Research field intelligence
Physics and Astronomy Research Strength
Explore universities with the strongest current Physics and Astronomy topic signals in the ITS Research Intelligence database, alongside institution-level research performance and growth.
Research landscape
Physics and Astronomy currently has 250 index-ready universities contributing strong topic signals in the local database. Their aggregated topic-signal volume is 3,109,688 works. The average overall ITS Research Performance Score across this set is 0.0, while average five-year publication growth is -1.2%.
The ranking below combines the strength of an institution’s field signal with its overall research-performance score and recent growth. It should be read as a research-intelligence indicator, not as a complete subject ranking of teaching, reputation, facilities or student outcomes.
Leading universities in Physics and Astronomy
| Rank | University | Country | Field score | Field signal | Overall works | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Nagoya University | Japan | 67.3 | 23,139 | 122,354 | 550.7% |
| #2 | California Institute of Technology | United States | 66.5 | 89,815 | 31,189 | -13.4% |
| #3 | University of Bonn | Germany | 65.6 | 31,582 | 51,678 | 113.4% |
| #4 | Michigan State University | United States | 64.4 | 25,717 | 95,081 | 113.2% |
| #5 | The University of Tokyo | Japan | 64.0 | 59,852 | 92,637 | -15.9% |
| #6 | University of Arizona | United States | 64.0 | 53,634 | 57,663 | -1.2% |
| #7 | University of California, Berkeley | United States | 64.0 | 50,367 | 101,851 | 7.2% |
| #8 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 63.3 | 50,168 | 109,075 | -9.1% |
| #9 | Princeton University | United States | 62.7 | 44,394 | 42,234 | -8.2% |
| #10 | Sorbonne Université | France | 62.5 | 43,436 | 113,452 | -8.4% |
| #11 | University of Maryland, College Park | United States | 62.0 | 39,106 | 47,550 | -5.5% |
| #12 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States | 61.8 | 37,887 | 61,726 | -7.7% |
| #13 | University of Chicago | United States | 61.6 | 35,922 | 72,803 | -3.8% |
| #14 | Kyoto University | Japan | 61.6 | 36,733 | 59,841 | -7.2% |
| #15 | Heidelberg University | Germany | 61.3 | 37,650 | 78,627 | -17.4% |
| #16 | Leiden University | The Netherlands | 61.1 | 34,232 | 33,250 | -9.5% |
| #17 | University of Milan | Italy | 61.0 | 7,691 | 216,132 | 444.4% |
| #18 | University of Bologna | Italy | 60.9 | 27,912 | 69,379 | 14.2% |
| #19 | Université Paris-Saclay | France | 60.5 | 29,384 | 90,348 | -2.1% |
| #20 | The Ohio State University | United States | 60.5 | 30,847 | 68,989 | -10.0% |
| #21 | Université Paris Cité | France | 60.4 | 32,414 | 86,947 | -20.8% |
| #22 | University of Michigan | United States | 60.2 | 38,605 | 550,984 | -90.6% |
| #23 | University of California, Los Angeles | United States | 60.1 | 30,833 | 93,873 | -20.9% |
| #24 | University of Manchester | United Kingdom | 60.0 | 27,662 | 74,058 | -8.3% |
| #25 | Universitat de València | Spain | 59.9 | 27,963 | 38,981 | -11.4% |
| #26 | Durham University | United Kingdom | 59.9 | 27,056 | 26,385 | -6.9% |
| #27 | The University of Texas at Austin | United States | 59.8 | 24,471 | 132,334 | 4.2% |
| #28 | University of Wisconsin–Madison | United States | 59.6 | 24,630 | 74,194 | -1.3% |
| #29 | Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz | Germany | 59.6 | 23,894 | 34,595 | 2.7% |
| #30 | Technical University of Munich | Germany | 59.5 | 23,763 | 70,709 | 2.7% |
| #31 | University of California, Santa Barbara | United States | 59.5 | 26,004 | 27,617 | -11.7% |
| #32 | University of Virginia | United States | 59.3 | 21,680 | 44,729 | 11.0% |
| #33 | University of Geneva | Switzerland | 59.2 | 25,623 | 35,076 | -16.3% |
| #34 | Goethe University Frankfurt | Germany | 59.1 | 17,136 | 49,382 | 38.3% |
| #35 | Tohoku University | Japan | 59.0 | 23,385 | 46,558 | -7.6% |
| #36 | Lomonosov Moscow State University | Russia | 59.0 | 26,872 | 56,325 | -29.3% |
| #37 | University of Liverpool | United Kingdom | 58.9 | 20,930 | 63,829 | 4.9% |
| #38 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | United States | 58.8 | 20,969 | 62,089 | 3.1% |
| #39 | Universidad Autónoma de Madrid | Spain | 58.8 | 24,729 | 35,529 | -22.3% |
| #40 | The University of Osaka | Japan | 58.7 | 25,473 | 43,352 | -27.2% |
| #41 | University of Padua | Italy | 58.7 | 21,384 | 63,665 | -2.9% |
| #42 | Stony Brook University | United States | 58.7 | 23,368 | 26,965 | -15.7% |
| #43 | University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 58.6 | 23,061 | 73,722 | -16.5% |
| #44 | RWTH Aachen University | Germany | 58.6 | 21,241 | 66,383 | -4.8% |
| #45 | University of Amsterdam | The Netherlands | 58.5 | 19,838 | 64,708 | 1.4% |
| #46 | Sapienza University of Rome | Italy | 58.2 | 21,399 | 75,941 | -16.4% |
| #47 | Aix-Marseille Université | France | 58.2 | 17,947 | 52,557 | 8.2% |
| #48 | University of Rochester | United States | 58.0 | 17,960 | 27,993 | 3.8% |
| #49 | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München | Germany | 57.9 | 18,002 | 81,200 | 0.4% |
| #50 | University of Colorado Boulder | United States | 57.8 | 19,997 | 39,417 | -16.1% |
| #51 | University of Birmingham | United Kingdom | 57.6 | 17,828 | 52,705 | -4.1% |
| #52 | Pennsylvania State University | United States | 57.6 | 19,494 | 63,076 | -16.9% |
| #53 | Yale University | United States | 57.6 | 13,051 | 116,263 | 40.1% |
| #54 | University of Science and Technology of China | China | 57.6 | 16,971 | 90,353 | 1.9% |
| #55 | Charles University | Czechia | 57.4 | 15,797 | 46,059 | 8.6% |
| #56 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 57.4 | 23,826 | 222,009 | -56.7% |
| #57 | University of Tsukuba | Japan | 57.3 | 16,861 | 28,803 | -3.0% |
| #58 | Université Grenoble Alpes | France | 57.3 | 17,203 | 67,456 | -6.0% |
| #59 | University of Warwick | United Kingdom | 57.1 | 17,502 | 35,799 | -13.9% |
| #60 | Tel Aviv University | Israel | 57.1 | 18,520 | 42,304 | -22.7% |
| #61 | Universität Hamburg | Germany | 57.1 | 15,971 | 66,229 | -2.0% |
| #62 | University of Iowa | United States | 57.0 | 16,755 | 33,333 | -10.8% |
| #63 | Queen Mary University of London | United Kingdom | 57.0 | 15,878 | 40,548 | -3.5% |
| #64 | Ruhr University Bochum | Germany | 57.0 | 16,247 | 31,980 | -6.9% |
| #65 | Imperial College London | United Kingdom | 56.8 | 16,742 | 108,283 | -15.0% |
| #66 | Peking University | China | 56.8 | 16,805 | 163,127 | -17.4% |
| #67 | Indiana University Bloomington | United States | 56.5 | 15,559 | 21,627 | -11.7% |
| #68 | Hokkaido University | Japan | 56.5 | 3,500 | 102,279 | 467.0% |
| #69 | University of Freiburg | Germany | 56.5 | 11,504 | 39,835 | 29.8% |
| #70 | University of Notre Dame | United States | 56.5 | 14,124 | 20,553 | 0.5% |
| #71 | University of Leicester | United Kingdom | 56.5 | 16,434 | 24,923 | -21.2% |
| #72 | University of Cape Town | South Africa | 56.4 | 16,008 | 253,330 | -18.7% |
| #73 | Florida State University | United States | 56.4 | 14,431 | 22,889 | -4.2% |
| #74 | University of Pisa | Italy | 56.4 | 14,350 | 35,891 | -4.1% |
| #75 | Columbia University | United States | 56.4 | 15,196 | 78,881 | -12.3% |
| #76 | University of Glasgow | United Kingdom | 56.4 | 15,170 | 50,200 | -12.5% |
| #77 | Carnegie Mellon University | United States | 56.2 | 12,431 | 36,781 | 12.6% |
| #78 | University of Copenhagen | Denmark | 56.2 | 13,733 | 90,580 | -2.1% |
| #79 | University of Groningen | The Netherlands | 56.2 | 14,929 | 49,355 | -14.1% |
| #80 | Karlsruhe Institute of Technology | Germany | 56.2 | 13,528 | 59,083 | -1.3% |
| #81 | Cornell University | United States | 56.1 | 14,278 | 106,688 | -9.7% |
| #82 | Purdue University West Lafayette | United States | 56.1 | 14,246 | 71,452 | -9.5% |
| #83 | Lund University | Sweden | 56.1 | 14,199 | 56,995 | -9.9% |
| #84 | University of Southampton | United Kingdom | 56.0 | 13,438 | 43,283 | -5.4% |
| #85 | University of Tennessee at Knoxville | United States | 56.0 | 14,224 | 32,805 | -13.7% |
| #86 | Johns Hopkins University | United States | 55.9 | 14,599 | 124,053 | -18.0% |
| #87 | Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México | Mexico | 55.8 | 14,218 | 72,878 | -16.9% |
| #88 | University of Warsaw | Poland | 55.8 | 12,276 | 32,185 | 3.9% |
| #89 | École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne | Switzerland | 55.8 | 12,957 | 43,476 | -4.8% |
| #90 | Texas A&M University | United States | 55.7 | 12,999 | 56,645 | -6.4% |
| #91 | University of Turin | Italy | 55.7 | 13,304 | 45,845 | -10.7% |
| #92 | University of Massachusetts Amherst | United States | 55.7 | 14,425 | 27,632 | -22.5% |
| #93 | Iowa State University | United States | 55.6 | 13,771 | 24,730 | -17.9% |
| #94 | Australian National University | Australia | 55.5 | 13,576 | 40,081 | -18.4% |
| #95 | National and Kapodistrian University of Athens | Greece | 55.5 | 12,811 | 40,217 | -10.1% |
| #96 | University of Bern | Switzerland | 55.5 | 13,367 | 48,798 | -17.2% |
| #97 | Shandong University | China | 55.4 | 12,988 | 84,532 | -13.9% |
| #98 | Stockholm University | Sweden | 55.4 | 13,367 | 33,007 | -18.9% |
| #99 | University of Vienna | Austria | 55.3 | 11,492 | 43,915 | 1.2% |
| #100 | University of Washington | United States | 55.3 | 13,198 | 108,488 | -20.0% |
How to interpret this field page
Field classifications are inferred from the scholarly works associated with institutions in OpenAlex. An institution can therefore appear strongly in several fields at once, and topic classifications may evolve as the scholarly graph is updated. ITS Research Solution does not infer a faculty or department simply from the existence of a topic signal.
Quality before quantity
Why every database record does not become an SEO page
ITS Research Solution only indexes pages when the underlying data is rich enough to support useful comparison and interpretation. Registry-only records, short research histories, missing topics and low-completeness profiles stay in the database but remain outside the public sitemap. This prevents repetitive, thin institution and subject pages.