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Topic · Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astro and Planetary Science

Astro and Planetary Science is a research topic within Astronomy and Astrophysics. Science Explorer counts 94k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the formation and evolution of the Solar System, including topics such as the abundances and compositions of various celestial bodies, the chronology of planetary formation, the taxonomy of asteroids and comets, and the structure of the Kuiper Belt. It also delves into the composition of meteorites, plumes on moons like Enceladus, and the presence of organic matter in extraterrestrial environments.

  • Solar System Abundances
  • Terrestrial Planets
  • Giant Planets
  • Cometary Composition
  • Asteroid Taxonomy
  • Planetary Chronology
  • Enceladus Plumes
  • Chondritic Meteorites
  • Kuiper Belt Structure
  • Extraterrestrial Organic Matter
Research works
94k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
9.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
39% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Astro and Planetary Science

Which countries lead Astro and Planetary Science research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.8k and 1.6k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 3.8k works
  2. 2 China 1.6k works
  3. 3 France 890 works
  4. 4 Russia 676 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 559 works
  6. 6 Germany 528 works
  7. 7 Italy 520 works
  8. 8 Japan 480 works
  9. 9 India 369 works
  10. 10 Spain 254 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: 39.3%China: 16.3%France: 9.3%Russia: 7.0%6 others listed: 28.2%39%largest
United States3,779 · 39.3%China1,566 · 16.3%France890 · 9.3%Russia676 · 7.0%6 others listed2,710 · 28.2%

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

Which institutions lead Astro and Planetary Science research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Astro and Planetary Science research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Harvard University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 408 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 388 works
  3. 3 Harvard UniversityUnited States 387 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 373 works
  5. 5 California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 251 works
  6. 6 National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationUnited States 227 works
  7. 7 National Institute for AstrophysicsItaly 179 works
  8. 8 Planetary Science InstituteUnited States 147 works
  9. 9 University of Colorado BoulderUnited States 127 works
  10. 10 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 111 works

Who are the leading researchers in Astro and Planetary Science?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Astro and Planetary Science include Xiaogang Wang, Kenji Watanabe and P. Jackson.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k citations
  3. 3 P. Jackson France 230k citations
  4. 4 Donald G. Truhlar United States 230k citations
  5. 5 Takashi Taniguchi Japan 227k citations
  6. 6 Peter John Barnes United Kingdom 225k citations
  7. 7 Michael Snyder United States 224k citations
  8. 8 A. Meyer France 224k citations
  9. 9 Kai You Wang China 224k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Astro and Planetary Science?

The most cited paper in Astro and Planetary Science is "The composition of the Earth" (W. F. McDonough, Shen‐Su Sun, 1995), with 13,976 citations. Next come "Abundances of the elements: Meteoritic and solar" (10,547) and "The Chemical Composition of the Sun" (9,518).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The composition of the Earth W. F. McDonough, Shen‐Su Sun · Chemical Geology Mar 1995 13,976
2 Abundances of the elements: Meteoritic and solar Edward Anders, N. Grevesse · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 1989 10,547
3 The Chemical Composition of the Sun M. Asplund, N. Grevesse, A. J. Sauval et al. · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics ReviewOpen access 20 Aug 2009 9,518
4 On the variation of the initial mass function Pavel Kroupa · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Open access Apr 2001 7,639
5 The Gaia mission T. Prusti et al. · Astronomy and Astrophysics Open access625 authors 15 Sep 2016 7,118
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Astro and Planetary Science research done?

The largest centres of Astro and Planetary Science research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Cambridge (United States), Paris (France) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Nizhniy Arkhyz, Meudon and North Laurel.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 651 works
  2. 2 CambridgeUnited States 434 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 406 works
  4. 4 MoscowRussia 378 works
  5. 5 PasadenaUnited States 260 works
  6. 6 TucsonUnited States 242 works
  7. 7 TokyoJapan 198 works
  8. 8 RomeItaly 183 works
  9. 9 BoulderUnited States 176 works
  10. 10 NanjingChina 131 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Nizhniy ArkhyzRU · 24.6 works141×
  2. MeudonFR · 26.1 works141×
  3. North LaurelUS · 86.6 works122×
  4. Mitaka-shiJP · 26.5 works109×
  5. GreenbeltUS · 112.8 works104×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Astro and Planetary Science on the map

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

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté and California Institute of Technology score highest, combining 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%30%mean 15.44%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Université Bourgogne…California Institute…University of Hawaiʻ…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.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 64.22.6%12.1×387 +124.6%
2Université Bourgogne Franche-ComtéFrance 62.328.1%11.5×12 -6.8%
3California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 58.814.9%69.4×251 -21.5%
4University of Hawaiʻi at MānoaUnited States 56.413.4%14.9×33 +15.5%
5Université Côte d'AzurFrance 55.820.7%28.9×41 -5.4%
6University of ArizonaUnited States 55.515.0%12.7×82 -4.6%
7University of California, Santa CruzUnited States 53.922.0%16.8×30 -25.3%
8University of Colorado BoulderUnited States 53.811.4%27.6×127 -12.1%
9Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 53.311.9%8.8×60 -0.6%
10Université Paris CitéFrance 53.214.4%5.3×40 +11.2%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Astro and Planetary Science, country by country

Is Astro and Planetary Science research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

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 Astro and Planetary Science as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.047% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%0.30%Astro and Planetary Science0.041% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Astro and Planetary Science 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%Astro and Planetary Science9.6% 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.

Discussion

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