Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Compare · Countries

Germany vs Switzerland

On research quality in 2022-now, Germany ranks #3 in the world and Switzerland #6, of 189 countries. Germany stands higher in 26 of the 26 fields both publish in, Switzerland in 0.

Research profiles alike: 0.69similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

Compare other countries
vs

Germany

World rank, 2022-now
#3
#3 all time
Works, 2022-now
708k
fractional
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
31%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Theoretical Computer Science, Structural Biology, Classics.

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: excellence for its fields, top-10% rate, citations per work, open access, international co-authorship and growth. Germany leads on 3 of 9 measures: research quality, output and institutions in the world top 100.

Germany 36 Switzerland
  1. #3Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#6
  2. 1.22×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected1.42×
  3. 708kOutputfractional works, 2022-now142k
  4. 10.3%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited13.3%
  5. 21.9Citations per workall time, per fractional work31.9
  6. 7World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1005
  7. 31%Open accessof its works free to read, all time47%
  8. 20%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time34%
  9. -2%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?

Germany stands higher in 26 of 26 fields, Switzerland in 0. Germany leads most in Chemical Engineering (#4 against #9). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Germany 260 Switzerland
  1. #3Agricultural and Biological Sciences#8
  2. #2Arts and Humanities#7
  3. #3Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#5
  4. #3Business, Management and Accounting#10
  5. #4Chemical Engineering#9
  6. #3Chemistry#6
  7. #3Computer Science#5
  8. #4Decision Sciences#6
  9. #3Dentistry#5
  10. #5Earth and Planetary Sciences#7
  11. #4Economics, Econometrics and Finance#7
  12. #7Energy#14
  13. #4Engineering#9
  14. #3Environmental Science#6
  15. #3Health Professions#10
  16. #4Immunology and Microbiology#6
  17. #4Materials Science#8
  18. #4Mathematics#7
  19. #4Medicine#8
  20. #4Neuroscience#6
  21. #4Nursing#11
  22. #4Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#7
  23. #3Physics and Astronomy#6
  24. #4Psychology#8
  25. #4Social Sciences#9
  26. #5Veterinary#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 Germany rankSwitzerland rank Germany top 10%Switzerland top 10% Germany worksSwitzerland works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #3 #8 13.6% 15.7% 18k 4k
Arts and Humanities #2 #7 10.2% 11.6% 34k 6.1k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #3 #5 10.8% 13.7% 41k 8.7k
Business, Management and Accounting #3 #10 10.4% 11.3% 27k 4.1k
Chemical Engineering #4 #9 7.1% 9.7% 2.8k 391
Chemistry #3 #6 9.8% 13.2% 13k 2.1k
Computer Science #3 #5 9.4% 13.3% 48k 8.7k
Decision Sciences #4 #6 10.6% 13.2% 7.1k 1.4k
Dentistry #3 #5 16.7% 20.4% 2.3k 833
Earth and Planetary Sciences #5 #7 11.9% 15.0% 11k 2.7k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #4 #7 11.2% 13.3% 13k 3.4k
Energy #7 #14 8.3% 11.8% 4.9k 785
Engineering #4 #9 7.4% 12.2% 107k 15k
Environmental Science #3 #6 11.6% 14.3% 28k 6.2k
Health Professions #3 #10 10.9% 12.8% 18k 4.3k
Immunology and Microbiology #4 #6 11.0% 14.0% 7.5k 1.8k
Materials Science #4 #8 7.9% 11.8% 20k 3k
Mathematics #4 #7 10.9% 13.7% 9.1k 1.8k
Medicine #4 #8 11.3% 13.7% 137k 35k
Neuroscience #4 #6 10.2% 13.3% 17k 3.5k
Nursing #4 #11 11.7% 15.1% 1.7k 498
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics #4 #7 8.8% 13.1% 1.6k 395
Physics and Astronomy #3 #6 11.1% 14.6% 26k 5.7k
Psychology #4 #8 11.5% 13.1% 27k 5.5k
Social Sciences #4 #9 10.5% 13.3% 85k 16k
Veterinary #5 #7 11.3% 12.7% 1.1k 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.

Germany

▲ 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. Epidemiology27k▼ 0.85×140 topics
  2. Machine Learning22k▼ 0.80×97 topics
  3. Climate Change21k◆ 0.96×131 topics
  4. Deep Learning20k▼ 0.73×85 topics
  5. Sustainability20k◆ 1.02×140 topics
  6. Inflammation15k◆ 0.88×83 topics
  7. Sustainable Development14k◆ 1.14×113 topics
  8. Big Data13k▲ 1.66×37 topics
  9. Globalization13k▼ 0.80×186 topics
  10. Artificial Intelligence12k◆ 1.07×67 topics
  11. Renewable Energy12k◆ 1.04×61 topics
  12. Public Health12k◆ 1.00×77 topics
  13. Identity10k▲ 1.77×80 topics
  14. Governance10k▲ 3.9×20 topics
  15. Digital Transformation9,308▲ 2.1×32 topics
  16. Gender8,935▲ 2.1×58 topics
  17. History8,678▲ 1.55×66 topics
  18. Leadership7,673▲ 1.95×42 topics
  19. Ethics7,501▲ 1.84×62 topics
  20. Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse7,246▲ 23×2 topics
  21. Bildungsungleichheit5,174▲ 23×1 topic
  22. Ethnografisches Schreiben5,174▲ 23×1 topic
  23. Mobile Health5,091▲ 4.3×3 topics
  24. Customer Experience4,931▲ 3.7×4 topics
  25. Fluid Dynamics4,685▲ 4.1×6 topics
  26. Business Models4,055▲ 6.9×4 topics
  27. Organizational Change3,925▲ 6.2×10 topics
  28. Socioeconomic Status3,797▲ 9.1×4 topics
  29. Epidemiological Study3,750▲ 6.8×4 topics
  30. Bildung3,692▲ 15×3 topics
  31. Technology Innovation3,652▲ 13×3 topics
  32. Omni-Channel Strategy3,586▲ 21×1 topic
  33. Data Collection3,486▲ 15×3 topics
  34. Materials Science3,439▲ 11×4 topics
  35. Strategic Marketing3,399▲ 20×2 topics
  36. Digital Capital3,382▲ 24×1 topic
  37. Value Chains3,382▲ 24×1 topic
  38. Germany3,367▲ 22×1 topic
  39. Health Surveys3,367▲ 22×1 topic
  40. Engineering3,346▲ 9.1×7 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?

Germany has out-published Switzerland every year since 1980.

still counting100k200kGermany185k 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 counting2.5%5.0%7.5%Germany3.1% 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%Switzerland12.8% in 2025Germany10.0% 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.

Germany 50 Switzerland
  1. 3In the world top 501
  2. 7In the top 1005
  3. 39In the top 5009
  4. 61In the top 1,00019
  5. #4Elite 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, Germany or Switzerland?

Germany publishes 5.0× as much research as Switzerland in 2022-now (708k against 142k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Germany or Switzerland?

13.3% of Switzerland's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 10.3% for Germany.

Is Germany or Switzerland growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +0% against 2018-21 for Switzerland, and -2% for Germany.

Which has more open access research, Germany or Switzerland?

47% of Switzerland's research is free to read, against 31% of Germany's.

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

Germany holds 7 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Switzerland 5; in the top 1,000 it is 61 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%.

Germany

  1. 1Max Planck Society15.7% top 10% · 24k works
  2. 2Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres10.5% top 10% · 37k works
  3. 3Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München12.5% top 10% · 18k works
  4. 4Technical University of Munich12.7% top 10% · 18k works
  5. 5Heidelberg University12.9% top 10% · 16k works
  6. 6Universität Hamburg12.1% top 10% · 15k 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.

Germany

  1. 1 Matthias Mann #32 worldwide 308k citations · 1,470 works
  2. 2 Peer Bork #127 worldwide 396k citations · 955 works
  3. 3 Sebastiano Bernuzzi #129 worldwide 33k citations · 348 works
  4. 4 A. Ramos-Buades #173 worldwide 44k citations · 194 works
  5. 5 S. Husa #175 worldwide 108k citations · 420 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

Compare any two