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Topic · Astronomy and Astrophysics

Relativity and Gravitational Theory

Relativity and Gravitational Theory is a research topic within Astronomy and Astrophysics. Science Explorer counts 20k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the theory of relativity, including special and general relativity, unified field theories, spacetime geometry, gauge symmetry, and quantum gravity. It delves into Einstein's contributions, symmetries, and the implications of general covariance.

  • Relativity
  • Unified Field Theories
  • General Covariance
  • Gauge Symmetry
  • Spacetime Geometry
  • Quantum Gravity
  • Einstein's Theory
  • Special and General Theory
  • Symmetry Breaking
  • Metric Gravity
Research works
20k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+31%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Relativity and Gravitational Theory

Which countries lead Relativity and Gravitational Theory research?

By volume, the United States and India publish the most (560 and 213 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 560 works
  2. 2 India 213 works
  3. 3 China 210 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 207 works
  5. 5 Germany 195 works
  6. 6 Italy 173 works
  7. 7 Russia 161 works
  8. 8 France 117 works
  9. 9 Brazil 116 works
  10. 10 Spain 76 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: 27.6%India: 10.5%China: 10.4%United Kingdom: 10.2%6 others listed: 41.3%28%largest
United States560 · 27.6%India213 · 10.5%China210 · 10.4%United Kingdom207 · 10.2%6 others listed838 · 41.3%

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

Which institutions lead Relativity and Gravitational Theory research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Relativity and Gravitational Theory research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and OpenAI (United States).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 54 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 44 works
  3. 3 OpenAI (United States)United States 27 works
  4. 4 Oldham CouncilUnited Kingdom 24 works
  5. 5 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 24 works
  6. 6 Max Planck SocietyGermany 24 works
  7. 7 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 17 works
  8. 8 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 17 works
  9. 9 University of BolognaItaly 17 works
  10. 10 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 15 works

Who are the leading researchers in Relativity and Gravitational Theory?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Relativity and Gravitational Theory include G. Mitselmakher, Ian W Harry and R. W. L. Jones.

  1. 1 G. Mitselmakher France 223k citations
  2. 2 Ian W Harry Germany 189k citations
  3. 3 R. W. L. Jones United Kingdom 189k citations
  4. 4 Martin J. White France 183k citations
  5. 5 Edward H. Witten United States 174k citations
  6. 6 Douglas Scott Canada 172k citations
  7. 7 A. Stahl Germany 170k citations
  8. 8 Sanjit Mitra India 167k 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 Relativity and Gravitational Theory?

The most cited paper in Relativity and Gravitational Theory is "A new type of isotropic cosmological models without singularity" (Alexei A. Starobinsky, 1980), with 7,827 citations. Next come "The cosmological constant problem" (7,442) and "DYNAMICS OF DARK ENERGY" (6,316).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A new type of isotropic cosmological models without singularity Alexei A. Starobinsky · Physics Letters B Mar 1980 7,827
2 The cosmological constant problem Steven Weinberg · Reviews of Modern Physics Open access 1989 7,442
3 DYNAMICS OF DARK ENERGY Edmund J. Copeland, M. Sami, Shinji Tsujikawa · International Journal of Modern Physics D Open access Nov 2006 6,316
4 The Classical Theory of Fields L.D. LANDAU, E.M. LIFSHITZ, William Rarita · Physics Today May 1952 5,862
5 Mach's Principle and a Relativistic Theory of Gravitation Carl H. Brans, R. H. Dicke · Physical Review Nov 1961 5,679
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Relativity and Gravitational Theory research done?

The largest centres of Relativity and Gravitational Theory research in 2022-now are Moscow (Russia), Beijing (China), Paris (France) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Oldham and San Francisco.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MoscowRussia 85 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 51 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 48 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 39 works
  5. 5 RomeItaly 31 works
  6. 6 San FranciscoUnited States 29 works
  7. 7 Mexico CityMexico 29 works
  8. 8 New YorkUnited States 26 works
  9. 9 OldhamUnited Kingdom 24 works
  10. 10 São PauloBrazil 24 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. OldhamGB · 24.4 works54×
  2. San FranciscoUS · 29.2 works7.5×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Relativity and Gravitational Theory than the world average.

See Relativity and Gravitational Theory on the map

Where is the best place to study Relativity and Gravitational Theory?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 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 13.76%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of OxfordUniversity of Cambri…Universidad Nacional…University of Bologna
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 OxfordUnited Kingdom 85.024.7%4.0×15 +64.7%
2University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 80.016.9%5.4×17 +5.4%
3Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 63.58.1%6.5×17 +90.3%
4University of BolognaItaly 60.36.3%7.6×16 +490.0%
5University of SouthamptonUnited Kingdom 60.06.8%9.8×13 +446.6%
6University of Naples Federico IIItaly 59.417.7%6.4×12 +2.1%
7University of LisbonPortugal 54.318.7%4.4×9 +8.0%
8Leibniz University HannoverGermany 44.89.4%12.2×9 +183.3%
9Sapienza University of RomeItaly 43.715.7%3.1×10 +16.2%
10University of TurinItaly 42.813.3%5.7×8 +126.7%

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 Relativity and Gravitational Theory, country by country

Is Relativity and Gravitational Theory research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 31% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Relativity and Gravitational Theory.

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 Relativity and Gravitational Theory as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%Relativity and Gravitational Theory0.014% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Relativity and Gravitational Theory 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%Relativity and Gravitational Theory12.1% 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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