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Subfield · Astronomy and Astrophysics

Top Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Institutions

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ranks first in 2022–2025, out of 443 ranked institutions.

Composite score: field-normalised excellence, output and total citations weighted 50 / 30 / 20, each as a percentile so no single heavy-tailed measure dominates. Floor: 40 fractional works in this field.

Ranked by research quality, 2022–2025

#InstitutionScoreTop-10% rateWorksCitationsAll time
1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance · Paris 100.0 30.9% 850 10k#8
2 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom · Cambridge 88.6 35.2% 457 6.4k#7
3 California Institute of TechnologyUnited States · Pasadena 82.0 36.5% 484 7.1k#1
4 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom · Oxford 77.2 36.6% 330 4.4k#29
5 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina · Beijing 73.6 22.4% 995 8.2k#48
6 Princeton UniversityUnited States · Princeton 70.6 42.7% 334 5.4k#3
7 Center for Astrophysics Harvard & SmithsonianUnited States · Cambridge 68.1 15.0% 799 5.6k#5
8 Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States · Cambridge 65.9 34.8% 329 3.9k#9
9 University of ArizonaUnited States · Tucson 63.9 22.9% 534 5.2k#11
10 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina · Beijing 62.2 24.8% 622 5.2k—
11 Max Planck Institute for Gravitational PhysicsGermany · Potsdam 60.6 55.7% 158 3.1k#64
12 The University of TokyoJapan · Tokyo 59.2 28.4% 462 4.6k#27
13 University of California, BerkeleyUnited States · Berkeley 57.9 14.7% 836 5.1k#6
14 Jet Propulsion LaboratoryUnited States · Pasadena 56.7 22.0% 535 4.1k#4
15 Max Planck Institute for AstronomyGermany · Heidelberg 55.6 44.1% 218 4.1k#31
16 Goddard Space Flight CenterUnited States · Greenbelt 54.5 21.2% 550 4.8k#2
17 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States · Baltimore 53.5 37.3% 225 3.6k#24
18 University College LondonUnited Kingdom · London 52.6 29.6% 249 3.2k#55
19 Space Telescope Science InstituteUnited States · Baltimore 51.7 36.4% 202 3.5k#30
20 Perimeter InstituteCanada · Waterloo 50.8 55.6% 123 2.1k#63
21 University of GenevaSwitzerland · Geneva 50.0 36.4% 204 3.2k#70
22 University of CopenhagenDenmark · Copenhagen 49.3 40.9% 151 2.8k#97
23 University of California, Santa CruzUnited States · Santa Cruz 48.5 35.4% 201 3.3k#14
24 University of Maryland, College ParkUnited States · College Park 47.8 31.7% 263 3.3k#15
25 Leiden UniversityNetherlands · Leiden 47.2 37.1% 252 3.4k#44
26 University of ChicagoUnited States · Chicago 46.5 35.9% 236 3.1k#10
27 The University of Texas at AustinUnited States · Austin 45.9 32.4% 246 3.3k#21
28 Institut d'Astrophysique de ParisFrance · Paris 45.3 37.7% 146 2.3k#58
29 Sorbonne UniversitéFrance · Paris 44.7 27.3% 288 3.4k#69
30 Planetary Science InstituteUnited States · Tucson 44.2 25.7% 394 3.8k#39
31 Max Planck Institute for AstrophysicsGermany · Garching 43.6 46.2% 175 3.1k#16
32 Columbia UniversityUnited States · New York 43.1 37.4% 200 2.8k#33
33 Eastern Mediterranean UniversityCyprus · Famagusta 42.6 53.3% 72 1.2k—
34 University of MichiganUnited States · Ann Arbor 42.1 24.7% 343 3.5k#22
35 University of LahorePakistan · Lahore 41.7 57.3% 90 1.5k—
36 Kyoto UniversityJapan · Kyoto 41.2 31.0% 263 2.4k#47
37 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina · Hefei 40.7 24.4% 446 3.7k—
38 University of California, Los AngelesUnited States · Los Angeles 40.3 17.8% 450 3.1k#20
39 Zhejiang Normal UniversityChina · Jinhua 39.9 64.1% 75 1.5k—
40 Institute for Advanced StudyUnited States · Princeton 39.5 53.1% 103 2.4k#17
41 University of AmsterdamNetherlands · Amsterdam 39.1 41.7% 144 2.3k#57
42 Harvard UniversityUnited States · Cambridge 38.7 38.6% 130 2.4k#13
43 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom · Edinburgh 38.3 33.7% 186 2.4k#84
44 Flatiron Health (United States)United States · New York 37.9 54.7% 134 2.9k—
45 University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUnited States · Urbana 37.5 40.7% 157 2.1k#50
46 Sapienza University of RomeItaly · Rome 37.2 29.0% 226 2.1k#60
47 Heidelberg UniversityGermany · Heidelberg 36.8 34.5% 226 2.9k#56
48 National Astronomical Observatory of JapanJapan · Mitaka-shi 36.5 28.3% 231 2.8k#80
49 Peking UniversityChina · Beijing 36.1 29.3% 280 2.9k—
50 Wuhan UniversityChina · Wuhan 35.8 21.5% 360 2.3k#77
51 Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the UniverseJapan · Kashiwa 35.5 48.4% 123 2.3k—
52 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina · Shanghai 35.2 38.1% 189 1.7k—
53 Stanford UniversityUnited States · Stanford 34.8 27.3% 200 2.3k#12
54 ETH ZurichSwitzerland · Zurich 34.5 36.8% 144 2k#82
55 Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States · State College 34.2 29.2% 215 2.2k#34
56 Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom · Durham 33.9 33.3% 199 2.1k#35
57Flatiron Institute?? · New York 33.7 54.5% 113 2.5k—
58 National Astronomical ObservatoriesChina · Beijing 33.4 19.6% 330 3k—
59 Université Paris CitéFrance · Paris 33.1 26.8% 226 2.5k#74
60 University of Colorado BoulderUnited States · Boulder 32.8 22.4% 343 3.1k#37
61 Sun Yat-sen UniversityChina · Guangzhou 32.5 26.2% 287 2.3k—
62 Tsinghua UniversityChina · Beijing 32.3 31.6% 232 1.9k—
63 Northwestern UniversityUnited States · Evanston 32.0 49.7% 110 2.3k#76
64 Queen Mary University of LondonUnited Kingdom · London 31.7 43.1% 123 1.7k#88
65 University of LisbonPortugal · Lisbon 31.5 34.3% 140 1.5k—
66 Beijing Normal UniversityChina · Beijing 31.2 26.3% 220 2.2k—
67 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina · Harbin 31.0 25.5% 236 1.6k—
68 University of GroningenNetherlands · Groningen 30.8 39.0% 118 1.9k—
69 Tohoku UniversityJapan · Sendai 30.5 29.9% 164 1.6k—
70 Stockholm UniversitySweden · Stockholm 30.3 41.8% 131 2.1k—
71 Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and CosmologyUnited States · Menlo Park 30.0 41.6% 106 2k#83
72 European Organization for Nuclear ResearchSwitzerland · Geneva 29.8 42.6% 86 1.1k#19
73 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany · Munich 29.6 36.1% 156 1.9k—
74 KU LeuvenBelgium · Leuven 29.4 32.2% 198 2.2k—
75 Nanjing UniversityChina · Nanjing 29.1 27.5% 238 2.6k—
76 Universitat de BarcelonaSpain · Barcelona 28.9 36.8% 117 1.4k—
77 University of BolognaItaly · Bologna 28.7 33.2% 163 1.9k—
78 Université Paris-SaclayFrance · Gif-sur-Yvette 28.5 30.9% 181 1.9k—
79 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma IItaly · Rome 28.3 55.2% 75 1.6k—
80 Cornell UniversityUnited States · Ithaca 28.1 23.0% 221 2.1k#23
81 Institute of Theoretical PhysicsChina · Beijing 27.9 44.6% 124 1.6k—
82 University of TorontoCanada · Toronto 27.7 29.8% 156 2k#51
83 University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom · Manchester 27.5 24.9% 190 2.1k#100
84 Universidad Autónoma de MadridSpain · Madrid 27.3 37.5% 103 1.3k—
85 Khazar UniversityAzerbaijan · Baku 27.1 49.5% 67 471—
86 Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom · London 26.9 29.2% 186 1.7k#41
87 University of WashingtonUnited States · Seattle 26.7 17.3% 234 1.5k#40
88 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico · Mexico City 26.5 19.0% 322 2.2k—
89 Université Bourgogne Franche-ComtéFrance · Besançon 26.3 39.5% 108 2k—
90 Tata Institute of Fundamental ResearchIndia · Mumbai 26.2 27.9% 151 1.4k—
91 University of PaduaItaly · Padua 26.0 27.1% 173 1.5k—
92 Arizona State UniversityUnited States · Tempe 25.8 23.5% 193 1.8k—
93 The Ohio State UniversityUnited States · Columbus 25.6 28.5% 168 1.6k#45
94 Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial PhysicsGermany · Garching bei München 25.4 32.9% 155 2k#36
95 McGill UniversityCanada · Montreal 25.3 29.6% 129 1.2k#79
96 Charles UniversityCzechia · Prague 25.1 29.0% 163 1.3k—
97 Beihang UniversityChina · Beijing 24.9 25.6% 218 1.3k—
98 University of SheffieldUnited Kingdom · Sheffield 24.8 25.8% 120 1.2k—
99 Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies AlternativesFrance · Paris 24.6 34.8% 123 1.5k#66
100 University of California, Santa BarbaraUnited States · Santa Barbara 24.4 34.8% 123 1.8k#25

institutions ranked worldwide in Astronomy and Astrophysics (443). rank on the composite score within the stated pool. The score track runs 0 to 100; the rate track carries no world mark, because the world rate differs by field.

How spread out this pool is

Every row above on one axis — one tick each, right is a higher score. A field where the top few are far clear of everyone and one that runs down evenly look identical as a table.

24 – 28: 21 places28 – 32: 16 places32 – 36: 13 places36 – 40: 11 places40 – 43: 8 places43 – 47: 6 places47 – 51: 6 places51 – 55: 4 places55 – 58: 3 places58 – 62: 2 places62 – 66: 3 places66 – 70: 1 places70 – 74: 1 places74 – 77: 2 places77 – 81: 0 places81 – 85: 1 places85 – 89: 1 places89 – 92: 0 places92 – 96: 0 places96 – 100: 1 places24100

One bar per band of score, counting the rows on this page.

Ranked by volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 995 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 850 works
  3. 3 University of California, BerkeleyUnited States 836 works
  4. 4 Center for Astrophysics Harvard & SmithsonianUnited States 799 works
  5. 5 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 622 works
  6. 6 Goddard Space Flight CenterUnited States 550 works
  7. 7 Jet Propulsion LaboratoryUnited States 535 works
  8. 8 University of ArizonaUnited States 535 works
  9. 9 Purdue University West LafayetteUnited States 503 works
  10. 10 Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussia 492 works
  11. 11 California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 484 works
  12. 12 The University of TokyoJapan 462 works
  13. 13 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 457 works
  14. 14 University of California, Los AngelesUnited States 450 works
  15. 15 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 446 works

Astronomy and Astrophysics by country