The Science Impact of Astronomy PhD Granting Departments in the United States
Anne L. Kinney

TL;DR
This study evaluates and ranks the scientific impact of 36 astronomy PhD departments in the US over a decade, considering departmental and university-wide research outputs and impacts.
Contribution
It introduces a dual-method approach to measure impact, analyzing departmental faculty and broader university research contributions, including labs and centers.
Findings
UC Santa Cruz, Princeton, Johns Hopkins top impact quartile.
UC Santa Cruz, Princeton, Johns Hopkins have over 1000 publications in 10 years.
Impact rankings differ when including soft money scientists and adjunct faculty.
Abstract
The scientific impact of the research of 36 astronomy PhD granting departments is measured and ranked here. Because of the complex nature of Universities, this study looks at the Universities in two ways; first analyzing the impact of the published work over a 10 year period of the Department which grants the PhD and; second, looking at the impact of the published work as a whole including Laboratories, Centers, and Facilities. The Universities considered in the study are drawn from the 1992 NRC study on Programs of Research, Doctorate in Astrophysics and Astronomy with three Universities added. Johns Hopkins, Michigan State, and Northwestern all host substantial astronomical research within their Departments of Physics and Astronomy and so are included here. The first method of measuring impact concentrates on tenured and tenured track faculty, with the top quartile being 1. Caltech,…
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Taxonomy
TopicsHistory and Developments in Astronomy · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
