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Science in Spain

Spain ranks #10 of 192 countries on research quality in 2022–2025 (#13 all time), with 435k research works and 18.1% of them in the world's top 10%.

World rank, 2022–2025
#10
of 192 · #13 all time
Works, 2022–2025
435k
▲ 18% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate
18.1%
record average 16.5%
In the world top 100
0
20 in the top 1,000
Open access
52%
world 63%

What is Spain strongest at in science?

On research quality in 2022–2025, Spain ranks highest in Social Sciences (#7 of 151), Business, Management and Accounting (#6 of 113) and Medicine (#10 of 155). Relative to its size it is most specialised in Life-span and Life-course Studies, General Social Sciences and General Arts and Humanities.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorks
Social SciencesField #7 of 151 18.2%66,316 Institutions
Business, Management and AccountingField #6 of 113 27.7%10,331 Institutions
MedicineField #10 of 155 14.5%99,888 Institutions
EducationSubfield #8 of 115 23.5%11,364 Institutions
PsychologyField #8 of 109 20.1%17,048 Institutions
Language and LinguisticsSubfield #5 of 67 16.5%4,535 Institutions
Arts and HumanitiesField #8 of 106 15.8%34,668 Institutions
HistorySubfield #3 of 38 15.0%6,528 Institutions
Environmental ScienceField #10 of 125 20.2%21,496 Institutions
PhysiologySubfield #6 of 68 18.2%5,019 Institutions
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #11 of 122 19.5%15,754 Institutions
Health ProfessionsField #10 of 108 16.8%11,055 Institutions

Where its research is concentrated

Location quotient: how much more — or less — of each node it does than its size predicts. Drawn around 1×, where “twice the world share” and “half of it” are the same distance apart in opposite directions. A volume reading, which on a country axis is largely population and industrial structure.

  1. Life-span and Life-course StudiesSubfield · 525.1 works7.3×
  2. General Social SciencesSubfield · 2,999.9 works6.3×
  3. General Arts and HumanitiesSubfield · 527.5 works5.8×
  4. HistorySubfield · 6,527.5 works4.7×
  5. ConservationSubfield · 1,806.2 works4.4×
  6. Industrial relationsSubfield · 56.9 works4.3×
  7. ArcheologySubfield · 5,482.5 works4.2×
  8. Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality ManagementSubfield · 366.2 works3.7×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

The whole field profile

All 26 fields at once. A specialist and a generalist produce the same ranked list and a completely different shape.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 0.83× its world share, 17k worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.95× its world share, 22k worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.09× its world share, 4,750 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.03× its world share, 7,257 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.67× its world share, 1,021 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.91× its world share, 1,391 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.91× its world share, 6,227 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.74× its world share, 25k worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.04× its world share, 7,078 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.79× its world share, 3,167 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.60× its world share, 39k worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.00× its world share, 21k worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.62× its world share, 9,474 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.91× its world share, 4,648 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.05× its world share, 10k worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.81× its world share, 1,713 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.96× its world share, 11k worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.19× its world share, 100k worksMedicineNursing: 0.90× its world share, 1,923 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.17× its world share, 690 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 2.76× its world share, 35k worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.74× its world share, 10k worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.70× its world share, 2,961 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.88× its world share, 8,207 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.29× its world share, 17k worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 1.21× its world share, 66k worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Arts and Humanities, 2.8×. Every wedge is a field page.

Which keywords describe research in Spain?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Education, Globalization, History, Climate Change, Gender, Latin America and Welfare State.

▲ 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 country'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. Epidemiology22k▲ 1.29×140 topics
  2. Climate Change14k▲ 1.20×131 topics
  3. Education13k▲ 1.76×158 topics
  4. Globalization13k▲ 1.49×184 topics
  5. Sustainability11k◆ 1.02×139 topics
  6. Inflammation9,826◆ 1.09×83 topics
  7. Quality of Life8,563▲ 1.37×61 topics
  8. History8,493▲ 2.8×66 topics
  9. Mental Health8,067▲ 1.27×48 topics
  10. COVID-197,948▲ 1.34×34 topics
  11. Public Health7,620▲ 1.21×77 topics
  12. Treatment7,461▲ 1.41×52 topics
  13. Gender7,442▲ 3.2×58 topics
  14. Cultural Heritage6,856▲ 2.9×40 topics
  15. Identity6,493▲ 2.0×80 topics
  16. Innovation6,473▲ 1.42×88 topics
  17. Literature6,472▲ 2.8×63 topics
  18. Educational Technology6,420▲ 1.24×47 topics
  19. Human Rights6,378▲ 1.43×91 topics
  20. Risk Factors6,244▲ 1.31×37 topics
  21. Diagnosis5,716▲ 1.41×41 topics
  22. Latin America5,121▲ 6.1×23 topics
  23. Communication4,834▲ 3.6×25 topics
  24. Welfare State4,473▲ 12×4 topics
  25. Ethics4,448▲ 2.1×61 topics
  26. Social Movements4,238▲ 3.2×33 topics
  27. Urban Development4,018▲ 2.5×23 topics
  28. Historiography3,784▲ 6.9×15 topics
  29. Society3,780▲ 4.5×26 topics
  30. Spain3,582▲ 22×5 topics
  31. Informal Learning2,813▲ 5.0×6 topics
  32. Economic Crisis2,804▲ 5.4×7 topics
  33. Iberian Peninsula2,763▲ 20×3 topics
  34. Participation2,645▲ 6.2×5 topics
  35. Political Power2,527▲ 12×5 topics
  36. Family Support2,416▲ 8.1×2 topics
  37. Social Work2,403▲ 7.8×4 topics
  38. Migrant Integration2,363▲ 15×2 topics
  39. Community Intervention2,295▲ 16×1 topic
  40. Third Sector2,295▲ 16×1 topic

How many world-class institutions does Spain hold?

Average quality and elite capacity disagree by construction, and both are worth knowing: the first is decided by a country’s whole institution population, the second counts the institutions it holds at the top. One square per institution.

101st to 500th8501st to 1,000th12

Bands are exclusive, so the squares add up to 20 — the institutions it holds in the world top 1,000 — and not to four times it.

Which universities in Spain lead research?

Universitat de Barcelona, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Universidad Complutense de Madrid rank highest in Spain on research quality in 2022–2025.

0%20%40%mean 21.2267%fractional works (log) →share in the world top 10% →Universitat de Barcelona: 11k, 20.1%Universidad Autónoma de Madrid: 7,844, 19.7%Universidad Complutense de Madrid: 15k, 16.6%Universitat de València: 11k, 21.2%Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona: 8,849, 21.6%Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats: 1,449, 35.2%University of the Basque Country: 9,039, 18.9%Universidad de Granada: 11k, 21.5%Universidad de Sevilla: 11k, 19.5%University of Alicante: 5,395, 20.5%Universidad de Zaragoza: 7,626, 17.3%Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas: 3,397, 22.4%Ikerbasque: 1,337, 27.3%Universitat Politècnica de València: 7,343, 18.8%Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya: 6,501, 17.8%Universitat de Valèn…Universitat de Barce…Universidad Autónoma…Universidad Complute…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per institution in the list below. The upper left is the interesting corner.

  1. 1Universitat de BarcelonaUniversity · Barcelona · #276 worldwide20.1% top 10% · 11k works
  2. 2Universidad Autónoma de MadridUniversity · Madrid · #350 worldwide19.7% top 10% · 7.8k works
  3. 3Universidad Complutense de MadridUniversity · Madrid · #425 worldwide16.6% top 10% · 15k works
  4. 4Universitat de ValènciaUniversity · Valencia · #427 worldwide21.2% top 10% · 11k works
  5. 5Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaUniversity · Cerdanyola del Vallès · #441 worldwide21.6% top 10% · 8.8k works
  6. 6Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis AvançatsNonprofit · Barcelona · #457 worldwide35.2% top 10% · 1.4k works
  7. 7University of the Basque CountryUniversity · Leioa · #462 worldwide18.9% top 10% · 9k works
  8. 8Universidad de GranadaUniversity · Granada · #489 worldwide21.5% top 10% · 11k works
  9. 9Universidad de SevillaUniversity · Seville · #532 worldwide19.5% top 10% · 11k works
  10. 10University of AlicanteUniversity · Alicante · #630 worldwide20.5% top 10% · 5.4k works
  11. 11Universidad de ZaragozaUniversity · Zaragoza · #688 worldwide17.3% top 10% · 7.6k works
  12. 12Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasGovernment institution · Madrid · #772 worldwide22.4% top 10% · 3.4k works
  13. 13IkerbasqueInstitution · Bilbao · #783 worldwide27.3% top 10% · 1.3k works
  14. 14Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaUniversity · Valencia · #877 worldwide18.8% top 10% · 7.3k works
  15. 15Universitat Politècnica de CatalunyaUniversity · Barcelona · #891 worldwide17.8% top 10% · 6.5k works

The track on each row is its top-10% rate; the tick is the world’s rate in this record, 16.5% — teal above it, red below.

All ranked institutions in Spain

Who are the top researchers in Spain?

Alberto Ortíz, Josep María Haro and Licia Verde rank highest among researchers based in Spain.

  1. 1 Alberto Ortíz · #52 worldwide 5.9k citations · 191 works
  2. 2 Josep María Haro · #63 worldwide 6.4k citations · 180 works
  3. 3 Licia Verde · #231 worldwide 8.2k citations · 118 works
  4. 4 Joan B. Soriano · #361 worldwide 4.3k citations · 107 works
  5. 5 Jordi Bruix · #470 worldwide 3.7k citations · 103 works
  6. 6 Francisco Herrera · #517 worldwide 6.5k citations · 311 works
  7. 7 Elı́as Campo · #609 worldwide 3k citations · 175 works
  8. 8 Héctor Bueno · #612 worldwide 3k citations · 105 works
  9. 9 Ai Koyanagi · #669 worldwide 5.6k citations · 96 works
  10. 10 Teun A. van Dijk · #680 worldwide 2.5k citations · 107 works
Top researchers in Spain

Which cities in Spain are research hubs?

  1. 1 Madrid Spain 568k works
  2. 2 Barcelona Spain 311k works
  3. 3 Valencia Spain 141k works
  4. 4 Seville Spain 100k works
  5. 5 Granada Spain 78k works
  6. 6 Cerdanyola del Vallès Spain 68k works
  7. 7 Zaragoza Spain 63k works
  8. 8 Pamplona Spain 52k works
  9. 9 Santiago de Compostela Spain 50k works
  10. 10 Leioa Spain 50k works
  11. 11 Murcia Spain 48k works
  12. 12 Oviedo Spain 41k works

How much of it is in the largest

The same cities as shares of everything these twelve account for.

Madrid: 36.2%Barcelona: 19.8%Valencia: 9.0%Seville: 6.4%8 others listed: 28.7%36%largest
Madrid568k · 36.2%Barcelona311k · 19.8%Valencia141k · 9.0%Seville100k · 6.4%8 others listed451k · 28.7%

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

How open and international is Spain's research?

52% of its research is openly available (world: 40%), and 23% is written with international co-authors (world: 18%).

openly available52.4%not open47.6%

World: 63% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors22.7%domestic only77.3%

World: 22% is written across borders.

How has Spain's research grown?

Output in 2018–2022 was 18% higher than in 2013–2017.

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Research fields in Spain