Astrophysics

WISE

2,581 tracked publications and 102,751 citations from 2010–2026. Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Launched 2009. Life-cycle cost: $484M in 2025 dollars. Active Mission Window February 1, 2010 to March 1, 2013: 190 publications, 13 top-10% credit.

Survey Observatory · h-index 128 · 211 papers with 100+ citations · prime mission ended 2011

Lifetime

Scope Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the prime mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods Every tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. Methods

Key measures

Active Mission Window · papers February 1, 2010 to March 1, 2013
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed research papers we found for the mission. The list may not be complete. Methods190
CitationsCitations received by the tracked publications in the selected scope. The two windowed scopes count each paper’s citations only within its citation window. Methods5,254
Mean citations per publicationMean citations: total citations divided by tracked publications in the selected scope. One blockbuster paper can lift it. Methods28
Median citations per publicationMedian citations: the middle paper’s citation count in the selected scope; half the papers have more, half fewer. A single blockbuster sways it less than the mean. Methods17
Uncited publicationsUncited publications: papers with no citations in the selected scope. Methods5 (2.6%)
Top-10% creditTop 10%: among the 10% most-cited papers from this division’s missions, ranked against papers published around the same time. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods13 · 0.25% of division
Top-1% creditTop 1%: among the 1% most-cited papers from this division’s missions within the selected window. Not adjusted for publication year. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods2 · 0.40% of division
Lifetime indices · every tracked publication to date, in any scope
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods128
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods231
m-index, as of October 4, 2026m-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes, so it belongs to the date shown; it also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods7.5
toritori (total research impact, from ADS): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Methods228
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Methods837

Tracked publications

  1. The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): Mission Description and Initial On-orbit Performance

    Wright, Edward L., 2010, AJ

    7,879 citations

  2. Overview of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

    Dey, Arjun, 2019, AJ

    2,218 citations

  3. Preliminary Results from NEOWISE: An Enhancement to the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for Solar System Science

    Mainzer, A., 2011, ApJ

    907 citations

  4. Mid-infrared Selection of Active Galactic Nuclei with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. I. Characterizing WISE-selected Active Galactic Nuclei in COSMOS

    Stern, Daniel, 2012, ApJ

    877 citations

  5. Initial Performance of the NEOWISE Reactivation Mission

    Mainzer, A., 2014, ApJ

    766 citations

  6. The Spitzer-WISE Survey of the Ecliptic Poles

    Jarrett, T. H., 2011, ApJ

    707 citations

  7. Dust Attenuation Curves in the Local Universe: Demographics and New Laws for Star-forming Galaxies and High-redshift Analogs

    Salim, Samir, 2018, ApJ

    618 citations

  8. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog: Sixteenth Data Release

    Lyke, Brad W., 2020, ApJS

    587 citations

  9. BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey. V. X-Ray Properties of the Swift/BAT 70-month AGN Catalog

    Ricci, C., 2017, ApJS

    583 citations

  10. The Hawaii Infrared Parallax Program. I. Ultracool Binaries and the L/T Transition

    Dupuy, Trent J., 2012, ApJS

    559 citations

  11. Data Release 1 of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

    DESI Collaboration, 2026, AJ

    537 citations

  12. The Optical to Mid-infrared Extinction Law Based on the APOGEE, Gaia DR2, Pan-STARRS1, SDSS, APASS, 2MASS, and WISE Surveys

    Wang, Shu, 2019, ApJ

    503 citations

  13. The WISE Catalog of Galactic H II Regions

    Anderson, L. D., 2014, ApJS

    441 citations

  14. GALEX-SDSS-WISE Legacy Catalog (GSWLC): Star Formation Rates, Stellar Masses, and Dust Attenuations of 700,000 Low-redshift Galaxies

    Salim, Samir, 2016, ApJS

    427 citations

  15. Mid-infrared Selection of Active Galactic Nuclei with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. II. Properties of WISE-selected Active Galactic Nuclei in the NDWFS Boötes Field

    Assef, R. J., 2013, ApJ

    425 citations

  16. Common-Resolution Convolution Kernels for Space- and Ground-Based Telescopes

    Aniano, G., 2011, PASP

    423 citations

  17. The unWISE Catalog: Two Billion Infrared Sources from Five Years of WISE Imaging

    Schlafly, Edward F., 2019, ApJS

    414 citations

  18. The First Hundred Brown Dwarfs Discovered by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)

    Kirkpatrick, J. Davy, 2011, ApJS

    405 citations

  19. Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters

    Masiero, Joseph R., 2011, ApJ

    400 citations

  20. The star formation history and accretion-disc fraction among the K-type members of the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association

    Pecaut, Mark J., 2016, MNRAS

    382 citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Astrophysics Data System (ADS) for peer-reviewed articles naming WISE in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces. SciX is ADS’s current interface.

(((((=abs:"Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer" OR =abs:"Wide-field Infrared Space Explorer" OR (abs:WISE AND (abs:infrared OR abs:observatory OR abs:NEOWISE OR abs:asteroid OR abs:"all-sky")) OR facility:WISE OR =abs:"WISE satellite" OR ((=abs:AllWISE OR =abs:unWISE OR =abs:CatWISE) AND (abs:infrared OR abs:catalog OR abs:photometry OR abs:survey OR abs:WISE)) OR (abs:NEOWISE AND NOT (abs:asteroid OR abs:comet OR =abs:NEOs OR =abs:"near-Earth objects" OR =abs:"minor planet" OR =abs:"minor planets" OR =abs:"small body" OR =abs:"small bodies" OR abs:trojan OR =abs:"planetary defense" OR =abs:"Kuiper belt" OR =abs:"trans-Neptunian" OR abs:Neptune OR abs:regolith OR =abs:"Planet Nine")) OR (abs:NEOWISE AND (abs:AGN OR abs:quasar OR abs:YSO OR abs:protostar OR abs:"tidal disruption event" OR abs:supernova OR abs:"brown dwarf" OR abs:"white dwarf" OR abs:maser OR abs:"star-forming" OR abs:"black hole"))) AND NOT (=abs:"C 2020 F3 NEOWISE" OR =abs:"comet NEOWISE" OR =abs:"C 2014 N3 NEOWISE")) AND NOT (abs:NEOWISE AND (abs:asteroid OR abs:comet OR =abs:NEOs OR =abs:"near-Earth objects" OR =abs:"minor planet" OR =abs:"minor planets" OR =abs:"small body" OR =abs:"small bodies" OR abs:trojan OR =abs:"planetary defense" OR =abs:"Kuiper belt" OR =abs:"trans-Neptunian" OR abs:Neptune OR abs:regolith OR =abs:"Planet Nine") AND NOT (abs:AGN OR abs:quasar OR abs:YSO OR abs:protostar OR abs:"tidal disruption event" OR abs:supernova OR abs:"brown dwarf" OR abs:"white dwarf" OR abs:maser OR abs:"star-forming" OR abs:"black hole") AND NOT =abs:WISE AND NOT facility:WISE)) AND collection:astronomy)) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2010-02 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "AIASJ" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NewSc" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Added after review (3)

  1. The Hawaii Infrared Parallax Program. I. Ultracool Binaries and the L/T Transition Parallax study of ultracool dwarfs that analyses WISE photometry in its body. Decision 🤖
  2. Infrared Photometric Properties of 709 Candidate Stellar Bowshock Nebulae Infrared photometry of bowshock nebulae measured from WISE images. Decision 🤖
  3. A Search for Mass Loss from Metal-Poor Field Red Giants using Data from the WISE and AKARI Satellites Search for mass loss from red giants using WISE data. Decision 🤖

Removed after review (7)

  1. The Kilo-Degree Survey Optical survey paper; names the Astro-WISE data system, not the WISE satellite. Decision 🤖
  2. The first and second data releases of the Kilo-Degree Survey Optical survey data release; names the Astro-WISE data system, not the WISE satellite. Decision 🤖
  3. A new algorithm to quantify maximum discs in galaxies Galaxy dynamics paper; "unwise" is an ordinary word, not the WISE satellite. Decision 🤖
  4. A point-wise least squares spectral analysis (LSSA) of the Caspian Sea level fluctuations, using TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 observations Sea-level altimetry study; "point-wise" is an ordinary word, not the WISE satellite. Decision 🤖
  5. Resolved Near-infrared Spectroscopy of WISE J104915.57-531906.1AB: A Flux-reversal Binary at the L dwarf/T Dwarf Transition Uses ground-based spectra only; "WISE" appears only in the star's catalogue name. Decision 🤖
  6. Observations of Binary Stars with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument. III. Measures below the Diffraction Limit of the WIYN Telescope Binary star speckle study; "unwise" is an ordinary word, not the WISE satellite. Decision 🤖
  7. Thermophysical Modeling of NEOWISE Observations of DESTINY⁺ Targets Phaethon and 2005 UD NEOWISE-mission thermophysical study of Phaethon and 2005 UD; WISE appears only inside "Near-Earth Object WISE (NEOWISE)". Planetary NEOWISE science stays in the NEOWISE corpus (DESIGN_DECISIONS section 1, data-product collision). Decision 👨