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Subfield · Earth and Planetary Sciences

Space and Planetary Science research

Space and Planetary Science is a subfield of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Science Explorer counts 19k research works in it since 1950. 23.7% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: science of astronomical objects apparently in orbit around one or more stellar objects within a few light years.

Research works
19k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
23.7%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
1
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+44%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Space and Planetary Science research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, Italy and the United Kingdom rank highest in Space and Planetary Science. By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (563 and 440 works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 18.2% top 10% · 564 works
  2. 2 Italy · #3 all time 24.6% top 10% · 411 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #2 all time 21.2% top 10% · 440 works
  4. 4 France · #5 all time 14.9% top 10% · 203 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 4 countries ranked in Space and Planetary Science. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Space and Planetary Science

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 563 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 440 works
  3. 3 Italy 411 works
  4. 4 France 203 works
  5. 5 Germany 187 works
  6. 6 China 186 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 155 works
  8. 8 Spain 155 works
  9. 9 Poland 147 works
  10. 10 Russia 144 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: 21.8%United Kingdom: 17.0%Italy: 15.9%France: 7.8%6 others listed: 37.6%22%largest
United States563 · 21.8%United Kingdom440 · 17.0%Italy411 · 15.9%France203 · 7.8%6 others listed973 · 37.6%

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

Which institutions lead Space and Planetary Science research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Department of Archaeology publishes the most Space and Planetary Science research, followed by Israel Antiquities Authority and Sapienza University of Rome.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Department of ArchaeologySri Lanka 34 works
  2. 2 Israel Antiquities AuthorityIsrael 34 works
  3. 3 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 32 works
  4. 4 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 22 works
  5. 5 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 21 works
  6. 6 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 21 works
  7. 7 University of FlorenceItaly 20 works
  8. 8 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 19 works
  9. 9 University of BolognaItaly 18 works
  10. 10 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 16 works

Who are the leading researchers in Space and Planetary Science?

Among the most productive authors in Space and Planetary Science, John E. Hunter, Christopher Bronk Ramsey and Harry Smith rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 John E. Hunter United States · #2,025 worldwide 2k citations · 120 works
  2. 2 Christopher Bronk Ramsey United Kingdom · #2,257 worldwide 2.4k citations · 79 works
  3. 3 Harry Smith United Kingdom · #3,169 worldwide 1.4k citations · 124 works
  4. 4 W. F. Albright United States · #4,325 worldwide 560 citations · 195 works
  5. 5 Luc Van Gool Switzerland · #4,439 worldwide 8.5k citations · 527 works
  6. 6 William M. Gardner United States · #6,578 worldwide 2.7k citations · 54 works
  7. 7 Sahra Talamo Germany · #7,637 worldwide 1.5k citations · 53 works
  8. 8 Karl W. Butzer United States · #7,777 worldwide 701 citations · 80 works
  9. 9 Rolf Müller Germany · #8,213 worldwide 1.5k citations · 160 works
  10. 10 John F. Thompson Australia · #9,309 worldwide 2k citations · 288 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 2,356 highest-output authors in Space and Planetary Science. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Space and Planetary Science researchers

Where is Space and Planetary Science research done?

The largest centres of Space and Planetary Science research in 2022–2025 are London (United Kingdom), Rome (Italy), Paris (France) and Beijing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Colombo and Jerusalem.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 108 works
  2. 2 Rome Italy 87 works
  3. 3 Paris France 75 works
  4. 4 Beijing China 61 works
  5. 5 Moscow Russia 51 works
  6. 6 Warsaw Poland 49 works
  7. 7 Budapest Hungary 46 works
  8. 8 Jerusalem Israel 46 works
  9. 9 Athens Greece 42 works
  10. 10 Colombo Sri Lanka 38 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. ColomboLK · 37.6 works18×
  2. JerusalemIL · 45.6 works16×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Space and Planetary Science than the world average.

See Space and Planetary Science on the map

Space and Planetary Science research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Space and Planetary Science?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Florence, Aarhus University and Ca' Foscari University of Venice 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 30.1%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Florence: 20, 26.1%Aarhus University: 15, 40.0%Ca' Foscari University of Venice: 11, 32.3%Sapienza University of Rome: 32, 22.8%Politecnico di Milano: 19, 28.6%University of Haifa: 9, 36.3%Politecnico di Torino: 14, 22.1%Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: 10, 50.3%University of Leicester: 10, 18.7%University of Warsaw: 14, 23.8%Aarhus UniversityCa' Foscari Universi…University of FlorenceSapienza University …
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 University of FlorenceItaly 66.826.1%9.4×20 +136.5%
2 Aarhus UniversityDenmark 66.440.0%5.2×15 +266.6%
3 Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 66.432.3%11.2×11 +233.2%
4 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 64.822.8%7.1×32 +154.5%
5 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 62.928.6%6.4×19 +297.5%
6 University of HaifaIsrael 60.836.3%10.0×9 +85.4%
7 Politecnico di TorinoItaly 57.722.1%7.3×14 +403.1%
8 Aristotle University of ThessalonikiGreece 54.450.3%4.8×10 +79.4%
9 University of LeicesterUnited Kingdom 53.618.7%11.1×10 +48.8%
10 University of WarsawPoland 53.323.8%6.4×14 +788.2%

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 Space and Planetary Science research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 44% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Archaeological Research and Protection.

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.

What does Space and Planetary Science include?