Science Explorer Interactive view Map
Subfield · Physics and Astronomy

Radiation research

Radiation is a subfield of Physics and Astronomy. Science Explorer counts 264k research works in it since 1950. 18.2% 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%
48k
per year above
Top-10% rate
18.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
6
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
-7%
the tick is no change

What is Radiation research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Tomography, Dosimetry, Radiotherapy Physics, Neutron Imaging, Small-Angle Scattering, Inorganic Scintillators. Losing share: Spectroscopy, X-ray Absorption.

▲ 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 13 words, with their numbers
  1. Tomography14k◆ 1.00×2 topics
  2. Dosimetry11k◆ 0.99×1 topic
  3. Radiotherapy Physics11k◆ 0.99×1 topic
  4. Neutron Imaging9,621◆ 0.95×1 topic
  5. Small-Angle Scattering9,621◆ 0.95×1 topic
  6. Inorganic Scintillators7,973◆ 1.14×1 topic
  7. Scintillation Detectors7,973◆ 1.14×1 topic
  8. Phase Retrieval4,045◆ 1.13×1 topic
  9. X-ray Imaging4,045◆ 1.13×1 topic
  10. Spectroscopy2,627▼ 0.79×1 topic
  11. X-ray Absorption2,627▼ 0.79×1 topic
  12. Decay Rates951◆ 0.90×1 topic
  13. Radionuclide Metrology951◆ 0.90×1 topic

Which countries lead Radiation research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and Germany rank highest in Radiation. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (5.9k and 5k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #6 all time 18.9% top 10% · 5k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 15.4% top 10% · 5.9k works
  3. 3 Germany · #2 all time 19.8% top 10% · 1.7k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom · #5 all time 18.8% top 10% · 999 works
  5. 5 Italy · #8 all time 20.0% top 10% · 1.3k works
  6. 6 France · #3 all time 17.8% top 10% · 1.3k works
  7. 7 Japan · #4 all time 12.2% top 10% · 2.1k works
  8. 8 Switzerland · #10 all time 24.0% top 10% · 519 works
  9. 9 Canada · #9 all time 18.0% top 10% · 597 works
  10. 10 Netherlands · #7 all time 26.7% top 10% · 387 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 24 countries ranked in Radiation. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Radiation

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 5.9k works
  2. 2 China 5k works
  3. 3 Japan 2.1k works
  4. 4 Germany 1.7k works
  5. 5 Italy 1.3k works
  6. 6 Russia 1.3k works
  7. 7 France 1.3k works
  8. 8 India 1.2k works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 999 works
  10. 10 South Korea 759 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: 27.7%China: 23.2%Japan: 9.7%Germany: 7.8%6 others listed: 31.7%28%largest
United States5,949 · 27.7%China4,984 · 23.2%Japan2,076 · 9.7%Germany1,675 · 7.8%6 others listed6,823 · 31.7%

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 2022–2025, followed by Tsinghua University and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #43 all time 22.4% top 10% · 238 works
  2. 2 Tsinghua University China · Beijing · #56 all time 19.4% top 10% · 156 works
  3. 3 Los Alamos National Laboratory United States · Los Alamos · #2 all time 15.1% top 10% · 194 works
  4. 4 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing 24.0% top 10% · 139 works
  5. 5 Paul Scherrer Institute Switzerland · Villigen · #11 all time 21.4% top 10% · 130 works
  6. 6 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China · Shanghai 36.6% top 10% · 74 works
  7. 7 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center United States · Houston · #16 all time 17.5% top 10% · 90 works
  8. 8 Oak Ridge National Laboratory United States · Oak Ridge · #1 all time 12.4% top 10% · 202 works
  9. 9 Stanford University United States · Stanford · #5 all time 19.8% top 10% · 87 works
  10. 10 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #21 all time 20.8% top 10% · 104 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 42 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Radiation.

Top 100 Radiation institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 238 works
  2. 2 Oak Ridge National LaboratoryUnited States 202 works
  3. 3 Los Alamos National LaboratoryUnited States 194 works
  4. 4 Tsinghua UniversityChina 156 works
  5. 5 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 139 works
  6. 6 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 131 works
  7. 7 Paul Scherrer InstituteSwitzerland 130 works
  8. 8 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 121 works
  9. 9 Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryUnited States 106 works
  10. 10 Tohoku UniversityJapan 105 works

Who are the leading researchers in Radiation?

Among the most productive authors in Radiation, J. Šolc, R. Perrino and C. De La Taille rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 J. Šolc United States · #253 worldwide 4.8k citations · 160 works
  2. 2 R. Perrino United States · #326 worldwide 5k citations · 156 works
  3. 3 C. De La Taille France · #455 worldwide 4.4k citations · 168 works
  4. 4 E. Solfaroli Camillocci Germany · #565 worldwide 4.3k citations · 114 works
  5. 5 A. La Rosa Germany · #741 worldwide 6.2k citations · 257 works
  6. 6 E. B. Klinkby Israel · #753 worldwide 4.2k citations · 111 works
  7. 7 A. Bertin Italy · #1,028 worldwide 3.6k citations · 127 works
  8. 8 Takehito Hayakawa Japan · #1,046 worldwide 2.6k citations · 109 works
  9. 9 G. Cuttone Italy · #1,606 worldwide 1.7k citations · 115 works
  10. 10 F. Sauli Switzerland · #1,982 worldwide 1.8k citations · 85 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 5,712 highest-output authors in Radiation. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Radiation researchers

Where is Radiation research done?

The largest centres of Radiation research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), Tokyo (Japan) and Shanghai (China). 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, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 1.3k works
  2. 2 Moscow Russia 590 works
  3. 3 Tokyo Japan 401 works
  4. 4 Shanghai China 400 works
  5. 5 Paris France 365 works
  6. 6 Seoul South Korea 328 works
  7. 7 Mumbai India 264 works
  8. 8 Xi'an China 255 works
  9. 9 Chengdu China 254 works
  10. 10 London United Kingdom 250 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. SchenefeldDE · 47.3 works118×
  2. SayōJP · 64.0 works58×
  3. VilligenCH · 129.6 works53×
  4. Tōkai MuraJP · 120.2 works52×
  5. Saint-Paul-lès-DuranceFR · 24.1 works49×
  6. DubnaRU · 115.5 works41×
  7. FrascatiIT · 30.0 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, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Homi Bhabha National Institute and Université Paris-Saclay 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 22.22%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Nara Institute of Science and Technology: 71, 30.5%Homi Bhabha National Institute: 86, 14.0%Université Paris-Saclay: 56, 26.1%National Research Nuclear University MEPhI: 80, 7.5%Institute of Cancer Research: 17, 29.1%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 139, 24.0%Shanghai Jiao Tong University: 74, 36.6%East China University of Technology: 21, 19.4%Tomsk Polytechnic University: 23, 6.8%Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology: 15, 28.2%Nara Institute of Sc…Université Paris-Sac…Homi Bhabha National…National Research Nu…
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 Nara Institute of Science and TechnologyJapan 75.630.5%31.5×71 +2941.3%
2 Homi Bhabha National InstituteIndia 64.214.0%14.5×86 +2795.1%
3 Université Paris-SaclayFrance 60.826.1%5.2×56 +878.3%
4 National Research Nuclear University MEPhIRussia 59.17.5%23.3×80 +267.0%
5 Institute of Cancer ResearchUnited Kingdom 57.429.1%19.5×17 +30.9%
6 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 48.624.0%3.0×139 +57.9%
7 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 48.436.6%1.2×74 +57.2%
8 East China University of TechnologyChina 47.019.4%8.1×21 +105.9%
9 Tomsk Polytechnic UniversityRussia 46.56.8%11.8×23 +119.2%
10 Ulsan National Institute of Science and TechnologySouth Korea 46.128.2%3.5×15 +385.1%

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 Radiation research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 7% lower than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2015. The fastest-growing topics are Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques, Advanced X-ray Imaging Techniques and Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies.

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. Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques+62%
  2. Advanced X-ray Imaging Techniques+49%
  3. Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies+41%
  4. Radioactive Decay and Measurement Techniques+15%
  5. Nuclear Physics and Applications+12%
  6. X-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Analysis-12%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. 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.