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Australia vs Switzerland

On research quality in 2022-now, Switzerland ranks #6 in the world and Australia #7, of 189 countries. Australia stands higher in 13 of the 26 fields both publish in, Switzerland in 13.

Research profiles alike: 0.50similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Australia

World rank, 2022-now
#7
#8 all time
Works, 2022-now
343k
fractional
Top-10% rate
15.0%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
40%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Research and Theory, Public Administration, Medical Terminology.

Switzerland

World rank, 2022-now
#6
#6 all time
Works, 2022-now
142k
fractional
Top-10% rate
13.3%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
47%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Structural Biology, Medical Terminology, Nuclear and High Energy Physics.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Switzerland leads on 6 of 9 measures: research quality, excellence for its fields, citations per work, open access, international co-authorship and growth. Australia leads on 2 of 9 measures: output and top-10% rate. The two are level on institutions in the world top 100.

Australia 21 level6 Switzerland
  1. #7Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#6
  2. 1.29×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected1.42×
  3. 343kOutputfractional works, 2022-now142k
  4. 15.0%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited13.3%
  5. 28.5Citations per workall time, per fractional work31.9
  6. 5World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1005
  7. 40%Open accessof its works free to read, all time47%
  8. 26%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time34%
  9. -3%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+0%

A rank is drawn as its standing: the longer the bar, the nearer the top. Anything else is drawn against the larger of the two, and two values a hair apart are called level. Quality, excellence and the top-10% rate are explained in the methodology.

Who leads in each field?

Australia stands higher in 13 of 26 fields, Switzerland in 13. Australia leads most in Energy (#6 against #14); Switzerland leads most in Chemistry (#6 against #12). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Australia 1313 Switzerland
  1. #6Agricultural and Biological Sciences#8
  2. #9Arts and Humanities#7
  3. #8Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#5
  4. #8Business, Management and Accounting#10
  5. #5Chemical Engineering#9
  6. #12Chemistry#6
  7. #6Computer Science#5
  8. #7Decision Sciences#6
  9. #8Dentistry#5
  10. #6Earth and Planetary Sciences#7
  11. #8Economics, Econometrics and Finance#7
  12. #6Energy#14
  13. #5Engineering#9
  14. #4Environmental Science#6
  15. #5Health Professions#10
  16. #7Immunology and Microbiology#6
  17. #6Materials Science#8
  18. #12Mathematics#7
  19. #9Medicine#8
  20. #9Neuroscience#6
  21. #7Nursing#11
  22. #9Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#7
  23. #12Physics and Astronomy#6
  24. #5Psychology#8
  25. #7Social Sciences#9
  26. #6Veterinary#7

Standing is the percentile of world rank within each field, 2022-now; the printed number is the rank itself. A dash means the field is too small there to rank. How sides are compared.

The numbers behind each field

Click a heading to sort. The side that does better in a pair of columns is shaded: a lower rank, a higher rate, more works.

Field Australia rankSwitzerland rank Australia top 10%Switzerland top 10% Australia worksSwitzerland works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #6 #8 15.4% 15.7% 12k 4k
Arts and Humanities #9 #7 14.3% 11.6% 9.7k 6.1k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #8 #5 13.0% 13.7% 16k 8.7k
Business, Management and Accounting #8 #10 16.3% 11.3% 9.8k 4.1k
Chemical Engineering #5 #9 15.5% 9.7% 779 391
Chemistry #12 #6 12.8% 13.2% 2.8k 2.1k
Computer Science #6 #5 16.7% 13.3% 20k 8.7k
Decision Sciences #7 #6 15.0% 13.2% 3.7k 1.4k
Dentistry #8 #5 18.7% 20.4% 1.1k 833
Earth and Planetary Sciences #6 #7 14.0% 15.0% 6.3k 2.7k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #8 #7 12.4% 13.3% 8.1k 3.4k
Energy #6 #14 17.0% 11.8% 2.7k 785
Engineering #5 #9 16.2% 12.2% 37k 15k
Environmental Science #4 #6 14.3% 14.3% 21k 6.2k
Health Professions #5 #10 15.4% 12.8% 16k 4.3k
Immunology and Microbiology #7 #6 13.3% 14.0% 3.6k 1.8k
Materials Science #6 #8 15.8% 11.8% 6.8k 3k
Mathematics #12 #7 13.5% 13.7% 2.5k 1.8k
Medicine #9 #8 14.0% 13.7% 80k 35k
Neuroscience #9 #6 12.8% 13.3% 7.1k 3.5k
Nursing #7 #11 15.7% 15.1% 1.9k 498
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics #9 #7 14.2% 13.1% 814 395
Physics and Astronomy #12 #6 12.5% 14.6% 5.8k 5.7k
Psychology #5 #8 16.5% 13.1% 18k 5.5k
Social Sciences #7 #9 16.0% 13.3% 47k 16k
Veterinary #6 #7 14.8% 12.7% 738 392

What is each known for?

The keywords that describe each side's research, by fractional works in 2022-now and weighted toward what it does more of than the world.

Australia

▲ more of its work than of the world's◆ about the world's share▼ less than the world's
All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Epidemiology21k▲ 1.37×140 topics
  2. Climate Change15k▲ 1.45×132 topics
  3. Machine Learning11k▼ 0.86×97 topics
  4. Deep Learning11k▼ 0.79×85 topics
  5. Mental Health9,669▲ 1.74×48 topics
  6. Sustainability9,393◆ 0.99×140 topics
  7. Globalization9,017▲ 1.18×185 topics
  8. Public Health8,739▲ 1.54×77 topics
  9. Inflammation8,511◆ 1.03×83 topics
  10. Quality of Life8,357▲ 1.49×61 topics
  11. Risk Factors6,421▲ 1.50×37 topics
  12. Environmental Impact6,048◆ 0.91×74 topics
  13. Cardiovascular Disease5,888▲ 1.33×39 topics
  14. Depression5,660▲ 1.65×26 topics
  15. Treatment5,636▲ 1.19×52 topics
  16. Oxidative Stress5,147▼ 0.80×63 topics
  17. Healthcare5,064◆ 1.14×44 topics
  18. Social Media4,900◆ 0.91×41 topics
  19. Resilience4,114▲ 2.1×19 topics
  20. Metabolic Syndrome4,006▲ 1.27×24 topics
  21. Genetics3,863▲ 1.40×27 topics
  22. Biodiversity3,847▲ 1.30×38 topics
  23. Identity3,769▲ 1.34×79 topics
  24. Social Support3,667▲ 1.75×20 topics
  25. Mortality3,644▲ 1.65×13 topics
  26. Prevalence3,622▲ 2.3×15 topics
  27. Global Burden3,532▲ 1.66×12 topics
  28. Anxiety3,449▲ 1.86×12 topics
  29. Aging3,396▲ 1.60×19 topics
  30. Physical Activity3,364▲ 1.78×13 topics
  31. Ethics3,337▲ 1.69×62 topics
  32. Primary Care3,139▲ 2.2×15 topics
  33. Ethical Considerations3,109▲ 2.3×21 topics
  34. Adolescents3,045▲ 2.1×11 topics
  35. Neoliberalism2,940▲ 2.1×30 topics
  36. Health Equity2,880▲ 2.5×6 topics
  37. Vulnerability2,625▲ 2.9×9 topics
  38. Population Dynamics2,566▲ 2.6×13 topics
  39. Health Disparities2,466▲ 2.4×9 topics
  40. Decolonization1,706▲ 5.4×8 topics

Switzerland

▲ more of its work than of the world's◆ about the world's share▼ less than the world's
All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Epidemiology7,969▲ 1.24×140 topics
  2. Climate Change5,217▲ 1.19×130 topics
  3. Machine Learning4,341▼ 0.81×96 topics
  4. Deep Learning3,854▼ 0.69×84 topics
  5. Inflammation3,527◆ 1.02×83 topics
  6. Sustainability3,017▼ 0.76×139 topics
  7. Globalization2,855◆ 0.90×182 topics
  8. Public Health2,728▲ 1.16×77 topics
  9. Quality of Life2,668◆ 1.14×61 topics
  10. Treatment2,429▲ 1.23×52 topics
  11. Mental Health2,403◆ 1.04×48 topics
  12. Oxidative Stress2,245▼ 0.84×63 topics
  13. Sustainable Development2,080▼ 0.82×107 topics
  14. Cardiovascular Disease1,986◆ 1.08×39 topics
  15. Diagnosis1,966▲ 1.30×41 topics
  16. Artificial Intelligence1,963▼ 0.85×66 topics
  17. Risk Factors1,952◆ 1.10×37 topics
  18. Neural Networks1,826▼ 0.73×41 topics
  19. Big Data1,748◆ 1.13×34 topics
  20. Cancer1,742▼ 0.80×59 topics
  21. Clinical Trials1,586▲ 1.47×19 topics
  22. Depression1,550◆ 1.09×26 topics
  23. Innovation1,537◆ 0.92×88 topics
  24. Identity1,526▲ 1.30×80 topics
  25. Management1,520▲ 1.18×40 topics
  26. Immunotherapy1,474▲ 1.26×19 topics
  27. Biodiversity1,400◆ 1.13×38 topics
  28. Gender1,400▲ 1.61×58 topics
  29. Complications1,382▲ 1.72×17 topics
  30. Neurological Disorders1,363▲ 1.47×20 topics
  31. Rehabilitation1,256▲ 1.94×13 topics
  32. Ethics1,247▲ 1.52×62 topics
  33. Mortality1,218▲ 1.32×13 topics
  34. Global Burden1,158▲ 1.31×12 topics
  35. Global Warming1,101▲ 1.59×16 topics
  36. Guidelines1,096▲ 1.43×13 topics
  37. Governance1,054▲ 2.0×20 topics
  38. Magnetic Resonance Imaging981▲ 2.4×8 topics
  39. Biomechanics950▲ 1.92×12 topics
  40. Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse674▲ 11×2 topics

Size is fractional works in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of the side's work against its share of the world's. Each word links to the topic it comes from most.

How has their output grown?

Australia has out-published Switzerland every year since 1980.

still counting50k100kAustralia88k in 2025Switzerland35k in 20251990200020102020

Fractional works per year.

Their share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share, because all of science grows. Each line is a side as a percentage of every work published that year.

still counting1.0%2.0%3.0%Australia1.5% in 2025Switzerland0.60% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

The share of each side's works, year by year, that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. The average of all institutions is 10.0% (why not 10%).

still counting10%20%Australia14.5% in 2025Switzerland12.8% in 2025200020102020

A year with under 1% of the side's peak output is left out: a rate over a handful of papers says nothing. The latest years are still being cited.

Who holds more of the world's best institutions?

A country's average quality and the number of institutions it holds at the very top can disagree, and both are worth knowing. The counts are nested: an institution in the top 50 is also in the top 100.

Australia 41 level0 Switzerland
  1. 3In the world top 501
  2. 5In the top 1005
  3. 19In the top 5009
  4. 35In the top 1,00019
  5. #6Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#10

Institutions ranked on research quality, 2022-now. Elite capacity counts a country's institutions by their worldwide rank, weighted so a place at #1 counts for more than one at #480.

Which publishes more research, Australia or Switzerland?

Australia publishes 2.4× as much research as Switzerland in 2022-now (343k against 142k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Australia or Switzerland?

15.0% of Australia's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 13.3% for Switzerland.

Is Australia or Switzerland growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +0% against 2018-21 for Switzerland, and -3% for Australia.

Which has more open access research, Australia or Switzerland?

47% of Switzerland's research is free to read, against 40% of Australia's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Australia or Switzerland?

Australia holds 5 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Switzerland 5; in the top 1,000 it is 35 against 19.

Which institutions lead in each country?

The highest-ranked institutions on each side on research quality, 2022-now. The percentage is each institution's own top-10% rate: the share of its works that are among the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. Every figure stands alone, so they do not add up to 100%.

Australia

  1. 1The University of Melbourne14.9% top 10% · 23k works
  2. 2UNSW Sydney15.7% top 10% · 19k works
  3. 3Monash University16.1% top 10% · 20k works
  4. 4The University of Queensland15.0% top 10% · 20k works
  5. 5The University of Sydney14.4% top 10% · 25k works
  6. 6Australian National University13.7% top 10% · 11k works

Switzerland

  1. 1ETH Zurich17.6% top 10% · 14k works
  2. 2University of Zurich14.9% top 10% · 15k works
  3. 3University of Basel14.8% top 10% · 7.8k works
  4. 4École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne14.3% top 10% · 8.6k works
  5. 5University of Lausanne13.2% top 10% · 9.4k works
  6. 6University of Geneva14.0% top 10% · 8.6k works

The number is the rank inside the country. The track on each row is the top-10% rate; the tick is the average of all institutions, 10.0% (how it is set): teal above it, red below. The ranking is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each institution's own topics predict and adds a small reward for size, so the rates do not fall in order.

Who are the top researchers on each side?

The most cited researchers on each side, among those ranked.

Australia

  1. 1 Seyedali Mirjalili #9 worldwide 154k citations · 823 works
  2. 2 Weng Marc Lim #78 worldwide 42k citations · 417 works
  3. 3 Shulei Chou #90 worldwide 63k citations · 657 works
  4. 4 Shi‐Zhang Qiao #130 worldwide 159k citations · 811 works
  5. 5 X. J. Zhu #134 worldwide 95k citations · 301 works

Switzerland

  1. 1 Shubhanshu Tiwari #202 worldwide 84k citations · 277 works
  2. 2 Thomas Ward Crowther #324 worldwide 33k citations · 498 works
  3. 3 Michaël Grätzel #935 worldwide 458k citations · 2,524 works
  4. 4 Ruedi Aebersold #982 worldwide 176k citations · 1,184 works
  5. 5 Shinichi Sunagawa #1,118 worldwide 57k citations · 417 works

Other comparisons

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