Astrophysics

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)

Survey Observatory · Competed · PI-led · Launched on December 14, 2009 · Completed · LCC: $310M/$484M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For WISE, papers published February 1, 2010 to March 1, 2013. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For WISE, papers published from 2010 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods2,607
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods107,904
Citation indices
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. Methods132
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. Methods237
m-indexm-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; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods7.8
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): 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. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods323
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. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods999

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (2,607)

All publications CSV · JSON

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

    Wright, Edward L., 2010, AJ

    8,104 lifetime citations

  2. Overview of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

    Dey, Arjun, 2019, AJ

    2,469 lifetime citations

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

    Mainzer, A., 2011, ApJ

    931 lifetime 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

    914 lifetime citations

  5. Initial Performance of the NEOWISE Reactivation Mission

    Mainzer, A., 2014, ApJ

    815 lifetime citations

  6. The Spitzer-WISE Survey of the Ecliptic Poles

    Jarrett, T. H., 2011, ApJ

    729 lifetime citations

  7. Data Release 1 of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

    DESI Collaboration, 2026, AJ

    725 lifetime citations

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

    Salim, Samir, 2018, ApJ

    659 lifetime citations

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

    Ricci, C., 2017, ApJS

    656 lifetime citations

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

    Lyke, Brad W., 2020, ApJS

    637 lifetime citations

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

    Dupuy, Trent J., 2012, ApJS

    569 lifetime 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

    537 lifetime citations

  13. The WISE Catalog of Galactic H II Regions

    Anderson, L. D., 2014, ApJS

    455 lifetime 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

    445 lifetime citations

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

    Schlafly, Edward F., 2019, ApJS

    440 lifetime citations

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

    Aniano, G., 2011, PASP

    438 lifetime citations

  17. 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

    436 lifetime citations

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

    Kirkpatrick, J. Davy, 2011, ApJS

    414 lifetime citations

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

    Masiero, Joseph R., 2011, ApJ

    405 lifetime citations

  20. unWISE: Unblurred Coadds of the WISE Imaging

    Lang, Dustin, 2014, AJ

    405 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming WISE in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

(((((=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 "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Added after review (1)

  1. 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 study of asteroids Phaethon and 2005 UD; WISE appears only within the NEOWISE name. Decision 👨