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University · Bowling Green · United States

Western Kentucky University

In research, Western Kentucky University stands highest in Social Sciences (#2,746 of 10,521 worldwide), Social Sciences (#2,801 of 6,365 worldwide) and Physical Sciences (#6,505 of 12,888 worldwide), 2022–2025.

wku.eduROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#6,531
of 28,054 · #4,561 all time
Rank in United States
#873
of 4,192
Research works
7.3k
▼ 37% vs 2013–17
Citations
98k
13.4 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
14.6%
record average 16.5%
Open access
40%
world 28%

What is Western Kentucky University 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 #2,746 of 10,521 20.2%308 #1192
Social SciencesField #2,801 of 6,365 21.2%142 #1164
Physical SciencesDomain #6,505 of 12,888 10.3%214 #4416
Health SciencesDomain #7,668 of 11,982 8.4%122 #5399
Life SciencesDomain #6,276 of 7,800 13.5%62 #7379
PsychologyField #1,788 of 2,181 15.0%64 #751
EngineeringField #5,728 of 6,636 11.3%65 #5369
MedicineField #9,226 of 10,443 7.3%94 #12857

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Western Kentucky University 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#1,192 #2,746
  2. Social Sciences#1,164 #2,801
  3. Physical Sciences#4,416 #6,505
  4. Health Sciences#5,399 #7,668
  5. Life Sciences#7,379 #6,276
  6. Psychology#751 #1,788
  7. Engineering#5,369 #5,728
  8. Medicine#12,857 #9,226
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: 0.77× its world share, 26 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.40× its world share, 15 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.41× its world share, 3 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.50× its world share, 17 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.46× its world share, 1 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.25× its world share, 1 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.38× its world share, 4 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.63× its world share, 35 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.95× its world share, 22 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.66× its world share, 4 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.61× its world share, 65 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.04× its world share, 36 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.35× its world share, 9 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 2.10× its world share, 17 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.36× its world share, 21 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.67× its world share, 2 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.14× its world share, 21 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.69× its world share, 94 worksMedicineNursing: 0.88× its world share, 3 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.92× its world share, 2 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 1.83× its world share, 37 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 1.35× its world share, 31 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.52× its world share, 10 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.54× its world share, 23 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 2.99× its world share, 64 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 1.59× its world share, 142 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Psychology, 3.0×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at Western Kentucky University?

Ranked on the composite score, Wei‐Ping Pan, Yan Cao and Robert J. Antony lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Western Kentucky University.

  1. 1 Wei‐Ping Pan United States · #121,638 worldwide 476 citations · 53 works
  2. 2 Yan Cao United States · #156,576 worldwide 216 citations · 22 works
  3. 3 Robert J. Antony United States · #184,339 worldwide 47 citations · 27 works
  4. 4 Hart M. Nelsen United States · #196,936 worldwide 102 citations · 21 works
  5. 5 Pauline Norris United States · #244,011 worldwide 150 citations · 23 works
  6. 6 William G. Lloyd United States · #273,214 worldwide 171 citations · 24 works
  7. 7 Sarah Goodyear United States · #282,941 worldwide 56 citations · 32 works
  8. 8 David M. Zimmer United States · #296,392 worldwide 52 citations · 19 works
  9. 9 Kelly Thompson United States · #311,559 worldwide 54 citations · 18 works
  10. 10 Kam C. Chan United States · #340,302 worldwide 454 citations · 84 works
All ranked researchers at Western Kentucky University

Which keywords describe research at Western Kentucky University?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Mental Health, Risk Factors, Gender, Epidemiology, Climate Change, Social Support, Spatial Analysis and Depression.

▲ 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. Mental Health31▲ 3.0×26 topics
  2. Epidemiology29◆ 1.04×65 topics
  3. Climate Change25▲ 1.30×46 topics
  4. Globalization20▲ 1.47×37 topics
  5. Risk Factors20▲ 2.6×20 topics
  6. Education17▲ 1.38×26 topics
  7. Depression16▲ 2.5×14 topics
  8. Gender15▲ 3.9×22 topics
  9. Social Media14▲ 1.38×20 topics
  10. Social Support14▲ 3.5×11 topics
  11. Economic Growth13▲ 2.2×16 topics
  12. Identity12▲ 2.4×20 topics
  13. Emotion Regulation11▲ 4.8×8 topics
  14. History10▲ 2.1×15 topics
  15. Social Justice10▲ 2.5×17 topics
  16. Adolescents10▲ 3.8×6 topics
  17. Nationalism10▲ 3.0×13 topics
  18. Spatial Analysis9▲ 14×4 topics
  19. Student Engagement9▲ 3.2×10 topics
  20. Cultural Identity9▲ 2.4×10 topics
  21. Well-being9▲ 3.2×8 topics
  22. Driver Behavior9▲ 16×2 topics
  23. Democracy8▲ 3.4×8 topics
  24. Injury Severity8▲ 14×2 topics
  25. Road Safety8▲ 29×1 topic
  26. Traffic Accidents8▲ 25×1 topic
  27. Developmental Trajectories8▲ 8.7×3 topics
  28. Digital Divide8▲ 4.1×6 topics
  29. Injury Prevention8▲ 8.7×5 topics
  30. Anxiety Disorders7▲ 8.5×2 topics
  31. Emotion7▲ 4.5×8 topics
  32. Diversity6▲ 5.2×8 topics
  33. Suicide6▲ 18×2 topics
  34. Parenting6▲ 7.0×2 topics
  35. Psychopathology6▲ 4.9×3 topics
  36. Socioeconomic Factors6▲ 7.2×3 topics
  37. Intersectionality6▲ 4.7×6 topics
  38. Behavioral Problems6▲ 9.7×1 topic
  39. Behavioral Interventions5▲ 9.6×2 topics
  40. Race5▲ 6.5×9 topics

Which research topics does Western Kentucky University publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Traffic and Road Safety, Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development, Injury Epidemiology and Prevention and Agriculture and Farm Safety.

Traffic and Road Safety8Traffic and Road Safety: 8 fractional worksChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development: 6 fractional worksInjury Epidemiology and Prevention: 4 fractional worksAgriculture and Farm Safety: 3 fractional worksRace, History, and American Society: 3 fractional worksVisual perception and processing mechanisms: 3 fractional worksSuicide and Self-Harm St…3Suicide and Self-Harm Studies: 3 fractional worksStability and Controllability of Differential Equations: 3 fractional worksSubstance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes: 3 fractional worksCorporate Finance and Go…3Corporate Finance and Governance: 3 fractional works
Safety, Risk, Reliability and QualityClinical PsychologyPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational HealthPlant Science5 others

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

  1. 1 Traffic and Road Safety Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality 8 works
  2. 2 Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development Clinical Psychology 6 works
  3. 3 Injury Epidemiology and Prevention Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health 4 works
  4. 4 Agriculture and Farm Safety Plant Science 3 works
  5. 5 Race, History, and American Society Sociology and Political Science 3 works
  6. 6 Visual perception and processing mechanisms Cognitive Neuroscience 3 works
  7. 7 Suicide and Self-Harm Studies Clinical Psychology 3 works
  8. 8 Stability and Controllability of Differential Equations Control and Systems Engineering 3 works
  9. 9 Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes Epidemiology 3 works
  10. 10 Corporate Finance and Governance Accounting 3 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 available40.1%not open59.9%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors7.6%domestic only92.4%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Western Kentucky University's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 37% 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 Bowling Green

All research institutions in Bowling Green

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.