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Institution · Washington · United States

World Bank

In research, World Bank stands highest in Social Sciences (#549 of 9,585 worldwide), Economics, Econometrics and Finance (#117 of 1,798 worldwide) and Economics and Econometrics (#133 of 1,307 worldwide), 2022-now. Relative to its size it is most specialised in General Economics, Econometrics and Finance, Economics, Econometrics and Finance and Safety Research (General Economics, Econometrics and Finance is 18.6× its share of world research).

worldbank.orgROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022-now
#1,313
of 22,385 · #661 all time
Rank in United States
#285
of 3,332
Research works
8k
▼ 9% vs 2018-21
Citations
438k
54.6 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
16.0%
all institutions 10.0%
vs its own fields
1.43×
1.00× is exactly expected
Open access
37%
world 40%
International
25%
world 18%
World Bank

What is World Bank known for in research?

The fields where it stands highest, 2022-now, ranked among every institution above the floor in each field.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorksAll time
Social SciencesDomain #549 of 9,585 16.5%488 #109
Economics, Econometrics and FinanceField #117 of 1,798 16.2%202 #26
Economics and EconometricsSubfield #133 of 1,307 15.4%142 #29
Social SciencesField #705 of 5,988 17.0%199 #102
Physical SciencesDomain #2,105 of 10,670 13.7%152 #1233
Environmental ScienceField #788 of 3,334 18.2%61 #508
Health SciencesDomain #2,519 of 9,902 20.2%82 #1219
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #730 of 2,526 17.1%65 #183

Each strip is that field's whole ranked pool, with the notch where World Bank 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 average mark, because the average differs by field (from about 6% in Dentistry to 21% in Economics).

Which of those standings moved

The same fields on both windows: where it stood over the whole record, and where it stands in 2022-now. The distance is the story, and it is the one thing the two rank columns above cannot show.

  1. Social Sciences#109 #549
  2. Economics, Econometrics and Finance#26 #117
  3. Economics and Econometrics#29 #133
  4. Social Sciences#102 #705
  5. Physical Sciences#1,233 #2,105
  6. Environmental Science#508 #788
  7. Health Sciences#1,219 #2,519
  8. Sociology and Political Science#183 #730
all time2022-now, better2022-now, worse

A dot further right is a better standing. Fields it was not ranked in over the whole record are left out.

Which fields of science does World Bank work in?

In 2022-now, 64% of research at World Bank is in Social Sciences, 21% in Physical Sciences. Its largest fields are Social Sciences (26%), Economics, Econometrics and Finance (26%), Environmental Science (8%). It does 2.5× the world's share of Social Sciences.

Social Sciences: 532 fractional works · 63.5% of its workSocial Sciences: 218 fractional works · 26.1% of its workSociology and Political Science: 71 fractional works · 8.5% of its workSafety Research: 28 fractional works · 3.3% of its workPolitical Science and International Relations: 28 fractional works · 3.3% of its workEducation: 21 fractional works · 2.5% of its workGender Studies: 18 fractional works · 2.1% of its workDemography: 10 fractional works · 1.2% of its workTransportation: 10 fractional works · 1.2% of its workHealth: 10 fractional works · 1.1% of its workDevelopment: 8 fractional works · 1.0% of its workUrban Studies: 8 fractional works · 0.9% of its workCommunication: 2 fractional works · 0.2% of its workLaw: 2 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 217 fractional works · 25.9% of its workEconomics and Econometrics: 153 fractional works · 18.2% of its workGeneral Economics, Econometrics and Finance: 39 fractional works · 4.7% of its workFinance: 25 fractional works · 3.0% of its workBusiness, Management and Accounting: 59 fractional works · 7.0% of its workStrategy and Management: 25 fractional works · 2.9% of its workAccounting: 16 fractional works · 1.9% of its workOrganizational Behavior and Human Resource Management: 5 fractional works · 0.6% of its workManagement Information Systems: 4 fractional works · 0.5% of its workBusiness and International Management: 3 fractional works · 0.4% of its workManagement of Technology and Innovation: 3 fractional works · 0.4% of its workMarketing: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPsychology: 20 fractional works · 2.3% of its workClinical Psychology: 7 fractional works · 0.9% of its workSocial Psychology: 7 fractional works · 0.8% of its workExperimental and Cognitive Psychology: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workDevelopmental and Educational Psychology: 2 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.2% of its workDecision Sciences: 13 fractional works · 1.6% of its workManagement Science and Operations Research: 10 fractional works · 1.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.4% of its workArts and Humanities: 6 fractional works · 0.7% of its workHistory: 2 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.4% of its workPhysical Sciences: 172 fractional works · 20.6% of its workEnvironmental Science: 71 fractional works · 8.5% of its workGlobal and Planetary Change: 19 fractional works · 2.2% of its workManagement, Monitoring, Policy and Law: 10 fractional works · 1.2% of its workPollution: 10 fractional works · 1.2% of its workWater Science and Technology: 9 fractional works · 1.0% of its workEnvironmental Engineering: 7 fractional works · 0.9% of its workHealth, Toxicology and Mutagenesis: 6 fractional works · 0.8% of its workEcology: 5 fractional works · 0.6% of its workIndustrial and Manufacturing Engineering: 3 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEngineering: 41 fractional works · 4.9% of its workElectrical and Electronic Engineering: 9 fractional works · 1.0% of its workOcean Engineering: 9 fractional works · 1.0% of its workCivil and Structural Engineering: 7 fractional works · 0.8% of its workMedia Technology: 4 fractional works · 0.5% of its workBuilding and Construction: 3 fractional works · 0.3% of its workAutomotive Engineering: 3 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSafety, Risk, Reliability and Quality: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMechanical Engineering: 2 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 3 fractional works · 0.4% of its workComputer Science: 26 fractional works · 3.0% of its workInformation Systems: 13 fractional works · 1.5% of its workArtificial Intelligence: 6 fractional works · 0.7% of its workComputer Science Applications: 3 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.5% of its workEnergy: 20 fractional works · 2.4% of its workRenewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment: 17 fractional works · 2.0% of its workGeneral Energy: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workMathematics: 10 fractional works · 1.2% of its workModeling and Simulation: 6 fractional works · 0.7% of its workStatistics and Probability: 3 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workEarth and Planetary Sciences: 4 fractional works · 0.5% of its workAtmospheric Science: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMaterials Science: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workPhysics and Astronomy: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workHealth Sciences: 88 fractional works · 10.5% of its workHealth Professions: 39 fractional works · 4.7% of its workGeneral Health Professions: 33 fractional works · 3.9% of its workEmergency Medical Services: 3 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.5% of its workMedicine: 36 fractional works · 4.4% of its workPediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health: 11 fractional works · 1.3% of its workPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health: 8 fractional works · 0.9% of its workInfectious Diseases: 4 fractional works · 0.5% of its workEpidemiology: 4 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 11 fractional works · 1.3% of its workNursing: 12 fractional works · 1.4% of its workNutrition and Dietetics: 12 fractional works · 1.4% of its workLife Sciences: 45 fractional works · 5.4% of its workAgricultural and Biological Sciences: 42 fractional works · 5.1% of its workSoil Science: 20 fractional works · 2.4% of its workGeneral Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 10 fractional works · 1.2% of its workEcology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics: 5 fractional works · 0.6% of its workFood Science: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 4 fractional works · 0.5% of its workBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 2 fractional works · 0.2% of its workImmunology and Microbiology: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workNeuroscience: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workALL ITS WORKWorld Bank837fractional works, 2022-now
Life Sciences5%Physical Sciences21%Health Sciences10%Social Sciences64%

Each ring splits the one inside it: the four domains of science, their fields, their subfields. Size is fractional works in 2022-now. Every slice is a page; the interactive view zooms down to single topics and colours each by how much more of it this institution does than the world.

Its 4 domains and 23 fields, with their numbers
    1. Social Sciences21826.1%
    2. Economics, Econometrics and Finance21725.9%
    3. Business, Management and Accounting597.0%
    4. Psychology202.3%
    5. Decision Sciences131.6%
    6. Arts and Humanities60.7%
    1. Environmental Science718.5%
    2. Engineering414.9%
    3. Computer Science263.0%
    4. Energy202.4%
    5. Mathematics101.2%
    6. Earth and Planetary Sciences40.5%
    7. Materials Science10.1%
    8. Physics and Astronomy00.1%
    1. Health Professions394.7%
    2. Medicine364.4%
    3. Nursing121.4%
    4. Dentistry00.0%
    1. Agricultural and Biological Sciences425.1%
    2. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology20.2%
    3. Immunology and Microbiology10.1%
    4. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics00.0%
    5. Neuroscience00.0%
All of science, and how each field's share has moved since 1950: the Science domain explorer

What does World Bank specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: General Economics, Econometrics and Finance takes 18.6× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. General Economics, Econometrics and FinanceSubfield · 39.2 works19×
  2. Economics, Econometrics and FinanceField · 216.8 works12×
  3. Safety ResearchSubfield · 27.7 works12×
  4. Economics and EconometricsSubfield · 152.7 works11×
  5. FinanceSubfield · 24.9 works9.8×
  6. Soil ScienceSubfield · 20.2 works8.0×
← 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: 1.06× its world share, 42 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.03× its world share, 2 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.11× its world share, 1 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.08× its world share, 0 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Computer Science: 0.39× its world share, 26 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.34× its world share, 4 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 2.56× its world share, 20 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.33× its world share, 41 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.70× its world share, 71 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.02× its world share, 10 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.03× its world share, 0 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.78× its world share, 39 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.23× its world share, 36 worksMedicineNursing: 2.85× its world share, 12 worksNursingArts and Humanities: 0.23× its world share, 6 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 2.17× its world share, 59 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.66× its world share, 13 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 12.10× its world share, 217 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.76× its world share, 20 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 2.06× its world share, 218 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Economics, Econometrics and Finance, 12.1×. Every wedge is a field page.

All 23 fields, with their numbers
  1. Economics, Econometrics and Finance12.10×217 works
  2. Nursing2.85×12 works
  3. Energy2.56×20 works
  4. Business, Management and Accounting2.17×59 works
  5. Social Sciences2.06×218 works
  6. Health Professions1.78×39 works
  7. Environmental Science1.70×71 works
  8. Decision Sciences1.66×13 works
  9. Agricultural and Biological Sciences1.06×42 works
  10. Mathematics1.02×10 works
  11. Psychology0.76×20 works
  12. Computer Science0.39×26 works
  13. Earth and Planetary Sciences0.34×4 works
  14. Engineering0.33×41 works
  15. Medicine0.23×36 works
  16. Arts and Humanities0.23×6 works
  17. Immunology and Microbiology0.11×1 works
  18. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics0.08×0 works
  19. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology0.03×2 works
  20. Physics and Astronomy0.03×0 works
  21. Neuroscience0.02×0 works
  22. Materials Science0.02×0 works
  23. Dentistry0.02×0 works

Who are the top researchers at World Bank?

Ranked on the quality score, Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt, Gershon Feder and Norman Loayza lead among researchers whose main affiliation is World Bank.

  1. 1 Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt United States · #4,948 worldwide 85k citations · 555 works
  2. 2 Gershon Feder United States · #66,644 worldwide 15k citations · 100 works
  3. 3 Norman Loayza United States · #80,668 worldwide 17k citations · 237 works
  4. 4 Luc Christiaensen United States · #104,256 worldwide 9.6k citations · 248 works
  5. 5 Çağlar Özden United States · #157,864 worldwide 5.5k citations · 177 works
  6. 6 Ben Shepherd United States · #158,727 worldwide 5.7k citations · 193 works
  7. 7 Ana Margarida Fernandes United States · #161,008 worldwide 3.7k citations · 137 works
  8. 8 Derek Byerlee United States · #162,434 worldwide 10k citations · 255 works
  9. 9 George Psacharopoulos United States · #165,916 worldwide 21k citations · 334 works
  10. 10 Jason Daniel Russ United States · #182,191 worldwide 2.5k citations · 116 works
All ranked researchers at World Bank

What are the most cited papers from World Bank?

The most cited paper from World Bank is "A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010" (Stephen S Lim et al., 2012), with 12,027 citations. Next come "Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right" (8,704) and "Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015" (7,829).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 Stephen S Lim et al. · The Lancet Open access209 authors Dec 2012 12,027
2 Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right Robert G. King, Ross Eric Levine · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Aug 1993 8,704
3 Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 Mohammad Hossein Forouzanfar et al. · The Lancet Open access654 authors Oct 2016 7,829
4 Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation Steve Knack, Philip Keefer · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Nov 1997 7,598
5 Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation with Spatially Dependent Panel Data John C. Driscoll, Aart Kraay · The Review of Economics and Statistics Nov 1998 6,735
All 60 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Which keywords describe research at World Bank?

By fractional works in 2022-now, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Economic Growth, Economic Development, Globalization, Gender Inequality, Climate Change, Fiscal Policy, Poverty Reduction and Labor Market.

▲ 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-now 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. Economic Growth103▲ 15×24 topics
  2. Economic Development74▲ 11×25 topics
  3. Climate Change72▲ 3.2×58 topics
  4. Globalization71▲ 4.3×47 topics
  5. Gender Inequality53▲ 46×6 topics
  6. Sustainability49▲ 2.4×49 topics
  7. Fiscal Policy46▲ 27×8 topics
  8. Poverty Reduction43▲ 40×5 topics
  9. Labor Market41▲ 18×13 topics
  10. Innovation40▲ 4.6×21 topics
  11. Renewable Energy39▲ 3.2×24 topics
  12. Income Tax35▲ 55×2 topics
  13. Social Networks33▲ 14×8 topics
  14. Vulnerability30▲ 16×6 topics
  15. Social Capital28▲ 6.5×13 topics
  16. Income Inequality28▲ 23×6 topics
  17. Regional Development27▲ 9.5×7 topics
  18. Political Economy27▲ 13×14 topics
  19. Human Capital26▲ 20×8 topics
  20. Urbanization25▲ 7.5×11 topics
  21. Governance25▲ 9.2×10 topics
  22. Monetary Policy24▲ 12×9 topics
  23. Global Warming24▲ 6.6×9 topics
  24. Food Security24▲ 5.2×13 topics
  25. Conditional Cash Transfers23▲ 79×1 topic
  26. School Subsidies23▲ 79×1 topic
  27. Transport Infrastructure23▲ 33×3 topics
  28. Agriculture22▲ 7.0×7 topics
  29. International Trade22▲ 19×4 topics
  30. Infrastructure22▲ 22×3 topics
  31. Taxation22▲ 32×3 topics
  32. Government Expenditure22▲ 48×1 topic
  33. Health Outcomes22▲ 9.6×5 topics
  34. Public Investment22▲ 48×1 topic
  35. Institutions22▲ 33×4 topics
  36. Greenhouse Gas Emissions21▲ 9.0×8 topics
  37. Energy Transition21▲ 17×4 topics
  38. Institutional Quality20▲ 23×3 topics
  39. Corruption20▲ 15×5 topics
  40. Inequality20▲ 10×9 topics

Which research topics does World Bank publish most on?

By volume in 2022-now: Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare, Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth, Global trade and economics and Agricultural risk and resilience.

Poverty, Education, and …23Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare: 23 fractional worksFiscal Policy and Econom…22Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth: 22 fractional worksGlobal trade and economics19Global trade and economics: 19 fractional worksAgricultural risk and re…16Agricultural risk and resilience: 16 fractional worksGender, Labor, and Family Dynamics: 13 fractional worksIncome, Poverty, and Inequality: 13 fractional worksClimate Change Policy an…13Climate Change Policy and Economics: 13 fractional worksMicrofinance and Financial Inclusion: 11 fractional worksChild Nutrition and Water Access: 11 fractional worksEconomic Growth and Prod…11Economic Growth and Productivity: 11 fractional works
Safety ResearchEconomics and EconometricsGeneral Economics, Econometrics and FinanceSoil Science3 others

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

  1. 1 Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare Safety Research 23 works
  2. 2 Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth Economics and Econometrics 22 works
  3. 3 Global trade and economics General Economics, Econometrics and Finance 19 works
  4. 4 Agricultural risk and resilience Soil Science 16 works
  5. 5 Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics Gender Studies 13 works
  6. 6 Income, Poverty, and Inequality Sociology and Political Science 13 works
  7. 7 Climate Change Policy and Economics Economics and Econometrics 13 works
  8. 8 Microfinance and Financial Inclusion Economics and Econometrics 11 works
  9. 9 Child Nutrition and Water Access Nutrition and Dietetics 11 works
  10. 10 Economic Growth and Productivity Economics and Econometrics 11 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 available37.2%not open62.8%

World: 40% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors24.7%domestic only75.3%

World: 18% is written across borders.

How has World Bank's research output changed?

Output in 2022-2025 was 9% lower than in 2018-2021.

still counting1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is World Bank as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0034% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%World Bank0.0028% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of World Bank over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year, against all institutions in the same year.

still counting10%20%30%World Bank17.4% in 2025all institutions10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's output, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for its field and year. Peak 26.2% in 2003.

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World Bank on Science Explorer

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Its overall standing, then the domains, fields and subfields where World Bank is in the world's top ten or its top 1%. Each has an image of its own.

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