Rosenthal is known for developing the multidimensional scaling application NOMINATE along with Keith T. Poole, a tool used by political scientists to compare the relative ideologies of current and past members of Congress.

He authored numerous books and journal articles, including Partisan Politics, Divided Government, and the Economy with Alberto Alesina and Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches with Nolan McCarty and Keith T. Poole.

Alongside Keith T. Poole, he developed the multidimensional scaling application NOMINATE, a tool used by political scientists to compare the relative ideologies of current and past members of Congress.

He also earned the William H. Riker Prize for Political Science from the University of Rochester in 2010.

[2] Rosenthal was a Fellow with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Center for Advanced Study in Behavior Sciences, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Hoover Institution.