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City · Spain

Research in Barcelona

Science Explorer records 360 research institutions in Barcelona, Spain. The highest-ranked on research quality in 2022–2025 are Universitat de Barcelona, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Research institutions
360
15 of them ranked worldwide
Research works
311k
▲ 11% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate, 2022–2025
19.8%
record average 16.5%

A city carries no overall standing here. The composite score is built for institutions and countries, the units its floors and field normalisation were designed around. An empty rank on this page is a statement about the measure, not about the place.

Which research institutions are in Barcelona?

#InstitutionWorksAgainst the largest hereWorld rank
1Universitat de BarcelonaUniversity 71,916 #276
2Universitat Politècnica de CatalunyaUniversity 43,583 #891
3Universitat Pompeu FabraUniversity 16,584 #1,256
4Hospital Clínic de BarcelonaHospital / health system 13,823 #1,622
5Vall d'Hebron Hospital UniversitariHospital / health system 9,535 #2,649
6Hospital de Sant PauHospital / health system 7,717 #3,203
7Universitat Oberta de CatalunyaUniversity 7,177 #2,967
8Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis AvançatsNonprofit 6,878 #457
9Bellvitge University HospitalHospital / health system 6,016 #4,442
10Consorci Institut D'Investigacions Biomediques August Pi I SunyerResearch facility 5,942 #1,846
11Universitat Ramon LlullUniversity 5,415 #3,770
12Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i PujolHospital / health system 5,084 #5,085
13Hospital Del MarHospital / health system 3,724 #4,729
14Centro de Investigación y DesarrolloResearch facility 3,075 #11,601
15Hospital Sant Joan de Déu BarcelonaHospital / health system 2,927 #7,691
16Universitat Internacional de CatalunyaUniversity 2,854 #5,495
17Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de BellvitgeResearch facility 2,734 #3,832
18Institut de Ciències del MarResearch facility 2,390 #6,365
19Centre Tecnologic de Telecomunicacions de CatalunyaNonprofit 2,341 #8,037
20Vall d'Hebron Institut de RecercaResearch facility 2,312 #3,266
21Institute of Photonic SciencesResearch facility 2,296 #1,089
22Institut de Biologia EvolutivaResearch facility 2,183 #4,085
23Institut Català d'OncologiaGovernment institution 2,122 #5,956
24IESE Business SchoolUniversity 1,995 #9,856
25Barcelona Supercomputing CenterResearch facility 1,843 #3,139
26Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water ResearchResearch facility 1,737 #5,554
27Generalitat de CatalunyaGovernment institution 1,709 #10,978
28Institut Català de la SalutHospital / health system 1,594 #14,011
29FC BarcelonaInstitution 1,552 #14,082
30Artificial Intelligence Research InstituteResearch facility 1,408 #11,134
31Corporació Sanitària Parc TaulíInstitution 1,354 #13,191
32Barcelona School of EconomicsUniversity 1,349 #7,423
33Centre for Genomic RegulationNonprofit 1,330 #4,326
34Institut Català de Ciències del ClimaNonprofit 1,314 #6,939
35Puigvert FoundationNonprofit 1,285 #12,409
36Centro Nacional de MicroelectrónicaResearch facility 1,191 #5,802 all time
37Municipal Institute for Medical ResearchHospital / health system 1,180 #11,774
38RMIT EuropeUniversity 1,153 #13,140
39Barcelona Institute for Global HealthHospital / health system 1,152 #4,001
40Institute for Research in BiomedicineHospital / health system 1,111 #4,735
41Parc de SalutHospital / health system 1,089 #15,661
42Leitat Technological CenterResearch facility 1,084 #12,843
43EAE Business SchoolUniversity 1,066 #12,104
44Institut Català de Nanociència i NanotecnologiaResearch facility 1,048 #3,391
45Centre de Recerca MatemàticaResearch facility 1,008 #9,913
46Hospital del Mar Research InstituteHospital / health system 1,006 #6,489
47Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas AsociadasResearch facility 992 #6,524
48Geociencias BarcelonaResearch facility 940 #14,874
49Departament de SalutGovernment institution 908 #10,981
50International Center for Numerical Methods in EngineeringResearch facility 877 #10,624
51Institute for Bioengineering of CataloniaResearch facility 870 #5,180
52Institute of Advanced Chemistry of CataloniaResearch facility 855 #10,269
53Hospital de l'EsperançaHospital / health system 854 #26,320
54Instituto de Investigaciones Químicas y Ambientales de BarcelonaResearch facility 830 #6,222 all time
55Institut de Recerca en Energia de CatalunyaResearch facility 814 #6,284
56Institut de Biologia Molecular de BarcelonaResearch facility 795 #9,263
57Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica IndustrialResearch facility 780 #13,282
58Institute for High Energy PhysicsInstitution 763 #6,029
59ALBA Synchrotron (Spain)Company 740 #4,512
60Barcelona Biomedical Research ParkResearch facility 734 #10,584

By fractional works over the whole record; world rank on research quality in 2022–2025. Bars are scaled to the largest institution in this city, not to anything off the page.

How concentrated the city is

The same institutions as shares of everything the list accounts for. A city that is one university and a city that is twelve read alike as a table and not at all alike here.

Universitat de Barcelona: 26.5%Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya: 16.1%Universitat Pompeu Fabra: 6.1%Hospital Clínic de Barcelona: 5.1%56 others listed: 46.1%27%largest
Universitat de Barcelona72k · 26.5%Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya44k · 16.1%Universitat Pompeu Fabra17k · 6.1%Hospital Clínic de Barcelona14k · 5.1%56 others listed125k · 46.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

What is Barcelona strongest at in research?

Relative to its size, research in Barcelona is most concentrated in General Social Sciences, Life-span and Life-course Studies and Transplantation (3.9× the world share in General Social Sciences).

  1. General Social SciencesSubfield · 240.6 works3.9×
  2. Life-span and Life-course StudiesSubfield · 36.1 works3.8×
  3. TransplantationSubfield · 77.5 works3.1×
  4. General Arts and HumanitiesSubfield · 35.0 works3.0×
  5. Neuropsychology and Physiological PsychologySubfield · 46.9 works2.5×
  6. HistorySubfield · 457.5 works2.5×
  7. ArcheologySubfield · 415.8 works2.4×
  8. Space and Planetary ScienceSubfield · 26.3 works2.3×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient against the world baseline. Inside a single field a city is a meaningful unit, which is why this is where a city is measured at all.

Which keywords describe research in Barcelona?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Inflammation, Climate Change, Quality of Life, Treatment, Globalization, Diagnosis and Welfare State.

▲ more of its work than of the world’s◆ about the world’s share▼ less than the world’s

Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this city's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Epidemiology3,249▲ 1.45×140 topics
  2. Climate Change1,655◆ 1.08×118 topics
  3. Inflammation1,550▲ 1.31×83 topics
  4. Machine Learning1,257▼ 0.68×95 topics
  5. Globalization1,244◆ 1.12×156 topics
  6. Quality of Life1,242▲ 1.52×60 topics
  7. Deep Learning1,164▼ 0.60×84 topics
  8. Treatment1,133▲ 1.65×52 topics
  9. Sustainability1,072▼ 0.78×125 topics
  10. Education1,035◆ 1.06×147 topics
  11. Oxidative Stress1,002◆ 1.08×63 topics
  12. Public Health996▲ 1.21×76 topics
  13. Diagnosis907▲ 1.72×41 topics
  14. Cardiovascular Disease897▲ 1.42×39 topics
  15. COVID-19866◆ 1.12×34 topics
  16. Mental Health843◆ 1.01×47 topics
  17. Risk Factors827▲ 1.33×37 topics
  18. Immunotherapy783▲ 1.94×19 topics
  19. Chemotherapy783▲ 1.97×25 topics
  20. Cancer705◆ 0.93×59 topics
  21. Metabolic Syndrome663▲ 1.44×24 topics
  22. Genetics646▲ 1.63×27 topics
  23. Management640▲ 1.44×39 topics
  24. Clinical Trials623▲ 1.64×19 topics
  25. History616▲ 1.55×64 topics
  26. Biomarkers603▲ 1.56×18 topics
  27. Obesity588▲ 1.37×29 topics
  28. Clinical Practice Guidelines572▲ 1.85×14 topics
  29. Neurological Disorders534▲ 1.66×20 topics
  30. Mortality533▲ 1.63×13 topics
  31. Prognostic Factors504▲ 2.0×14 topics
  32. Gender498▲ 1.62×56 topics
  33. Cultural Heritage496▲ 1.60×37 topics
  34. Guidelines487▲ 1.84×13 topics
  35. Heart Failure456▲ 1.86×14 topics
  36. Communication422▲ 2.4×23 topics
  37. Latin America421▲ 3.9×23 topics
  38. Welfare State400▲ 8.2×4 topics
  39. Autoantibodies366▲ 2.8×8 topics
  40. Spain237▲ 11×5 topics

What research is done in Barcelona?

  1. 1 Social Sciences and Policies General Social Sciences 184 works
  2. 2 Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers Oncology 138 works
  3. 3 CAR-T cell therapy research Oncology 137 works
  4. 4 Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Cancer Research 131 works
  5. 5 Human Rights and Immigration Sociology and Political Science 129 works
  6. 6 COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies Infectious Diseases 124 works
  7. 7 E-Learning and Knowledge Management Computer Science Applications 123 works
  8. 8 Educational Innovations and Technology Information Systems 114 works
  9. 9 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life Economics and Econometrics 108 works
  10. 10 Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Epidemiology 105 works

Research output over time

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more.