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Topic · Astronomy and Astrophysics

Historical Astronomy and Related Studies

Historical Astronomy and Related Studies is a research topic within Astronomy and Astrophysics. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores ancient astronomy, mathematical instruments, and their cultural, historical, and scientific significance. It covers topics such as the Antikythera Mechanism, Greek astronomy, Islamic influence on science, ancient constellations, eclipse prediction, astrolabes, archeoastronomy, and ancient geographical knowledge.

  • Antikythera Mechanism
  • Astronomical Calculator
  • Greek Astronomy
  • Islamic Influence
  • Ancient Constellations
  • Historical Astronomy
  • Astrolabes
  • Eclipse Prediction
  • Archeoastronomy
  • Ancient Geographical Knowledge
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+16%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Historical Astronomy and Related Studies

Which countries lead Historical Astronomy and Related Studies research?

By volume, the United States and Indonesia publish the most (337 and 166 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 337 works
  2. 2 Indonesia 166 works
  3. 3 Italy 130 works
  4. 4 India 115 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 96 works
  6. 6 France 91 works
  7. 7 Germany 86 works
  8. 8 China 72 works
  9. 9 Russia 65 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 55 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%Indonesia: 13.7%Italy: 10.7%India: 9.5%6 others listed: 38.4%28%largest
United States337 · 27.7%Indonesia166 · 13.7%Italy130 · 10.7%India115 · 9.5%6 others listed467 · 38.4%

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

Which institutions lead Historical Astronomy and Related Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Historical Astronomy and Related Studies research, followed by Ca' Foscari University of Venice and Walisongo State Islamic University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 37 works
  2. 2 Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 34 works
  3. 3 Walisongo State Islamic UniversityIndonesia 27 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 24 works
  5. 5 University of MilanItaly 13 works
  6. 6 UIN Sunan Ampel SurabayaIndonesia 13 works
  7. 7 Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 11 works
  8. 8 University of Hong KongChina 11 works
  9. 9 Universitas Sains Al-Qur'anIndonesia 11 works
  10. 10 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 10 works

Who are the leading researchers in Historical Astronomy and Related Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Historical Astronomy and Related Studies include Douglas Scott, A. V. Filippenko and Ronald W. Davis.

  1. 1 Douglas Scott Canada 172k citations
  2. 2 A. V. Filippenko United States 150k citations
  3. 3 Ronald W. Davis United States 138k 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 Historical Astronomy and Related Studies?

The most cited paper in Historical Astronomy and Related Studies is "Long-Term Variations of Daily Insolation and Quaternary Climatic Changes" (AndréL. Berger, 1978), with 2,622 citations. Next come "Allen's Astrophysical Quantities" (2,311) and "DECLARATION OF ALMA-ATA" (1,092).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Long-Term Variations of Daily Insolation and Quaternary Climatic Changes AndréL. Berger · Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences Dec 1978 2,622
2 Allen's Astrophysical Quantities Arthur N. Cox, Catherine A. Pilachowski · Physics Today Oct 2000 2,311
3 DECLARATION OF ALMA-ATA N. R. E. Fendall · The Lancet Dec 1978 1,092
4 The Direction of Time Maria Reichenbach, P. Morrison · Physics Today Oct 1956 835
5 Evolution of the Sun's Spectral Irradiance Since the Maunder Minimum Judith L. Lean · Geophysical Research Letters Open access 15 Aug 2000 701
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Historical Astronomy and Related Studies research done?

The largest centres of Historical Astronomy and Related Studies research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Venice (Italy), Semarang (Indonesia) and Beijing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Venice and Semarang.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 46 works
  2. 2 VeniceItaly 35 works
  3. 3 SemarangIndonesia 30 works
  4. 4 BeijingChina 23 works
  5. 5 MoscowRussia 22 works
  6. 6 RomeItaly 21 works
  7. 7 LondonUnited Kingdom 21 works
  8. 8 MilanItaly 21 works
  9. 9 TashkentUzbekistan 18 works
  10. 10 BengaluruIndia 17 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. VeniceIT · 35.3 works60×
  2. SemarangID · 30.4 works4.7×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Historical Astronomy and Related Studies than the world average.

See Historical Astronomy and Related Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Historical Astronomy and Related Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Bengkulu, Walisongo State Islamic University and Ca' Foscari University of Venice 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%20%40%mean 7.45556%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Institut Agama Islam…UIN Sunan Ampel Sura…Walisongo State Isla…Ca' Foscari Universi…
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
1Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 55.532.7%4.9×11 +51.3%
2Walisongo State Islamic UniversityIndonesia 54.33.8%102.1×27 +65.6%
3Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 52.90.0%87.7×34 +326.3%
4UIN Sunan Ampel SurabayaIndonesia 48.815.0%24.6×13 +261.9%
5University of MilanItaly 42.33.1%12.8×13 +137.1%
6University of Hong KongChina 25.40.0%7.3×11 -
7University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 24.44.3%4.5×10 -1.3%
8Universitas Sains Al-Qur'anIndonesia 24.04.7%50.6×11 -
9Sapienza University of RomeItaly 19.73.5%4.8×9 +118.3%

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 Historical Astronomy and Related Studies, country by country

Is Historical Astronomy and Related Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 16% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Historical Astronomy and Related Studies.

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 Historical Astronomy and Related Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0071% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Historical Astronomy and Related Studies0.0085% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Historical Astronomy and Related Studies 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%Historical Astronomy and Related Studies10.6% 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.

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