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Topic · Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions

Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions is a research topic within Nuclear and High Energy Physics. Science Explorer counts 90k 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 covers a wide range of topics in hadron physics and quantum chromodynamics (QCD), including the study of charmonium, mesons, baryons, parton distributions, exotic states, and the application of renormalization group techniques in lattice QCD. It also explores chiral dynamics, resonances, and the infrared behavior of QCD Green's functions.

  • QCD
  • charmonium
  • mesons
  • baryons
  • parton distributions
  • renormalization group
  • exotic states
  • lattice QCD
  • chiral dynamics
  • resonances
Research works
90k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
8.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-3%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions

Which countries lead Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.5k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.5k works
  2. 2 United States 1.3k works
  3. 3 Germany 794 works
  4. 4 India 563 works
  5. 5 Russia 465 works
  6. 6 Italy 448 works
  7. 7 Japan 407 works
  8. 8 France 401 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 286 works
  10. 10 Spain 249 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.

China: 23.1%United States: 20.0%Germany: 12.5%India: 8.9%6 others listed: 35.5%23%largest
China1,466 · 23.1%United States1,269 · 20.0%Germany794 · 12.5%India563 · 8.9%6 others listed2,256 · 35.5%

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

Which institutions lead Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions research?

By volume in 2022-now, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres publishes the most Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 239 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 231 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 223 works
  4. 4 Joint Institute for Nuclear ResearchRussia 110 works
  5. 5 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 107 works
  6. 6 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 87 works
  7. 7 Peking UniversityChina 77 works
  8. 8 European Organization for Nuclear ResearchSwitzerland 71 works
  9. 9 Brookhaven National LaboratoryUnited States 70 works
  10. 10 Universitat de ValènciaSpain 50 works

Who are the leading researchers in Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions include M. Weber, Gordon Brent Mills and Xiaogang Wang.

  1. 1 M. Weber Israel 267k citations
  2. 2 Gordon Brent Mills United States 265k citations
  3. 3 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  4. 4 P. Jackson France 230k citations
  5. 5 Takashi Taniguchi Japan 227k citations
  6. 6 Jerome H. Friedman United States 224k citations
  7. 7 A. Meyer France 224k citations
  8. 8 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  9. 9 G. Mitselmakher France 223k citations
  10. 10 E. Rossi France 221k 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 Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions?

The most cited paper in Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions is "Gauge theory correlators from non-critical string theory" (S.S. Gubser, I.R. Klebanov, A.M. Polyakov, 1998), with 9,403 citations. Next come "PYTHIA 6.4 physics and manual" (9,135) and "The automated computation of tree-level and next-to-leading order differential cross sections, and their matching to parton shower simulations" (7,957).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Gauge theory correlators from non-critical string theory S.S. Gubser, I.R. Klebanov, A.M. Polyakov · Physics Letters B Open access May 1998 9,403
2 PYTHIA 6.4 physics and manual Torbjörn Sjöstrand, S. Mrenna, Peter Z. Skands · Journal of High Energy Physics Open access 9 May 2006 9,135
3 The automated computation of tree-level and next-to-leading order differential cross sections, and their matching to parton shower simulations Johan Alwall, Rikkert Frederix, Stefano Frixione et al. · Journal of High Energy Physics Open access Jul 2014 7,957
4 A Model of Leptons Steven Weinberg · Physical Review Letters Open access 20 Nov 1967 7,399
5 Gauge Theory Correlators from Non-Critical String Theory Gubser, S S, Klebanov, Igor R, Polyakov, A M · CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) 17 Feb 1998 6,891
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions research done?

The largest centres of Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), Paris (France) and Lanzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Dubna, Newport News and Upton.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 413 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 174 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 139 works
  4. 4 LanzhouChina 126 works
  5. 5 DubnaRussia 124 works
  6. 6 DarmstadtGermany 102 works
  7. 7 HamburgGermany 89 works
  8. 8 ShanghaiChina 85 works
  9. 9 TokyoJapan 82 works
  10. 10 GenevaSwitzerland 77 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. DubnaRU · 123.5 works163×
  2. Newport NewsUS · 38.3 works94×
  3. UptonUS · 69.9 works90×
  4. TsukubaJP · 26.7 works53×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions than the world average.

See Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions on the map

Where is the best place to study Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Zurich, Princeton University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences 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 23.38%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →California Institute…Princeton UniversityUniversity of ZurichUniversity 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.

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
1University of ZurichSwitzerland 75.322.0%7.8×39 +13.8%
2Princeton UniversityUnited States 68.832.5%4.7×15 +18.6%
3University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 67.812.4%7.5×87 +37.6%
4California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 67.732.9%5.3×14 +19.0%
5University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 65.624.0%4.6×29 +34.5%
6University of BernSwitzerland 65.626.4%6.7×26 -9.6%
7Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States 62.724.6%6.7×33 -14.7%
8Peking UniversityChina 62.615.6%5.3×77 -4.9%
9Universitat de ValènciaSpain 62.616.6%12.9×50 +3.8%
10Istanbul Aydın UniversityTürkiye 61.926.8%15.7×12 +187.5%

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 Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions, country by country

Is Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 3% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2016.

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 Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.033% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%0.30%Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions0.031% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions 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%Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions9.9% 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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