Research Fields

A research field is linked to a capability when its papers are part of the research base for that capability; the strength of the link is the share of the field’s papers that are about it. CAPS is the number of capabilities in the group; AVG the average number of fields linked to each; OALEX the linked fields carrying an OpenAlex code and OTHER those carrying a code from any other classification. 1.0–.2 count the group’s links by strength: 1.0 the field is squarely this capability · .8 most of the field · .6 about half · .4 a substantial part · .2 a clear but minor part. The bar counts distinct fields, so a field linked to two capabilities in a group is counted once. WORKS is the OpenAlex works in those fields, each weighted by its strongest link. Group bars are scaled to a large group (the ninth-largest in ten); the few larger ones fill the bar. Domain rows are scaled to every linked field.

The list is the union of 9 classifications: 4,798 entries from OpenAlex, 2,203 entries from ANZSRC 2020 Fields of Research, 48 entries from OECD fields of research, 199 entries from Science-Metrix, 3,552 entries from China GB/T 13745, 175 entries from US NCSES Taxonomy of Disciplines, 38 entries from UK REF 2021 units of assessment, 1,279 entries from UK HECoS and 330 entries from India AISHE disciplines. Where two or more name the same field it is one row carrying each code, marked by the bar at its left; a figure beside a code is how close that code’s own name is to the field, and the line beginning “=” gives the name the other classification uses. The classification chips add up: select OpenAlex and OECD to see the fields that carry a code of either. CAPS is the number of capabilities a field informs. Capabilities are linked to the finest fields only: a broader field’s place follows from the fields beneath it. Strength is the share of a field’s papers that are about the capability; Weight, shown for a single capability, is the field’s share of that capability’s total strength. WORKS is the number of works OpenAlex assigns to the field. Network measures shows each field’s theme and its place in the field network instead of its codes: Themes are the clusters of the network, found by the Louvain method (resolution 1, fixed seed). Clusters of fewer than 40 fields are folded into the theme they are most strongly linked to. The method finds the groups; the names are GINC's. Capability relevance = the sum of the strengths of a field's links to capabilities (for a field with children, the mean of the finest fields beneath it), scaled so the highest field is 100. Composite = 0.4 × capability relevance + 0.3 × PageRank + 0.2 × betweenness + 0.1 × eigenvector, each scaled so its highest field is 100. Rank orders fields by composite.

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A field has no strong link when it informs no capability at all (NONE) or when its strongest link is 0.2 or 0.4: a clear but minor part, or a substantial part, of the field, never most of it. STRONG fields have a link of 0.6 or more. WORKS is the OpenAlex works in the fields with no strong link, and SHARE those works as a share of all works in the area: how much of the research in that area the framework does not strongly claim. ANZSRC and OECD fields carry no works count. Field bars are scaled to a large field (the ninth-largest in ten); domain rows to every finest-level field. Select an area to list its fields below.

Largest first, by the works OpenAlex assigns. Nearest capability is the one the field is most strongly linked to, where it is linked at all; Strongest is that link’s strength. A field with no capability is research the framework has no place for; a field with only weak links touches a capability without belonging to it.