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Topic · Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena

Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena is a research topic within Nuclear and High Energy Physics. Science Explorer counts 41k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on high-energy astrophysics and particle acceleration studies, including research on cosmic rays, neutrinos, blazars, supernova remnants, and gamma-ray astronomy. It explores topics such as magnetic field amplification, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, and the properties of galactic cosmic rays.

  • High-Energy Astrophysics
  • Particle Acceleration
  • Cosmic Rays
  • Neutrinos
  • Blazars
  • Supernova Remnants
  • Gamma-Ray Astronomy
  • Magnetic Field Amplification
  • IceCube Neutrino Observatory
  • Galactic Cosmic Rays
Research works
41k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
0%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
32% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena

Which countries lead Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.6k and 760 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.6k works
  2. 2 China 760 works
  3. 3 Italy 478 works
  4. 4 Germany 405 works
  5. 5 India 376 works
  6. 6 Russia 364 works
  7. 7 Japan 316 works
  8. 8 France 307 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 210 works
  10. 10 Spain 167 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: 31.9%China: 15.3%Italy: 9.6%Germany: 8.2%6 others listed: 35.0%32%largest
United States1,584 · 31.9%China760 · 15.3%Italy478 · 9.6%Germany405 · 8.2%6 others listed1,740 · 35.0%

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

Which institutions lead Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 236 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 192 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 167 works
  4. 4 National Institute for AstrophysicsItaly 133 works
  5. 5 University of California, DavisUnited States 105 works
  6. 6 Max Planck SocietyGermany 104 works
  7. 7 University of ToledoUnited States 102 works
  8. 8 University of California, BerkeleyUnited States 82 works
  9. 9 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 76 works
  10. 10 Washington State UniversityUnited States 62 works

Who are the leading researchers in Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena include M. Weber, Xiaogang Wang and P. Jackson.

  1. 1 M. Weber Israel 267k citations
  2. 2 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  3. 3 P. Jackson France 230k citations
  4. 4 Takashi Taniguchi Japan 227k citations
  5. 5 Peter John Barnes United Kingdom 225k citations
  6. 6 A. Meyer France 224k citations
  7. 7 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  8. 8 G. Mitselmakher France 223k citations
  9. 9 E. Rossi France 221k citations
  10. 10 L. Li France 211k 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 Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena?

The most cited paper in Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena is "First‐Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters" (David N. Spergel, Licia Verde, Hiranya V. Peiris et al., 2003), with 11,089 citations. Next come "GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral" (9,794) and "Planck 2015 results" (5,452).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 First‐Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters David N. Spergel, Licia Verde, Hiranya V. Peiris et al. · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series Open access 19 Aug 2003 11,089
2 GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral B. P. Abbott et al. · Physical Review Letters Open access1,124 authors 16 Oct 2017 9,794
3 Planck 2015 results Ade, PAR et al. · ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) Open access261 authors Oct 2016 5,452
4 Evidence for Oscillation of Atmospheric Neutrinos Y. Fukuda et al. · Physical Review Letters Open access121 authors 24 Aug 1998 5,135
5 Unified Schemes for Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei Claudia Megan Urry, P. Padovani · Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Open access Sep 1995 4,919
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena research done?

The largest centres of Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena research in 2022-now 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 Richland, Mitaka-shi and Toledo.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 270 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 210 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 150 works
  4. 4 TokyoJapan 107 works
  5. 5 BerkeleyUnited States 106 works
  6. 6 DavisUnited States 105 works
  7. 7 ToledoUnited States 102 works
  8. 8 RomeItaly 101 works
  9. 9 CambridgeUnited States 76 works
  10. 10 HamburgGermany 63 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. RichlandUS · 33.9 works189×
  2. Mitaka-shiJP · 20.5 works156×
  3. ToledoUS · 101.6 works78×
  4. BataviaUS · 34.1 works67×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena than the world average.

See Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena on the map

Where is the best place to study Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Toledo, University of California, Davis and Washington 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%25%50%75%mean 26.94%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of ToledoUniversity of Califo…Washington State Uni…University of Califo…
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.

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
1University of ToledoUnited States 90.462.8%90.7×102 +73.6%
2University of California, DavisUnited States 74.233.1%24.1×104 +72.9%
3Washington State UniversityUnited States 68.225.3%33.3×62 +25.9%
4University of California, BerkeleyUnited States 65.119.8%15.9×82 +208.8%
5Harvard UniversityUnited States 51.314.3%3.3×57 +2.2%
6Niels BrockDenmark 48.631.0%341.3×10 +43.9%
7Princeton UniversityUnited States 48.528.5%9.7×23 -15.7%
8University of CopenhagenDenmark 47.023.7%3.6×18 +7.9%
9California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 46.815.1%17.5×34 -3.0%
10Technical University of MunichGermany 45.915.8%4.7×23 +62.5%

Universities only. The score blends 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 Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena, country by country

Is Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 0% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2023.

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 Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.022% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena0.019% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena 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%Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena10.6% 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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