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Research in Edinburgh

Science Explorer records 158 research institutions in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. The highest-ranked on research quality in 2022–2025 are University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University and Edinburgh Napier University.

Research institutions
158
15 of them ranked worldwide
Research works
203k
▲ 3% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate, 2022–2025
23.3%
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 Edinburgh?

#InstitutionWorksAgainst the largest hereWorld rank
1University of EdinburghUniversity 113,486 #99
2Heriot-Watt UniversityUniversity 17,646 #1,140
3Edinburgh Royal InfirmaryHospital / health system 9,657 #6,473
4Edinburgh Napier UniversityUniversity 8,324 #1,967
5Western General HospitalHospital / health system 8,178 #7,702
6Edinburgh CollegeUniversity 5,052 #10,919
7Marine ScotlandGovernment institution 2,827 #5,565 all time
8Queen Margaret UniversityUniversity 2,755 #11,163
9Scotland's Rural CollegeUniversity 1,972 #4,651
10MRC Centre for Reproductive HealthResearch facility 1,925 #8,003
11NHS LothianHospital / health system 1,911 #6,747
12Royal Edinburgh HospitalHospital / health system 1,899 #17,655
13Royal ObservatoryResearch facility 1,892 #3,725
14Royal Botanic Garden EdinburghResearch facility 1,689 #10,435
15Scottish Agricultural Science AgencyGovernment institution 1,680 #13,418 all time
16Centre for Inflammation ResearchResearch facility 1,518 #2,155
17Edinburgh Cancer ResearchResearch facility 1,314 #4,142
18Scottish National Blood Transfusion ServiceNonprofit 1,165 #11,555 all time
19Royal Hospital for Sick ChildrenHospital / health system 1,145 #14,071 all time
20Maxwell Institute for Mathematical SciencesResearch facility 1,070 #6,030
21Institute of Genetics and CancerResearch facility 1,002 #5,569
22MRC Centre for Regenerative MedicineResearch facility 987 #5,213
23The Queen's Medical Research InstituteGovernment institution 935 #5,456
24Biomathematics and Statistics ScotlandResearch facility 791 #20,338
25UK Astronomy Technology CentreResearch facility 743 #6,595
26National Museums ScotlandGovernment institution 722 #13,919
27Public Health ScotlandGovernment institution 675 #8,951
28Institute of Occupational MedicineNonprofit 603 #8,735
29Wellcome Centre for Cell BiologyResearch facility 577 #10,525
30NHS Education for ScotlandHospital / health system 563 #21,967
31The Medical Device (United Kingdom)Company 536 #12,205
32Scottish GovernmentGovernment institution 481 #25,216
33National Health Service ScotlandGovernment institution 430 #20,900
34Scottish Natural HeritageArchive 385 #28,789 all time
35Centre for Immunity, Infection and EvolutionHospital / health system 383 #5,851 all time
36Princess Alexandra Eye PavilionHospital / health system 353 #31,866 all time
37National Library of ScotlandArchive 332 #20,311 all time
38Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic HospitalHospital / health system 329 #36,303 all time
39Children in ScotlandInstitution 306 #28,378 all time
40Queen’s Nursing Institute ScotlandNonprofit 288 #38,502 all time
41Historic Environment ScotlandGovernment institution 283 #24,130 all time
42Johnson & Johnson (United Kingdom)Company 235 #22,258 all time
43Medical Research ScotlandNonprofit 224 #16,459 all time
44Astley Ainslie HospitalHospital / health system 212 #38,773 all time
45Royal College of Surgeons of EdinburghUniversity 206 #35,671 all time
46Alzheimer ScotlandNonprofit 206 #21,962 all time
47Royal College of Physicians of EdinburghUniversity 203 #28,154 all time
48Aquamarine Power (United Kingdom)Company 182 #26,376
49Royal Zoological Society of ScotlandNonprofit 173 #37,128 all time
50Royal Incorporation of Architects in ScotlandInstitution 167 #25,216 all time
51Healthcare Improvement ScotlandHospital / health system 147 #27,983 all time
52Royal Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom)Company 144 #41,814 all time
53Lothian Sexual HealthHospital / health system 122 #32,617 all time
54Association for the Study of Medical EducationInstitution 110 not ranked
55Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and PolicyHospital / health system 102 not ranked
56City of Edinburgh CouncilGovernment institution 100 not ranked
57Digital Curation CentreInstitution 98 not ranked
58SeafishGovernment institution 97 not ranked
59Chief Scientist OfficeGovernment institution 96 not ranked
60The David Hume InstituteUniversity 89 not ranked

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.

University of Edinburgh: 56.3%Heriot-Watt University: 8.7%Edinburgh Royal Infirmary: 4.8%Edinburgh Napier University: 4.1%56 others listed: 26.1%56%largest
University of Edinburgh113k · 56.3%Heriot-Watt University18k · 8.7%Edinburgh Royal Infirmary9,657 · 4.8%Edinburgh Napier University8,324 · 4.1%56 others listed53k · 26.1%

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

What is Edinburgh strongest at in research?

Relative to its size, research in Edinburgh is most concentrated in Instrumentation, Classics and Veterinary (5.8× the world share in Instrumentation).

  1. InstrumentationSubfield · 73.5 works5.8×
  2. ClassicsSubfield · 82.9 works5.5×
  3. VeterinaryField · 120.0 works3.5×
  4. History and Philosophy of ScienceSubfield · 134.7 works3.4×
  5. HistorySubfield · 276.3 works3.4×
← 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 Edinburgh?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Globalization, Climate Change, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Public Health, Mental Health and History.

▲ 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. Epidemiology1,023◆ 1.01×138 topics
  2. Deep Learning791◆ 0.90×83 topics
  3. Machine Learning766◆ 0.92×90 topics
  4. Climate Change740◆ 1.08×114 topics
  5. Globalization676▲ 1.35×142 topics
  6. Sustainability551◆ 0.89×111 topics
  7. Public Health518▲ 1.40×67 topics
  8. Mental Health503▲ 1.34×44 topics
  9. Inflammation454▼ 0.85×82 topics
  10. Neural Networks393◆ 1.00×39 topics
  11. Quality of Life366◆ 0.99×57 topics
  12. History353▲ 1.97×52 topics
  13. Renewable Energy342◆ 0.93×53 topics
  14. Environmental Impact321▼ 0.74×67 topics
  15. Identity313▲ 1.68×65 topics
  16. Human Rights304◆ 1.15×74 topics
  17. Healthcare300◆ 1.04×39 topics
  18. Nationalism275▲ 2.3×32 topics
  19. Depression261▲ 1.16×24 topics
  20. Colonialism259▲ 2.1×44 topics
  21. Genetics256▲ 1.43×27 topics
  22. Literature255▲ 1.84×56 topics
  23. Gender252▲ 1.82×52 topics
  24. Religion249▲ 2.1×40 topics
  25. Ethics244▲ 1.98×46 topics
  26. Culture216▲ 1.60×33 topics
  27. Mortality209▲ 1.42×13 topics
  28. Neoliberalism203▲ 2.2×26 topics
  29. Social Support200▲ 1.41×18 topics
  30. Primary Care197▲ 2.0×15 topics
  31. Ethical Considerations187▲ 2.1×20 topics
  32. Ethnicity176▲ 1.83×23 topics
  33. Neuroscience171▲ 2.3×19 topics
  34. Health Disparities169▲ 2.5×9 topics
  35. Feminism164▲ 2.3×25 topics
  36. Population Genetics143▲ 4.1×5 topics
  37. National Identity137▲ 4.7×9 topics
  38. Black Holes115▲ 4.7×3 topics
  39. Empire104▲ 4.9×6 topics
  40. Religious Identity98▲ 6.2×6 topics

What research is done in Edinburgh?

  1. 1 Natural Language Processing Techniques Artificial Intelligence 77 works
  2. 2 Topic Modeling Artificial Intelligence 68 works
  3. 3 Classical Antiquity Studies Anthropology 63 works
  4. 4 Scottish History and National Identity History 61 works
  5. 5 Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock Genetics 60 works
  6. 6 Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena Astronomy and Astrophysics 58 works
  7. 7 Health disparities and outcomes Health 56 works
  8. 8 Byzantine Studies and History Classics 51 works
  9. 9 Blockchain Technology Applications and Security Information Systems 48 works
  10. 10 Ethics and Social Impacts of AI Safety Research 46 works

Research output over time

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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