Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Compare · Countries

Switzerland vs United Kingdom

On research quality in 2022-now, The United Kingdom ranks #4 in the world and Switzerland #6, of 189 countries. Switzerland stands higher in 0 of the 26 fields both publish in, the United Kingdom in 26.

Research profiles alike: 0.83very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

Compare other countries
vs

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.

United Kingdom

World rank, 2022-now
#4
#4 all time
Works, 2022-now
727k
fractional
Top-10% rate
13.2%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
37%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Medical Terminology, Classics, Space and Planetary Science.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Switzerland leads on 5 of 9 measures: citation excellence for its fields, citations per work, open access, international co-authorship and growth. The United Kingdom leads on 3 of 9 measures: research quality, output and institutions in the world top 100. The two are level on top-10% rate.

Switzerland 51 level3 United Kingdom
  1. #6Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#4
  2. 1.42×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected1.20×
  3. 142kOutputfractional works, 2022-now727k
  4. 13.3%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited13.2%
  5. 31.9Citations per workall time, per fractional work29.5
  6. 5World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1008
  7. 47%Open accessof its works free to read, all time37%
  8. 34%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time23%
  9. +0%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change-2%

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, citation excellence and the top-10% rate are explained in the methodology.

Who leads in each field?

Switzerland stands higher in 0 of 26 fields, United Kingdom in 26. The United Kingdom leads most in Energy (#4 against #14). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Switzerland 026 United Kingdom
  1. #8Agricultural and Biological Sciences#4
  2. #7Arts and Humanities#3
  3. #5Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#4
  4. #10Business, Management and Accounting#4
  5. #9Chemical Engineering#3
  6. #6Chemistry#4
  7. #5Computer Science#4
  8. #6Decision Sciences#3
  9. #5Dentistry#4
  10. #7Earth and Planetary Sciences#3
  11. #7Economics, Econometrics and Finance#3
  12. #14Energy#4
  13. #9Engineering#3
  14. #6Environmental Science#5
  15. #10Health Professions#4
  16. #6Immunology and Microbiology#3
  17. #8Materials Science#3
  18. #7Mathematics#2
  19. #8Medicine#3
  20. #6Neuroscience#3
  21. #11Nursing#3
  22. #7Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#3
  23. #6Physics and Astronomy#4
  24. #8Psychology#3
  25. #9Social Sciences#3
  26. #7Veterinary#3

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 Switzerland rankUnited Kingdom rank Switzerland top 10%United Kingdom top 10% Switzerland worksUnited Kingdom works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #8 #4 15.7% 13.8% 4k 16k
Arts and Humanities #7 #3 11.6% 13.5% 6.1k 36k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #5 #4 13.7% 12.8% 8.7k 36k
Business, Management and Accounting #10 #4 11.3% 16.0% 4.1k 21k
Chemical Engineering #9 #3 9.7% 10.9% 391 1.7k
Chemistry #6 #4 13.2% 12.1% 2.1k 7k
Computer Science #5 #4 13.3% 12.9% 8.7k 42k
Decision Sciences #6 #3 13.2% 13.4% 1.4k 8k
Dentistry #5 #4 20.4% 12.6% 833 2.8k
Earth and Planetary Sciences #7 #3 15.0% 13.2% 2.7k 12k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #7 #3 13.3% 12.8% 3.4k 21k
Energy #14 #4 11.8% 12.5% 785 4k
Engineering #9 #3 12.2% 12.5% 15k 77k
Environmental Science #6 #5 14.3% 13.2% 6.2k 30k
Health Professions #10 #4 12.8% 12.3% 4.3k 30k
Immunology and Microbiology #6 #3 14.0% 13.5% 1.8k 7.4k
Materials Science #8 #3 11.8% 11.8% 3k 13k
Mathematics #7 #2 13.7% 13.0% 1.8k 7.6k
Medicine #8 #3 13.7% 12.8% 35k 174k
Neuroscience #6 #3 13.3% 12.8% 3.5k 16k
Nursing #11 #3 15.1% 12.1% 498 3k
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics #7 #3 13.1% 13.2% 395 1.7k
Physics and Astronomy #6 #4 14.6% 12.3% 5.7k 18k
Psychology #8 #3 13.1% 13.6% 5.5k 36k
Social Sciences #9 #3 13.3% 14.6% 16k 105k
Veterinary #7 #3 12.7% 14.1% 392 1.7k

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.

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

United Kingdom

▲ 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. Epidemiology42k▲ 1.28×140 topics
  2. Globalization23k▲ 1.42×186 topics
  3. Machine Learning23k▼ 0.83×97 topics
  4. Climate Change23k◆ 1.02×132 topics
  5. Deep Learning22k▼ 0.76×85 topics
  6. Public Health19k▲ 1.54×77 topics
  7. Inflammation18k◆ 1.01×83 topics
  8. Mental Health18k▲ 1.49×48 topics
  9. Sustainability17k▼ 0.85×140 topics
  10. Quality of Life17k▲ 1.40×61 topics
  11. Treatment13k▲ 1.29×52 topics
  12. Risk Factors12k▲ 1.32×37 topics
  13. Healthcare11k◆ 1.14×44 topics
  14. Identity11k▲ 1.79×80 topics
  15. Oxidative Stress10k▼ 0.77×63 topics
  16. Human Rights10k▲ 1.23×91 topics
  17. Cardiovascular Disease10k◆ 1.10×39 topics
  18. Depression10k▲ 1.39×26 topics
  19. COVID-1910k◆ 0.94×34 topics
  20. Gender9,693▲ 2.2×58 topics
  21. History9,285▲ 1.61×66 topics
  22. Diagnosis9,172▲ 1.19×41 topics
  23. Mortality8,660▲ 1.84×13 topics
  24. Genetics8,462▲ 1.44×27 topics
  25. Colonialism8,316▲ 2.1×52 topics
  26. Primary Care8,142▲ 2.6×15 topics
  27. Ethics8,125▲ 1.94×62 topics
  28. Nationalism7,909▲ 2.1×34 topics
  29. Economic Growth7,662◆ 1.13×38 topics
  30. Neoliberalism7,450▲ 2.5×30 topics
  31. Literature7,417▲ 1.63×64 topics
  32. Religion7,348▲ 1.91×43 topics
  33. Ethical Considerations6,913▲ 2.4×21 topics
  34. Resilience6,440▲ 1.58×19 topics
  35. Complications6,344▲ 1.54×17 topics
  36. Anxiety6,336▲ 1.61×12 topics
  37. Prevalence6,086▲ 1.80×15 topics
  38. Neuroscience5,356▲ 2.1×20 topics
  39. Feminism5,176▲ 2.1×27 topics
  40. Health Disparities4,977▲ 2.3×9 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?

The United Kingdom has out-published Switzerland every year since 1980.

still counting100k200kUnited Kingdom190k 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 counting5.0%10%15%United Kingdom3.2% 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 2025United Kingdom12.3% 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.

Switzerland 05 United Kingdom
  1. 1In the world top 505
  2. 5In the top 1008
  3. 9In the top 50035
  4. 19In the top 1,00063
  5. #10Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#3

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, Switzerland or United Kingdom?

The United Kingdom publishes 5.1× as much research as Switzerland in 2022-now (727k against 142k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Switzerland or United Kingdom?

13.3% of Switzerland's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 13.2% for the United Kingdom.

Is Switzerland or United Kingdom growing faster?

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

Which has more open access research, Switzerland or United Kingdom?

47% of Switzerland's research is free to read, against 37% of the United Kingdom's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Switzerland or United Kingdom?

The United Kingdom holds 8 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Switzerland 5; in the top 1,000 it is 63 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%.

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

United Kingdom

  1. 1University of Oxford15.8% top 10% · 29k works
  2. 2University of Cambridge14.9% top 10% · 25k works
  3. 3University College London15.4% top 10% · 33k works
  4. 4Imperial College London14.7% top 10% · 21k works
  5. 5University of Edinburgh13.4% top 10% · 18k works
  6. 6University of Manchester13.5% top 10% · 17k 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.

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

United Kingdom

  1. 1 Sandro Tacchella #30 worldwide 21k citations · 500 works
  2. 2 Sam Abbott #39 worldwide 26k citations · 20,935 works
  3. 3 Sebastian Funk #64 worldwide 37k citations · 21,100 works
  4. 4 Terrie E. Moffitt #82 worldwide 195k citations · 924 works
  5. 5 Hannah Übler #91 worldwide 12k citations · 274 works

Other comparisons

Compare any two