Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Subfield · Physics and Astronomy

Radiation research

Radiation is a subfield of Physics and Astronomy. Science Explorer counts 264k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: waves or particles propagating through space or through a medium, carrying energy.

Research works
264k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
26k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
6
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
27% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Radiation

What is Radiation research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Tomography, Dosimetry, Radiotherapy Physics, Neutron Imaging, Small-Angle Scattering, Inorganic Scintillators. Gaining share since 2011-15: Inorganic Scintillators, Scintillation Detectors. Losing share: Spectroscopy, X-ray Absorption.

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

Size is the world's fractional works in 2021-25 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2011-15. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 13 words, with their numbers
  1. Tomography14k◆ 1.01×2 topics
  2. Dosimetry12k◆ 0.94×1 topic
  3. Radiotherapy Physics12k◆ 0.94×1 topic
  4. Neutron Imaging9,715◆ 0.98×1 topic
  5. Small-Angle Scattering9,715◆ 0.98×1 topic
  6. Inorganic Scintillators8,608▲ 1.19×1 topic
  7. Scintillation Detectors8,608▲ 1.19×1 topic
  8. Phase Retrieval4,154◆ 1.10×1 topic
  9. X-ray Imaging4,154◆ 1.10×1 topic
  10. Spectroscopy2,360▼ 0.75×1 topic
  11. X-ray Absorption2,360▼ 0.75×1 topic
  12. Decay Rates1,030◆ 0.99×1 topic
  13. Radionuclide Metrology1,030◆ 0.99×1 topic

Which countries lead Radiation research?

On research quality in 2022-now, China, the United States and Germany rank highest in Radiation. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (6.5k and 5.8k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 China #3 all time 1.21× citation excellence · 1.35× journals · 100% breadth 14.2% top 10% · 5.1k works
  2. 2 United States #1 all time 0.96× citation excellence · 1.20× journals · 100% breadth 9.5% top 10% · 5.9k works
  3. 3 Germany #2 all time 1.29× citation excellence · 1.54× journals · 100% breadth 12.4% top 10% · 1.7k works
  4. 4 France #4 all time 1.17× citation excellence · 1.21× journals · 100% breadth 9.7% top 10% · 1.3k works
  5. 5 Switzerland #5 all time 1.51× citation excellence · 1.53× journals · 100% breadth 13.4% top 10% · 519 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom #6 all time 1.20× citation excellence · 1.26× journals · 100% breadth 12.6% top 10% · 999 works
  7. 7 Italy #7 all time 1.29× citation excellence · 0.90× journals · 100% breadth 10.2% top 10% · 1.3k works
  8. 8 Netherlands #10 all time 1.63× citation excellence · 1.29× journals · 100% breadth 16.5% top 10% · 387 works
  9. 9 Canada #11 all time 1.12× citation excellence · 1.35× journals · 100% breadth 9.7% top 10% · 597 works
  10. 10 Australia #12 all time 1.28× citation excellence · 1.34× journals · 100% breadth 12.5% top 10% · 408 works

The track on each row is that row's top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each place's own topics predict, adds its share of papers in the Nature Index journals, and counts output and breadth too.

Of 23 countries ranked in Radiation. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Radiation

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 6.5k works
  2. 2 China 5.8k works
  3. 3 Japan 2.3k works
  4. 4 Germany 1.9k works
  5. 5 Italy 1.5k works
  6. 6 France 1.4k works
  7. 7 India 1.4k works
  8. 8 Russia 1.3k works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 1.1k works
  10. 10 South Korea 843 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: 27.1%China: 24.1%Japan: 9.6%Germany: 7.8%6 others listed: 31.4%27%largest
United States6,531 · 27.1%China5,796 · 24.1%Japan2,310 · 9.6%Germany1,872 · 7.8%6 others listed7,564 · 31.4%

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

Which institutions lead Radiation research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Radiation on research quality in 2022-now, followed by Stanford University and Max Planck Society.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #6 all time 13.7% top 10% · 692 works
  2. 2 Stanford University United States · Stanford · #1 all time 13.1% top 10% · 167 works
  3. 3 Max Planck Society Germany · Munich · #3 all time 14.9% top 10% · 91 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #2 all time 8.8% top 10% · 422 works
  5. 5 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres Germany · Berlin · #4 all time 11.6% top 10% · 337 works
  6. 6 Harvard University United States · Cambridge · #9 all time 11.3% top 10% · 122 works
  7. 7 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center United States · New York · #18 all time 14.4% top 10% · 96 works
  8. 8 Peking University China · Beijing · #39 all time 16.9% top 10% · 88 works
  9. 9 Tsinghua University China · Beijing · #40 all time 10.3% top 10% · 172 works
  10. 10 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China · Shanghai · #36 all time 15.7% top 10% · 100 works

The track on each row is that row's top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each place's own topics predict, adds its share of papers in the Nature Index journals, and counts output and breadth too.

Of 60 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Radiation.

Top 100 Radiation institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 781 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 462 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 405 works
  4. 4 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 377 works
  5. 5 Oak Ridge National LaboratoryUnited States 212 works
  6. 6 Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies AlternativesFrance 212 works
  7. 7 Los Alamos National LaboratoryUnited States 202 works
  8. 8 Tsinghua UniversityChina 193 works
  9. 9 Department of Atomic EnergyIndia 180 works
  10. 10 Stanford UniversityUnited States 179 works

Who are the leading researchers in Radiation?

Counting only their work in Radiation, Michael J. Zeléfsky, Franz Pfeiffer and Radhe Mohan have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 Michael J. Zeléfsky United States · #67,642 worldwide overall 65.0 of 176 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 Franz Pfeiffer Germany · #147,702 worldwide overall 63.8 of 192 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 Radhe Mohan United States · #141,123 worldwide overall 76.3 of 222 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 Howard Mark Sandler United States · #73,724 worldwide overall 51.6 of 141 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 5 Harald Paganetti United States · #145,279 worldwide overall 57.1 of 184 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 Henry N. Chapman Germany · #90,213 worldwide overall 47.4 of 140 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 P. Dorenbos Netherlands · #55,839 worldwide overall 44.2 of 124 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 Antony Lomax Switzerland · #245,317 worldwide overall 52.7 of 131 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 Jeff M. Michalski United States · #82,577 worldwide overall 40.8 of 129 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 Thomas R Bortfeld United States · #127,321 worldwide overall 39.4 of 122 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Radiation alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 659,343 ranked researchers with a paper here. Each paper counts once, so many strong papers outrank one famous one, and a long record of ordinary papers does not climb. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Radiation researchers

What are the most cited papers in Radiation?

The most cited paper in Radiation is "ATHENA , ARTEMIS , HEPHAESTUS : data analysis for X-ray absorption spectroscopy using IFEFFIT" (Bruce Ravel, Matthew G. Newville, 2005), with 16,947 citations. Next come "Recent advances in magnetic structure determination by neutron powder diffraction" (15,651) and "Resolving surface chemical states in XPS analysis of first row transition metals, oxides and hydroxides: Cr, Mn, Fe, Co and Ni" (11,490).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 ATHENA , ARTEMIS , HEPHAESTUS : data analysis for X-ray absorption spectroscopy using IFEFFIT Bruce Ravel, Matthew G. Newville · Journal of Synchrotron Radiation Open access 15 Jun 2005 16,947
2 Recent advances in magnetic structure determination by neutron powder diffraction Juan Rodríguez-Carvajal · Physica B Condensed Matter Oct 1993 15,651
3 Resolving surface chemical states in XPS analysis of first row transition metals, oxides and hydroxides: Cr, Mn, Fe, Co and Ni Mark C. Biesinger, Brad P. Payne, Andrew P. Grosvenor et al. · Applied Surface Science 21 Oct 2010 11,490
4 X-ray line broadening from filed aluminium and wolfram G.K. Williamson, W H Hall · Acta Metallurgica 1953 10,492
5 Isotopic Variations in Meteoric Waters Harmon Craig · Science 26 May 1961 8,926
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Radiation research done?

The largest centres of Radiation research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), Shanghai (China) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Schenefeld, Sayō and Villigen.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1.5k works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 624 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 450 works
  4. 4 TokyoJapan 445 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 405 works
  6. 6 SeoulSouth Korea 365 works
  7. 7 Xi'anChina 291 works
  8. 8 ChengduChina 286 works
  9. 9 MumbaiIndia 283 works
  10. 10 LondonUnited Kingdom 282 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. SchenefeldDE · 51.4 works109×
  2. SayōJP · 74.1 works60×
  3. VilligenCH · 142.2 works54×
  4. Tōkai MuraJP · 134.2 works52×
  5. Saint-Paul-lès-DuranceFR · 25.5 works47×
  6. DubnaRU · 122.5 works41×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Radiation on the map

Radiation research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Radiation?

Among universities, judged by research, Stanford University, Harvard University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences score highest, combining standing in the field's ranking, citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 13.58%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →ETH ZurichStanford UniversityUniversity of Chines…Harvard University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Standingthis field's institution ranking, three quarters all time and a quarter 2022-now
50%
Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
20%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
5%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
15%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
5%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
5%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreRank in field (all time)Top 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Stanford UniversityUnited States 78.9#2 (#1)12.9%4.3×179 -13.6%
2Harvard UniversityUnited States 58.0#6 (#9)11.0%1.5×133 -13.7%
3University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 55.2#11 (#20)12.3%3.4×156 +57.3%
4ETH ZurichSwitzerland 54.3- (#5)14.3%2.6×50 +3.8%
5Heidelberg UniversityGermany 53.3#13 (#19)16.1%5.0×108 -14.9%
6Sun Yat-sen UniversityChina 51.0#14 (#34)15.7%2.0×117 +58.6%
7Tsinghua UniversityChina 50.3#9 (#40)10.1%3.0×193 +41.7%
8Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 49.0#10 (#36)15.2%1.4×110 +68.9%
9University of California, Los AngelesUnited States 48.7#12 (#13)14.8%2.1×67 -20.2%
10University College LondonUnited Kingdom 47.9#17 (#21)13.4%1.6×73 -4.1%

Universities only. The score blends standing (50%), citation excellence (20%), size (15%), specialisation (5%), growth (5%), international reach (5%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise. Standing is the score in this field's institution ranking, three quarters over all time and a quarter 2022-now; excellence averages the two windows too. Four years alone undercount fields such as AI, where many conference and arXiv papers from 2022 on carry no affiliation in the data.

Every institution in Radiation, country by country

Is Radiation research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2015. The fastest-growing topics are Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies, Radioactive Decay and Measurement Techniques and Nuclear Physics and Applications.

still counting19801990200020102020
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 Radiation as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.14% in 2024.

still counting0.25%0.50%0.75%Radiation0.13% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Radiation 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.

still counting5%10%15%Radiation9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

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. Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies+15%
  2. Radioactive Decay and Measurement Techniques+6%
  3. Nuclear Physics and Applications+2%
  4. Advanced X-ray Imaging Techniques+2%
  5. Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques-1%
  6. X-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Analysis-16%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2018-21 to 2022-25. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Radiation include?

Nuclear Physics and Appl…89kNuclear Physics and Applications: 89k fractional worksAdvanced Radiotherapy Te…58kAdvanced Radiotherapy Techniques: 58k fractional worksRadiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies: 47k fractional worksX-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Analysis: 35k fractional worksAdvanced X-ray Imaging Techniques: 25k fractional worksRadioactive Decay and Measurement Techniques: 11k fractional works

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

Share who leads Radiation

Who leads Radiation, on Science Explorer

A card with the countries and institutions that lead Radiation, for a post or a slide.

Download the card

1200 × 630 PNG, sized for social posts, drawn from the latest snapshot.

The leading institutions' badges6Each links to that institution's page and updates with every snapshot

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Radiation. Keep it to the research: no personal attacks, advertising or links. Any reader can report a post, which collapses it for everyone until it is opened.