Astrophysics

WMAP

3,298 tracked publications and 339,100 citations from 2001–2026. Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Launched 2001. Life-cycle cost: $303M in 2025 dollars. Active Mission Window September 1, 2001 to November 1, 2012: 2,297 publications, 327 top-10% credit.

Survey Observatory · h-index 236 · 642 papers with 100+ citations · prime mission ended 2003

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 September 1, 2001 to November 1, 2012
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed research papers we found for the mission. The list may not be complete. Methods2,297
CitationsCitations received by the tracked publications in the selected scope. The two windowed scopes count each paper’s citations only within its citation window. Methods95,611
Mean citations per publicationMean citations: total citations divided by tracked publications in the selected scope. One blockbuster paper can lift it. Methods42
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. Methods100 (4.4%)
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. Methods327 · 6.6% 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. Methods67 · 13% 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. Methods236
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. Methods491
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. Methods9.1
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. Methods1,306
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. Methods1,390

Tracked publications

  1. Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters

    Planck Collaboration, 2016, A&A

    13,473 citations

  2. First-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters

    Spergel, D. N., 2003, ApJS

    10,797 citations

  3. Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters

    Planck Collaboration, 2014, A&A

    8,399 citations

  4. Seven-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation

    Komatsu, E., 2011, ApJS

    8,388 citations

  5. Three-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Implications for Cosmology

    Spergel, D. N., 2007, ApJS

    7,632 citations

  6. Nine-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Parameter Results

    Hinshaw, G., 2013, ApJS

    5,626 citations

  7. HEALPix: A Framework for High-Resolution Discretization and Fast Analysis of Data Distributed on the Sphere

    Górski, K. M., 2005, ApJ

    5,532 citations

  8. Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe Observations: Cosmological Interpretation

    Komatsu, E., 2009, ApJS

    5,448 citations

  9. First-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Preliminary Maps and Basic Results

    Bennett, C. L., 2003, ApJS

    4,893 citations

  10. Cosmological parameters from SDSS and WMAP

    Tegmark, Max, 2004, PhRvD

    3,853 citations

  11. The 6dF Galaxy Survey: baryon acoustic oscillations and the local Hubble constant

    Beutler, Florian, 2011, MNRAS

    2,529 citations

  12. Nine-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Final Maps and Results

    Bennett, C. L., 2013, ApJS

    2,523 citations

  13. A 2.4% Determination of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant

    Riess, Adam G., 2016, ApJ

    2,079 citations

  14. The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: power-spectrum analysis of the final data set and cosmological implications

    Cole, Shaun, 2005, MNRAS

    1,994 citations

  15. Improved cosmological constraints from a joint analysis of the SDSS-II and SNLS supernova samples

    Betoule, M., 2014, A&A

    1,864 citations

  16. Baryon acoustic oscillations in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 galaxy sample

    Percival, Will J., 2010, MNRAS

    1,822 citations

  17. Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe Observations: Likelihoods and Parameters from the WMAP Data

    Dunkley, J., 2009, ApJS

    1,810 citations

  18. Planck 2013 results. XXII. Constraints on inflation

    Planck Collaboration, 2014, A&A

    1,789 citations

  19. Cosmological Results from High-z Supernovae

    Tonry, John L., 2003, ApJ

    1,779 citations

  20. A theory of dark matter

    Arkani-Hamed, Nima, 2009, PhRvD

    1,748 citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Astrophysics Data System (ADS) for peer-reviewed articles naming WMAP 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:"Microwave Anisotropy Probe" OR =title:"Microwave Anisotropy Probe" OR =abs:"differencing assembly" OR =abs:"Pseudo-Correlation Radiometer" OR ((abs:WMAP OR title:WMAP OR =abs:WMAP1 OR =abs:WMAP5 OR =abs:WMAP7 OR =abs:WMAP9 OR =title:WMAP1 OR =title:WMAP5 OR =title:WMAP7 OR =title:WMAP9) AND (=abs:"WMAP satellite" OR =abs:"WMAP mission" OR =abs:"WMAP team" OR =abs:"WMAP instrument" OR =abs:"WMAP data" OR =abs:"WMAP observations" OR =abs:"cosmic microwave background" OR abs:CMB OR =abs:cosmology OR =abs:cosmological OR =abs:anisotropy OR =abs:anisotropies OR =abs:"power spectrum" OR =abs:polarization OR =abs:polarisation OR =abs:foreground OR =abs:foregrounds OR =abs:inflation OR =abs:"dark energy" OR =abs:"dark matter" OR =abs:microwave OR =abs:sky OR =abs:map OR =abs:maps OR =abs:galactic OR =abs:emission OR =abs:universe OR =abs:haze OR =abs:reionization OR =abs:neutrino OR =abs:neutrinos OR =abs:baryon OR =abs:cosmic OR =abs:galaxies OR =abs:redshift)))) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2001-09 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

Removed after review (13)

  1. 2013A&A...558A..33A Software paper on the Astropy Python package; does not name WMAP. Decision 🤖
  2. 2015ApJ...810....3S Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  3. 2015ApJ...813...69M Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  4. 2015JCAP...07..033B Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  5. 2015MNRAS.452.1217C Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  6. 2015MNRAS.452.4169G Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  7. 2015PhRvD..92d3509F Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  8. 2016A&A...586A.134P Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  9. 2017AJ....153...26S Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  10. 2017ApJ...840...33S Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  11. 2017MNRAS.464.3486Z Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  12. 2017MNRAS.467.4631H Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖
  13. 2017PhRvL.118d1301A Does not name WMAP or its instruments in the title, abstract or keywords. Decision 🤖