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Topic · Radiation

Nuclear Physics and Applications

Nuclear Physics and Applications is a research topic within Radiation. Science Explorer counts 89k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on neutron imaging and analysis techniques, including small-angle scattering, neutron activation analysis, tomography, spectrometer design and performance, radiography, backscattering spectrometers, data analysis software, calibration standards, and their applications in materials research.

  • Neutron Imaging
  • Small-Angle Scattering
  • Neutron Activation Analysis
  • Tomography
  • Spectrometer
  • Radiography
  • Backscattering
  • Data Analysis
  • Calibration Standard
  • Materials Research
Research works
89k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
8.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Nuclear Physics and Applications

Which countries lead Nuclear Physics and Applications research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.6k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.6k works
  2. 2 China 1.3k works
  3. 3 Japan 541 works
  4. 4 Russia 523 works
  5. 5 France 389 works
  6. 6 Germany 352 works
  7. 7 India 324 works
  8. 8 Italy 323 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 221 works
  10. 10 South Korea 193 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: 22.8%Japan: 9.3%Russia: 9.0%6 others listed: 31.1%28%largest
United States1,605 · 27.7%China1,317 · 22.8%Japan541 · 9.3%Russia523 · 9.0%6 others listed1,802 · 31.1%

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

Which institutions lead Nuclear Physics and Applications research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Nuclear Physics and Applications research, followed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 224 works
  2. 2 Oak Ridge National LaboratoryUnited States 152 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 140 works
  4. 4 Los Alamos National LaboratoryUnited States 131 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 116 works
  6. 6 Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies AlternativesFrance 104 works
  7. 7 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 93 works
  8. 8 Department of Atomic EnergyIndia 88 works
  9. 9 Japan Atomic Energy AgencyJapan 84 works
  10. 10 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 77 works

Who are the leading researchers in Nuclear Physics and Applications?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Nuclear Physics and Applications include M. Shoji, Zhong Lin Wang and Michaël Grätzel.

  1. 1 M. Shoji Japan 806k citations
  2. 2 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  3. 3 Michaël Grätzel Switzerland 458k citations
  4. 4 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations
  5. 5 Luigi Ferrucci United States 281k citations
  6. 6 George M. Whitesides United States 267k citations
  7. 7 M. Weber Israel 267k citations
  8. 8 Jens K. Nørskov Denmark 260k citations
  9. 9 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  10. 10 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k 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 Nuclear Physics and Applications?

The most cited paper in Nuclear Physics and Applications is "Recent advances in magnetic structure determination by neutron powder diffraction" (Juan Rodríguez-Carvajal, 1993), with 15,651 citations. Next come "Isotopic Variations in Meteoric Waters" (8,926) and "Electronic structure calculations on workstation computers: The program system turbomole" (8,526).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Recent advances in magnetic structure determination by neutron powder diffraction Juan Rodríguez-Carvajal · Physica B Condensed Matter Oct 1993 15,651
2 Isotopic Variations in Meteoric Waters Harmon Craig · Science 26 May 1961 8,926
3 Electronic structure calculations on workstation computers: The program system turbomole Reinhart Ahlrichs, Michael R. Bär, Marco Häser et al. · Chemical Physics Letters Oct 1989 8,526
4 Optimization of parameters for semiempirical methods I. Method James J. P. Stewart · Journal of Computational Chemistry Mar 1989 7,647
5 A numerical approach to the testing of the fission hypothesis Leon B. Lucy · The Astronomical Journal Dec 1977 6,191
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Nuclear Physics and Applications research done?

The largest centres of Nuclear Physics and Applications research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), Oak Ridge (United States) and Los Alamos (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Tōkai Mura, Dubna and Los Alamos.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 433 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 232 works
  3. 3 Oak RidgeUnited States 151 works
  4. 4 Los AlamosUnited States 146 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 114 works
  6. 6 MumbaiIndia 105 works
  7. 7 TokyoJapan 101 works
  8. 8 Xi'anChina 97 works
  9. 9 ShanghaiChina 90 works
  10. 10 LivermoreUnited States 85 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Tōkai MuraJP · 82.2 works133×
  2. DubnaRU · 68.8 works95×
  3. Los AlamosUS · 145.8 works73×
  4. Idaho FallsUS · 62.6 works69×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Nuclear Physics and Applications than the world average.

See Nuclear Physics and Applications on the map

Where is the best place to study Nuclear Physics and Applications?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Peking 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%10%20%30%mean 18.39%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Peking UniversityMichigan State Unive…Shanghai Jiao Tong U…University of Chines…
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 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 66.718.4%3.5×38 +66.9%
2Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 66.421.1%1.7×33 +262.5%
3Peking UniversityChina 65.826.6%1.9×26 +24.5%
4Michigan State UniversityUnited States 63.723.3%4.2×21 -8.5%
5Beihang UniversityChina 60.928.1%1.6×12 +107.1%
6Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 60.613.6%3.9×46 +27.5%
7ETH ZurichSwitzerland 59.319.8%2.6×12 +8.6%
8California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 58.812.1%6.6×16 +59.2%
9Université Paris-SaclayFrance 58.610.4%5.3×23 +29.5%
10Tsinghua UniversityChina 57.610.5%3.7×57 +13.6%

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 Nuclear Physics and Applications, country by country

Is Nuclear Physics and Applications research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Nuclear Physics and Applications.

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 Nuclear Physics and Applications as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.040% in 2024.

still counting0.20%0.40%Nuclear Physics and Applications0.030% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Nuclear Physics and Applications 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%Nuclear Physics and Applications10.1% 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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