 2013–17
Citations
4.8M
38.9 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
21.4%
record average 16.5%
Open access
30%
world 28%

What is University of Southern California 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 #54 of 10,521 26.9%3,299 #34
Health SciencesDomain #112 of 11,982 19.0%5,049 #59
MedicineField #104 of 10,443 18.4%4,474 #59
Life SciencesDomain #107 of 7,800 21.5%1,895 #68
Social SciencesField #90 of 6,365 30.3%1,446 #45
PsychologyField #37 of 2,181 25.0%724 #22
Physical SciencesDomain #244 of 12,888 20.2%4,566 #60
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #50 of 2,578 32.8%518 #31
Computer ScienceField #111 of 4,667 22.6%1,473 #25
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #113 of 3,579 21.5%1,040 #62

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where University of Southern California 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#34 #54
  2. Health Sciences#59 #112
  3. Medicine#59 #104
  4. Life Sciences#68 #107
  5. Social Sciences#45 #90
  6. Psychology#22 #37
  7. Physical Sciences#60 #244
  8. Sociology and Political Science#31 #50
  9. Computer Science#25 #111
  10. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#62 #113
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 Southern California specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Aging takes 6.5× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. AgingSubfield · 23.2 works6.5×
  2. Sensory SystemsSubfield · 35.8 works3.2×
  3. Statistics and ProbabilitySubfield · 98.8 works3.1×
  4. Cognitive NeuroscienceSubfield · 296.2 works2.7×
← 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: 0.12× its world share, 87 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.32× its world share, 1,040 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.11× its world share, 165 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 2.34× its world share, 562 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.78× its world share, 41 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.77× its world share, 40 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.49× its world share, 115 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.28× its world share, 1,473 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.82× its world share, 191 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.30× its world share, 40 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.65× its world share, 1,442 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.62× its world share, 453 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.44× its world share, 226 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.35× its world share, 235 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.07× its world share, 352 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.72× its world share, 52 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.20× its world share, 467 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.57× its world share, 4,474 worksMedicineNursing: 0.70× its world share, 50 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.27× its world share, 6 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.65× its world share, 278 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.60× its world share, 284 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.36× its world share, 195 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.17× its world share, 372 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.60× its world share, 724 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.77× its world share, 1,446 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Neuroscience, 2.3×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at University of Southern California?

Ranked on the composite score, M. Hashem Pesaran, Jerry M. Mendel and Ramesh Govindan lead among researchers whose main affiliation is University of Southern California.

  1. 1 M. Hashem Pesaran United States · #64 worldwide 9.1k citations · 161 works
  2. 2 Jerry M. Mendel United States · #306 worldwide 4k citations · 162 works
  3. 3 Ramesh Govindan United States · #571 worldwide 3.5k citations · 144 works
  4. 4 Andreas F. Molisch United States · #1,505 worldwide 4.3k citations · 262 works
  5. 5 William G. Tierney United States · #1,512 worldwide 2.3k citations · 85 works
  6. 6 Leslie Bernstein United States · #1,538 worldwide 1.6k citations · 153 works
  7. 7 Peter A. Jones United States · #1,903 worldwide 1.7k citations · 86 works
  8. 8 John Heidemann United States · #1,912 worldwide 1.9k citations · 83 works
  9. 9 Edward E. Lawler United States · #1,997 worldwide 1.7k citations · 90 works
  10. 10 Richard A. Easterlin United States · #2,117 worldwide 2.2k citations · 76 works
All ranked researchers at University of Southern California

Which keywords describe research at University of Southern California?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Public Health, Neuroimaging, Neural Networks, Risk Factors and Quality of Life.

▲ 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. Epidemiology843▲ 1.44×132 topics
  2. Deep Learning674▲ 1.33×81 topics
  3. Machine Learning534◆ 1.10×85 topics
  4. Inflammation378▲ 1.23×82 topics
  5. Neural Networks363▲ 1.59×37 topics
  6. Public Health362▲ 1.68×55 topics
  7. Quality of Life341▲ 1.60×56 topics
  8. Oxidative Stress336▲ 1.39×60 topics
  9. Mental Health314▲ 1.45×43 topics
  10. Risk Factors310▲ 1.90×36 topics
  11. Biomarkers255▲ 2.5×18 topics
  12. Treatment245▲ 1.36×51 topics
  13. Cancer237▲ 1.19×55 topics
  14. Cardiovascular Disease235▲ 1.43×38 topics
  15. Aging214▲ 2.7×17 topics
  16. Social Media213◆ 1.01×33 topics
  17. Social Support202▲ 2.5×18 topics
  18. Neurological Disorders201▲ 2.4×20 topics
  19. Neuroimaging198▲ 4.9×11 topics
  20. Metabolic Syndrome198▲ 1.64×23 topics
  21. Depression197▲ 1.51×25 topics
  22. Immunotherapy196▲ 1.85×19 topics
  23. Genetics193▲ 1.86×25 topics
  24. Chemotherapy192▲ 1.85×25 topics
  25. Mortality187▲ 2.2×13 topics
  26. Obesity164▲ 1.46×26 topics
  27. Health Disparities157▲ 4.0×8 topics
  28. Health Effects156▲ 1.75×22 topics
  29. Mortality Risk147▲ 4.2×6 topics
  30. Alzheimer's Disease134▲ 3.2×9 topics
  31. Prevalence130▲ 2.1×14 topics
  32. Cognitive Decline122▲ 6.8×2 topics
  33. Global Burden of Disease111▲ 3.0×4 topics
  34. Psychiatric Disorders110▲ 5.6×4 topics
  35. Cognitive Training104▲ 7.7×2 topics
  36. Caregiver Burden104▲ 6.4×3 topics
  37. Dementia101▲ 7.3×2 topics
  38. Mild Cognitive Impairment99▲ 8.0×1 topic
  39. Vascular Risk Factors99▲ 8.0×1 topic
  40. Social Relationships79▲ 5.8×2 topics

Which research topics does University of Southern California publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research, Topic Modeling, Functional Brain Connectivity Studies and Health disparities and outcomes.

Dementia and Cognitive I…99Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research: 99 fractional worksTopic Modeling62Topic Modeling: 62 fractional worksFunctional Brain Connect…62Functional Brain Connectivity Studies: 62 fractional worksHealth disparities and o…59Health disparities and outcomes: 59 fractional worksAlzheimer's disease research and treatments: 46 fractional worksAdvanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications: 46 fractional worksHealth Systems, Economic…46Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life: 46 fractional worksSmoking Behavior and Cessation: 43 fractional worksAir Quality and Health Impacts: 43 fractional worksNatural Language Process…42Natural Language Processing Techniques: 42 fractional works
Psychiatry and Mental healthArtificial IntelligenceCognitive NeuroscienceHealth4 others

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

  1. 1 Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research Psychiatry and Mental health 99 works
  2. 2 Topic Modeling Artificial Intelligence 62 works
  3. 3 Functional Brain Connectivity Studies Cognitive Neuroscience 62 works
  4. 4 Health disparities and outcomes Health 59 works
  5. 5 Alzheimer's disease research and treatments Physiology 46 works
  6. 6 Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging 46 works
  7. 7 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life Economics and Econometrics 46 works
  8. 8 Smoking Behavior and Cessation Physiology 43 works
  9. 9 Air Quality and Health Impacts Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis 43 works
  10. 10 Natural Language Processing Techniques Artificial Intelligence 42 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 available29.6%not open70.4%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors13.1%domestic only86.9%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has University of Southern California's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 9% 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 Los Angeles

All research institutions in Los Angeles

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.