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Kyoto University vs RIKEN

On research quality in 2022-now, Kyoto University ranks #215 in the world and RIKEN #306, of 22,385 institutions. Kyoto University stands higher in 12 of the 17 fields both publish in, RIKEN in 5.

Research profiles alike: 0.89very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Kyoto University

Japan · Kyoto

World rank, 2022-now
#215
#240 all time
Works, 2022-now
18k
fractional
Top-10% rate
7.6%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
42%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Condensed Matter Physics, Geometry and Topology, Mathematical Physics.

RIKEN

Japan · Wako

World rank, 2022-now
#306
#245 all time
Works, 2022-now
5.3k
fractional
Top-10% rate
11.5%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
43%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Structural Biology, Computational Mathematics, Condensed Matter Physics.

Who leads, measure by measure?

RIKEN leads on 5 of 8 measures: citation excellence for its fields, top-10% rate, citations per work, international co-authorship and growth. Kyoto University leads on 2 of 8 measures: research quality and output. The two are level on open access.

Kyoto University 21 level5 RIKEN
  1. #215Research qualityworld rank of 22,385 institutions, 2022-now#306
  2. 0.85×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected1.16×
  3. 18kOutputfractional works, 2022-now5.3k
  4. 7.6%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited11.5%
  5. 25.5Citations per workall time, per fractional work33.8
  6. 42%Open accessof its works free to read, all time43%
  7. 14%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time26%
  8. -14%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change-10%

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?

Kyoto University stands higher in 12 of 17 fields, RIKEN in 5. Kyoto University leads most in Environmental Science (#344 against #802); RIKEN leads most in Computer Science (#188 against #316). Each bar is that side's standing among all institutions ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Kyoto University 125 RIKEN
  1. #234Agricultural and Biological Sciences#331
  2. #352Arts and Humanities-
  3. #238Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#162
  4. #140Chemistry#184
  5. #316Computer Science#188
  6. #270Economics, Econometrics and Finance-
  7. #240Engineering#385
  8. #344Environmental Science#802
  9. #315Health Professions-
  10. -Immunology and Microbiology#191
  11. #132Materials Science#177
  12. #71Mathematics#175
  13. #271Medicine#394
  14. -Neuroscience#136
  15. #52Physics and Astronomy#48
  16. #303Psychology-
  17. #346Social Sciences-

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 Kyoto University rankRIKEN rank Kyoto University top 10%RIKEN top 10% Kyoto University worksRIKEN works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #234 #331 7.3% 12.8% 557 152
Arts and Humanities #352 - 9.2% - 188 -
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #238 #162 6.7% 10.2% 1.4k 766
Chemistry #140 #184 7.1% 11.1% 607 185
Computer Science #316 #188 6.2% 12.0% 905 525
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #270 - 7.5% - 198 -
Engineering #240 #385 7.0% 10.4% 2.5k 571
Environmental Science #344 #802 5.9% 8.5% 791 94
Health Professions #315 - 10.4% - 153 -
Immunology and Microbiology - #191 - 13.0% - 73
Materials Science #132 #177 6.7% 8.5% 1k 372
Mathematics #71 #175 8.5% 13.0% 450 92
Medicine #271 #394 7.9% 14.5% 3.1k 418
Neuroscience - #136 - 11.4% - 216
Physics and Astronomy #52 #48 9.2% 12.3% 1.2k 899
Psychology #303 - 7.7% - 382 -
Social Sciences #346 - 9.4% - 750 -

Where does each put its research?

Not who is better, but what each side chooses to work on. A country or institution that puts twice the world's share of its research into a field sits at 2×, whatever its size.

  1. Business, Management and Accounting0.3× 0.0×
  2. Arts and Humanities0.4× 0.1×
  3. Social Sciences0.4× 0.1×
  4. Health Professions0.4× 0.1×
  5. Economics, Econometrics and Finance0.6× 0.2×
  6. Environmental Science1.0× 0.4×
  7. Medicine1.0× 0.5×
  8. Earth and Planetary Sciences1.8× 1.0×
  9. Psychology0.8× 0.5×
  10. Chemical Engineering1.9× 1.1×
  11. Energy1.1× 0.7×
  12. Dentistry0.2× 0.2×
  13. Mathematics2.4× 1.7×
  14. Nursing0.7× 0.5×
  15. Engineering1.0× 0.8×
  16. Decision Sciences0.6× 0.5×
  17. Agricultural and Biological Sciences0.8× 0.7×
  18. Chemistry2.4× 2.6×
  19. Veterinary0.5× 0.6×
  20. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics0.9× 1.1×
  21. Materials Science1.8× 2.3×
  22. Immunology and Microbiology1.2× 1.6×
  23. Neuroscience1.6× 2.9×
  24. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology1.6× 3.1×
  25. Computer Science0.7× 1.4×
  26. Physics and Astronomy3.5× 8.4×
Kyoto UniversityRIKEN

Location quotient in 2022-now: the share of each side's research in the field over the world's share. 1× is the world's balance; the axis runs from a quarter of it to four times. Fields where Kyoto University leans further are at the top, RIKEN's at the bottom. How research profiles are compared.

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.

Kyoto University

▲ 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. Climate Change548◆ 1.12×102 topics
  2. Epidemiology522▼ 0.73×130 topics
  3. Machine Learning422▼ 0.70×88 topics
  4. Inflammation389◆ 1.01×83 topics
  5. Deep Learning373▼ 0.60×80 topics
  6. Nanoparticles330▲ 1.45×43 topics
  7. Biomedical Applications310▲ 1.45×35 topics
  8. Oxidative Stress304◆ 1.02×63 topics
  9. Catalysis294▲ 2.5×28 topics
  10. Cancer263◆ 1.08×55 topics
  11. Immunotherapy204▲ 1.56×19 topics
  12. Mechanical Properties195◆ 1.10×38 topics
  13. Self-Assembly185▲ 3.2×12 topics
  14. Chemotherapy185▲ 1.44×25 topics
  15. Nanocomposites183▲ 1.28×21 topics
  16. Biodiversity178▲ 1.29×35 topics
  17. Tissue Engineering171▲ 1.56×13 topics
  18. Gene Expression157▲ 1.39×20 topics
  19. Superconductivity148▲ 4.8×9 topics
  20. Nanostructures142▲ 1.93×17 topics
  21. Crystal Growth116▲ 2.4×12 topics
  22. Tomography112▲ 3.5×5 topics
  23. Chemical Sensors111▲ 2.7×3 topics
  24. Molecular Dynamics110▲ 3.5×6 topics
  25. Black Holes104▲ 6.0×3 topics
  26. Electronic Structure98▲ 3.0×8 topics
  27. Transition Metal Complexes93▲ 5.6×4 topics
  28. Quantum Gravity89▲ 5.8×4 topics
  29. Supernovae80▲ 5.4×2 topics
  30. Electronic Structure Calculations78▲ 6.6×2 topics
  31. Biological Applications73▲ 6.0×6 topics
  32. Drug Design72▲ 6.2×5 topics
  33. Quantum Entanglement71▲ 6.1×2 topics
  34. String Theory69▲ 6.9×2 topics
  35. Differentiation69▲ 6.1×2 topics
  36. Symplectic Geometry68▲ 10×2 topics
  37. Pluripotent Stem Cells68▲ 7.3×2 topics
  38. Gravitational Waves67▲ 6.5×2 topics
  39. Field Theories64▲ 8.0×1 topic
  40. Holographic64▲ 8.0×1 topic

RIKEN

▲ 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. Deep Learning237▲ 1.30×78 topics
  2. Machine Learning226▲ 1.28×74 topics
  3. Neural Networks121▲ 1.48×33 topics
  4. Entanglement117▲ 15×4 topics
  5. Oxidative Stress116▲ 1.32×60 topics
  6. Nanoparticles114▲ 1.71×41 topics
  7. Biomedical Applications113▲ 1.80×35 topics
  8. Superconductivity111▲ 12×9 topics
  9. Gene Expression100▲ 3.0×20 topics
  10. Molecular Dynamics98▲ 10×6 topics
  11. Spintronics88▲ 13×4 topics
  12. Biosensors84▲ 3.2×12 topics
  13. Electronic Structure81▲ 8.5×8 topics
  14. Quantum Information74▲ 12×3 topics
  15. Topological Order73▲ 29×2 topics
  16. Tomography72▲ 7.7×5 topics
  17. Renormalization Group68▲ 23×2 topics
  18. Electronic Structure Calculations64▲ 19×2 topics
  19. Quantum Simulation61▲ 14×2 topics
  20. Quantum Computing61▲ 11×4 topics
  21. Nucleosynthesis58▲ 22×3 topics
  22. Topological Insulators57▲ 23×2 topics
  23. Superconducting Circuits56▲ 15×2 topics
  24. Spectroscopy55▲ 6.2×10 topics
  25. Lattice QCD54▲ 17×2 topics
  26. Quantum53▲ 13×2 topics
  27. Computation52▲ 14×2 topics
  28. Cryptography52▲ 8.2×2 topics
  29. Metrology51▲ 16×1 topic
  30. Photon51▲ 16×1 topic
  31. Nonlinear Optics50▲ 8.9×4 topics
  32. Spin Dynamics49▲ 23×2 topics
  33. Cuprate Superconductors48▲ 27×1 topic
  34. High-Temperature Superconductivity48▲ 27×1 topic
  35. Electron Spin48▲ 25×1 topic
  36. Semiconductor Quantum Dots48▲ 25×1 topic
  37. Transcription Factors47▲ 6.9×5 topics
  38. Small-Angle Scattering46▲ 17×2 topics
  39. Quantum Spin Hall Effect46▲ 25×1 topic
  40. Superconductors46▲ 25×1 topic

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?

Kyoto University has out-published RIKEN every year since 1980.

still counting2k4k6kKyoto University3,991 in 2025RIKEN1,144 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 counting0.20%0.40%0.60%Kyoto University0.068% in 2025RIKEN0.019% 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 counting5%10%15%RIKEN10.6% in 2025Kyoto University7.7% 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.

Which publishes more research, Kyoto University or RIKEN?

Kyoto University publishes 3.4× as much research as RIKEN in 2022-now (18k against 5.3k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Kyoto University or RIKEN?

11.5% of RIKEN's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 7.6% for Kyoto University.

Is Kyoto University or RIKEN growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was -10% against 2018-21 for RIKEN, and -14% for Kyoto University.

Which has more open access research, Kyoto University or RIKEN?

43% of RIKEN's research is free to read, against 42% of Kyoto University's.

Who are the top researchers on each side?

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

Kyoto University

  1. 1 Shimon Sakaguchi #5,730 worldwide 100k citations · 826 works
  2. 2 Atsushi Togo #8,065 worldwide 28k citations · 15,749 works
  3. 3 Masatoshi Takeichi #10,618 worldwide 56k citations · 356 works
  4. 4 Mitinori Saitou #13,527 worldwide 28k citations · 207 works
  5. 5 Makoto Mark Taketo #14,793 worldwide 54k citations · 691 works

RIKEN

  1. 1 Zhaomin Hou #41,242 worldwide 25k citations · 850 works
  2. 2 M. Ishihara #45,510 worldwide 19k citations · 223 works
  3. 3 Yasutomo Segawa #56,390 worldwide 28k citations · 576 works
  4. 4 Masayoshi Nishiura #64,753 worldwide 12k citations · 281 works
  5. 5 Koji Takio #76,650 worldwide 26k citations · 238 works