Science Explorer Interactive view Map
Subfield · Earth and Planetary Sciences

Geophysics research

Geophysics is a subfield of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Science Explorer counts 502k research works in it since 1950. 20.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: study of physical processes and phenomena occurring in the earth and in its vicinity.

Research works
502k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
100k
per year above
Top-10% rate
20.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
10
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+27%
the tick is no change

What is Geophysics research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Plate Tectonics, Tomography, Subduction, Geochronology, Zircon, Earthquakes. Gaining share since 2009–13: Ionospheric Anomalies, Seismic Electromagnetics, Seismic Noise, Surface Wave. Losing share: Alpine orogeny, Carpathian-Pannonian region, Crystal Structure Prediction, Mantle Dynamics.

▲ gaining share of this field◆ holding its share▼ losing share

Size is the world's fractional works in 2019–23 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2009–13. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 25 words, with their numbers
  1. Plate Tectonics37k◆ 0.89×2 topics
  2. Tomography29k◆ 0.99×2 topics
  3. Subduction23k◆ 0.92×3 topics
  4. Geochronology21k◆ 0.97×1 topic
  5. Zircon21k◆ 0.97×1 topic
  6. Earthquakes18k◆ 0.95×1 topic
  7. Plate Boundaries18k◆ 0.95×1 topic
  8. Crystal Structure Prediction15k▼ 0.79×1 topic
  9. Mantle Dynamics15k▼ 0.79×1 topic
  10. Seismic Noise14k▲ 1.34×1 topic
  11. Surface Wave14k▲ 1.34×1 topic
  12. Ionospheric Anomalies11k▲ 1.58×1 topic
  13. Seismic Electromagnetics11k▲ 1.58×1 topic
  14. Full-Waveform Tomography11k◆ 0.99×1 topic
  15. Seismic Waveform Inversion11k◆ 0.99×1 topic
  16. Electrical Resistivity Tomography7,397◆ 0.95×1 topic
  17. Magnetotelluric Imaging7,397◆ 0.95×1 topic
  18. Tectonic Evolution6,192▼ 0.80×3 topics
  19. Crustal Deformation3,589▼ 0.80×2 topics
  20. Western Mediterranean2,602▼ 0.79×1 topic
  21. geodynamics2,602▼ 0.79×1 topic
  22. Andean Geodynamics1,943◆ 0.87×1 topic
  23. Caribbean Plate Boundary1,943◆ 0.87×1 topic
  24. Alpine orogeny1,647▼ 0.74×1 topic
  25. Carpathian-Pannonian region1,647▼ 0.74×1 topic

Which countries lead Geophysics research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and France rank highest in Geophysics. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (18k and 15k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 18.7% top 10% · 18k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 12.5% top 10% · 15k works
  3. 3 France · #4 all time 21.7% top 10% · 3.1k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom · #3 all time 23.1% top 10% · 2k works
  5. 5 Japan · #7 all time 17.9% top 10% · 2.6k works
  6. 6 Germany · #6 all time 23.2% top 10% · 2.2k works
  7. 7 Italy · #8 all time 24.9% top 10% · 2.4k works
  8. 8 Australia · #5 all time 24.0% top 10% · 1.3k works
  9. 9 Türkiye · #18 all time 16.5% top 10% · 983 works
  10. 10 Canada · #9 all time 18.2% top 10% · 1.5k works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 47 countries ranked in Geophysics. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Geophysics

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 18k works
  2. 2 United States 15k works
  3. 3 Russia 4.2k works
  4. 4 France 3.1k works
  5. 5 India 3k works
  6. 6 Japan 2.6k works
  7. 7 Italy 2.4k works
  8. 8 Germany 2.2k works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 2k works
  10. 10 Canada 1.5k works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 33.1%United States: 28.1%Russia: 7.9%France: 5.7%6 others listed: 25.2%33%largest
China18k · 33.1%United States15k · 28.1%Russia4,231 · 7.9%France3,076 · 5.7%6 others listed14k · 25.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Geophysics research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Geophysics on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by China University of Geosciences and China University of Geosciences (Beijing).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #8 all time 23.5% top 10% · 874 works
  2. 2 China University of Geosciences China · Wuhan · #26 all time 24.3% top 10% · 633 works
  3. 3 China University of Geosciences (Beijing) China · Beijing · #17 all time 17.2% top 10% · 724 works
  4. 4 China Earthquake Administration China · Beijing · #47 all time 19.0% top 10% · 674 works
  5. 5 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia Italy · Rome · #11 all time 27.5% top 10% · 424 works
  6. 6 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #5 all time 27.2% top 10% · 452 works
  7. 7 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #76 all time 22.7% top 10% · 507 works
  8. 8 Planetary Science Institute United States · Tucson · #3 all time 28.0% top 10% · 255 works
  9. 9 ETH Zurich Switzerland · Zurich · #9 all time 38.9% top 10% · 240 works
  10. 10 University of Science and Technology of China China · Hefei · #30 all time 26.2% top 10% · 326 works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 237 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Geophysics.

Top 100 Geophysics institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Purdue University West Lafayette United States 1.4k works
  2. 2 University of California, Berkeley United States 1.2k works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of Sciences China 874 works
  4. 4 China University of Geosciences (Beijing) China 724 works
  5. 5 China Earthquake Administration China 673 works
  6. 6 China University of Geosciences China 633 works
  7. 7 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 507 works
  8. 8 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France 452 works
  9. 9 Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences China 430 works
  10. 10 Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia Italy 424 works

Who are the leading researchers in Geophysics?

Among the most productive authors in Geophysics, Brian F. Windley, Dan McKenzie and E. Bruce Watson rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Brian F. Windley United Kingdom · #1,662 worldwide 3.9k citations · 89 works
  2. 2 Dan McKenzie United Kingdom · #2,432 worldwide 1.7k citations · 138 works
  3. 3 E. Bruce Watson United States · #2,836 worldwide 1.8k citations · 98 works
  4. 4 Lutz Nasdala Austria · #3,363 worldwide 1.4k citations · 93 works
  5. 5 M. Cardona Germany · #3,526 worldwide 4.1k citations · 282 works
  6. 6 Alfred Kröner Germany · #3,562 worldwide 2.3k citations · 105 works
  7. 7 Simon A. Wilde Australia · #4,261 worldwide 3k citations · 108 works
  8. 8 John Dewey United States · #5,078 worldwide 1.2k citations · 78 works
  9. 9 Peter G. DeCelles United States · #5,520 worldwide 1.9k citations · 72 works
  10. 10 David M. Boore United States · #6,126 worldwide 1.5k citations · 60 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 5,846 highest-output authors in Geophysics. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Geophysics researchers

Where is Geophysics research done?

The largest centres of Geophysics research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), Berkeley (United States) and West Lafayette (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Brentwood, Emeryville and Paratunka.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 6.9k works
  2. 2 Moscow Russia 1.8k works
  3. 3 Berkeley United States 1.5k works
  4. 4 West Lafayette United States 1.4k works
  5. 5 Paris France 1.1k works
  6. 6 Wuhan China 1.1k works
  7. 7 Chengdu China 845 works
  8. 8 Qingdao China 829 works
  9. 9 Rome Italy 742 works
  10. 10 Tokyo Japan 713 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BrentwoodUS · 34.1 works111×
  2. EmeryvilleUS · 116.9 works82×
  3. ParatunkaRU · 26.5 works71×
  4. HelwanEG · 96.2 works60×
  5. Lower HuttNZ · 102.5 works53×
  6. Petropavlovsk-KamchatskiyRU · 58.2 works53×
  7. FornebuNO · 28.6 works50×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Geophysics than the world average.

See Geophysics on the map

Geophysics research by country

The best places for Geophysics research inside each country, with that country's researchers and world standing.

Where is the best place to study Geophysics?

Among universities, judged by research, China University of Geosciences, California Institute of Technology and China University of Petroleum, East China score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 21.87%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →China University of Geosciences: 633, 24.3%California Institute of Technology: 155, 40.1%China University of Petroleum, East China: 344, 12.8%China University of Geosciences (Beijing): 724, 17.2%East China University of Technology: 130, 16.2%ETH Zurich: 240, 38.9%Purdue University West Lafayette: 1,388, 0.7%King Abdullah University of Science and Technology: 146, 25.6%China University of Petroleum, Beijing: 357, 14.9%Université Savoie Mont Blanc: 48, 28.0%California Institute…China University of …China University of …China University of …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1China University of Geosciences China 66.024.3%19.3×633 +39.9%
2California Institute of Technology United States 65.140.1%9.2×155 -14.1%
3China University of Petroleum, East China China 62.812.8%10.1×344 +239.7%
4China University of Geosciences (Beijing) China 60.717.2%34.5×724 +34.7%
5East China University of Technology China 59.816.2%20.0×130 +643.0%
6ETH Zurich Switzerland 59.238.9%5.0×240 +10.6%
7Purdue University West Lafayette United States 59.10.7%20.1×1,388 +145.8%
8King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Saudi Arabia 58.725.6%7.3×146 +99.5%
9China University of Petroleum, Beijing China 57.214.9%12.8×357 +75.8%
10Université Savoie Mont Blanc France 56.028.0%10.4×48 +46.2%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Geophysics research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 27% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques, Seismic Waves and Analysis and Geological Formations and Processes Exploration.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

  1. Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques+92%
  2. Seismic Waves and Analysis+92%
  3. Geological Formations and Processes Exploration+83%
  4. Earthquake Detection and Analysis+68%
  5. Geophysical and Geoelectrical Methods+67%
  6. earthquake and tectonic studies+61%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Geophysics include?

Geological and Geochemic…108kGeological and Geochemical Analysis: 108k fractional worksHigh-pressure geophysics and materials: 93k fractional worksearthquake and tectonic studies: 87k fractional worksSeismic Waves and Analysis: 53k fractional worksSeismic Imaging and Inve…52kSeismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques: 52k fractional worksEarthquake Detection and Analysis: 39k fractional worksGeophysical and Geoelectrical Methods: 36k fractional worksGeological and Geophysical Studies Worldwide: 15k fractional worksGeological and Tectonic Studies in Latin America: 11k fractional worksGeological Formations and Processes Exploration: 9,204 fractional works

Area is fractional works in that topic. Every name below is a page of its own.