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Subfield · Chemistry

Physical and Theoretical Chemistry research

Physical and Theoretical Chemistry is a subfield of Chemistry. Science Explorer counts 226k research works in it since 1950. 16.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: academic field.

Research works
226k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
37k
per year above
Top-10% rate
16.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
8
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
-6%
the tick is no change

What is Physical and Theoretical Chemistry research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Hydrogen Bonding, Molecular Crystals, Noncovalent Interactions, Excited-State Proton Transfer, Intramolecular Charge Transfer, Chemistry Education. Gaining share since 2009–13: Chemistry Education, Laboratory Techniques, Partially Ordered Sets, Periodic Table. Losing share: Chemical Reactions, Tunneling Control, Computational Chemistry, Density-Functional Theory.

▲ 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 18 words, with their numbers
  1. Hydrogen Bonding10k◆ 0.96×2 topics
  2. Molecular Crystals5,642◆ 1.02×1 topic
  3. Noncovalent Interactions5,642◆ 1.02×1 topic
  4. Excited-State Proton Transfer4,562◆ 0.89×1 topic
  5. Intramolecular Charge Transfer4,562◆ 0.89×1 topic
  6. Chemistry Education3,121▲ 1.25×1 topic
  7. Laboratory Techniques3,121▲ 1.25×1 topic
  8. Partially Ordered Sets2,800◆ 1.15×1 topic
  9. Periodic Table2,800◆ 1.15×1 topic
  10. Electrostatics2,398◆ 0.94×1 topic
  11. Polyelectrolytes2,398◆ 0.94×1 topic
  12. Isothermal Titration Calorimetry2,242◆ 1.07×1 topic
  13. Thermodynamics2,242◆ 1.07×1 topic
  14. Computational Chemistry1,902▼ 0.77×2 topics
  15. Density-Functional Theory1,129▼ 0.77×1 topic
  16. Molecular Simulation1,129▼ 0.77×1 topic
  17. Chemical Reactions774▼ 0.76×1 topic
  18. Tunneling Control774▼ 0.76×1 topic

Which countries lead Physical and Theoretical Chemistry research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, China and Germany rank highest in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3k and 2.3k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 15.2% top 10% · 3k works
  2. 2 China · #4 all time 18.7% top 10% · 2.3k works
  3. 3 Germany · #2 all time 15.3% top 10% · 1k works
  4. 4 India · #9 all time 13.2% top 10% · 1.5k works
  5. 5 United Kingdom · #3 all time 19.2% top 10% · 616 works
  6. 6 France · #5 all time 13.5% top 10% · 662 works
  7. 7 Italy · #8 all time 18.2% top 10% · 446 works
  8. 8 Japan · #6 all time 10.0% top 10% · 762 works
  9. 9 Spain · #12 all time 17.7% top 10% · 390 works
  10. 10 Russia · #15 all time 8.0% top 10% · 976 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 16 countries ranked in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 3k works
  2. 2 China 2.3k works
  3. 3 India 1.5k works
  4. 4 Germany 1k works
  5. 5 Russia 976 works
  6. 6 Japan 762 works
  7. 7 France 662 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 616 works
  9. 9 Italy 446 works
  10. 10 Spain 390 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.

United States: 25.5%China: 19.9%India: 12.9%Germany: 8.8%6 others listed: 32.9%26%largest
United States2,986 · 25.5%China2,326 · 19.9%India1,506 · 12.9%Germany1,030 · 8.8%6 others listed3,852 · 32.9%

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

Which institutions lead Physical and Theoretical Chemistry research?

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) ranks first in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Lomonosov Moscow State University.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #8 all time 18.7% top 10% · 92 works
  2. 2 Lomonosov Moscow State University Russia · Moscow 7.4% top 10% · 61 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 2 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry.

Top 100 Physical and Theoretical Chemistry institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 92 works
  2. 2 Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussia 61 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 55 works
  4. 4 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 48 works
  5. 5 St Petersburg UniversityRussia 45 works
  6. 6 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 43 works
  7. 7 The University of TokyoJapan 42 works
  8. 8 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 41 works
  9. 9 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 40 works
  10. 10 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 39 works

Who are the leading researchers in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry?

Among the most productive authors in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, John A. Pople, Peter A. Kollman and John P. Perdew rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 John A. Pople United States · #77 worldwide 11k citations · 142 works
  2. 2 Peter A. Kollman United States · #128 worldwide 6.3k citations · 134 works
  3. 3 John P. Perdew United States · #161 worldwide 9.9k citations · 119 works
  4. 4 Michele Parrinello Switzerland · #191 worldwide 5.6k citations · 175 works
  5. 5 William L. Jorgensen United States · #209 worldwide 4.5k citations · 119 works
  6. 6 E. P. Wigner United States · #214 worldwide 2.8k citations · 203 works
  7. 7 Donald G. Truhlar United States · #255 worldwide 8.4k citations · 315 works
  8. 8 Hans A. Bethe United States · #371 worldwide 3.1k citations · 120 works
  9. 9 Julian Schwinger United States · #684 worldwide 2.6k citations · 109 works
  10. 10 J. Andrew McCammon United States · #959 worldwide 3.4k citations · 160 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 5,393 highest-output authors in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Physical and Theoretical Chemistry researchers

Where is Physical and Theoretical Chemistry research done?

The largest centres of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), Paris (France) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Ivanovo and Palma.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 392 works
  2. 2 Moscow Russia 366 works
  3. 3 Paris France 236 works
  4. 4 Tokyo Japan 215 works
  5. 5 Shanghai China 171 works
  6. 6 Nanjing China 144 works
  7. 7 London United Kingdom 128 works
  8. 8 Chennai India 118 works
  9. 9 Warsaw Poland 105 works
  10. 10 Tianjin China 100 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. IvanovoRU · 43.8 works28×
  2. PalmaES · 33.9 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry than the world average.

See Physical and Theoretical Chemistry on the map

Physical and Theoretical Chemistry research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Physical and Theoretical Chemistry?

Among universities, judged by research, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Shenyang Normal University and Utah State University 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%60%mean 28.43%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Universitat de les Illes Balears: 33, 37.2%Shenyang Normal University: 12, 44.8%Utah State University: 21, 43.3%Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram: 21, 16.2%Liaoning University: 12, 51.3%University of Richmond: 18, 21.8%Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata: 14, 27.0%Scuola Normale Superiore: 11, 20.7%Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal: 12, 6.8%Tokyo University of Science: 30, 15.2%Shenyang Normal Univ…Utah State UniversityUniversitat de les I…Indian Institute 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
1 Universitat de les Illes BalearsSpain 65.737.2%19.4×33 +32.3%
2 Shenyang Normal UniversityChina 54.944.8%15.8×12 -59.4%
3 Utah State UniversityUnited States 54.543.3%7.0×21 +0.7%
4 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research ThiruvananthapuramIndia 51.516.2%28.7×21 +88.8%
5 Liaoning UniversityChina 50.251.3%5.8×12 -10.1%
6 University of RichmondUnited States 49.621.8%13.1×18 +40.6%
7 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research KolkataIndia 48.627.0%12.3×14 -12.2%
8 Scuola Normale SuperioreItaly 46.620.7%11.9×11 +31.5%
9 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, BhopalIndia 46.36.8%9.5×12 +230.9%
10 Tokyo University of ScienceJapan 46.215.2%8.9×30 +7.0%

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 Physical and Theoretical Chemistry research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 6% lower than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2008. The fastest-growing topics are History and advancements in chemistry and Crystallography and molecular interactions.

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. History and advancements in chemistry+10%
  2. Crystallography and molecular interactions+3%
  3. Advanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions-19%
  4. thermodynamics and calorimetric analyses-27%
  5. Various Chemistry Research Topics-33%
  6. Chemical Reactions and Mechanisms-34%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Physical and Theoretical Chemistry include?

Photochemistry and Elect…53kPhotochemistry and Electron Transfer Studies: 53k fractional worksCrystallography and molecular interactions: 37k fractional worksVarious Chemistry Research Topics: 31k fractional worksHistory and advancements…27kHistory and advancements in chemistry: 27k fractional worksElectrostatics and Collo…24kElectrostatics and Colloid Interactions: 24k fractional worksthermodynamics and calorimetric analyses: 22k fractional worksAdvanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions: 18k fractional worksChemical Reactions and Mechanisms: 14k fractional works

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