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Science in Switzerland

Switzerland ranks #14 of 192 countries on research quality in 2022–2025 (#12 all time), with 142k research works and 22.0% of them in the world's top 10%.

World rank, 2022–2025
#14
of 192 · #12 all time
Works, 2022–2025
142k
▲ 11% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate
22.0%
record average 16.5%
In the world top 100
3
11 in the top 1,000
Open access
47%
world 63%

What is Switzerland strongest at in science?

On research quality in 2022–2025, Switzerland ranks highest in Medicine (#14 of 155), Political Science and International Relations (#9 of 97) and Physics and Astronomy (#8 of 79). Relative to its size it is most specialised in Nuclear and High Energy Physics, Classics and Structural Biology.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorks
MedicineField #14 of 155 19.2%35,156 Institutions
Political Science and International RelationsSubfield #9 of 97 22.4%2,701 Institutions
Physics and AstronomyField #8 of 79 30.2%5,668 Institutions
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #11 of 108 26.0%8,739 Institutions
Environmental ScienceField #14 of 125 29.5%6,247 Institutions
Computer ScienceField #16 of 131 23.1%8,681 Institutions
Earth and Planetary SciencesField #10 of 80 30.1%2,741 Institutions
Social SciencesField #19 of 151 22.5%15,769 Institutions
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and OpticsSubfield #8 of 59 25.5%1,710 Institutions
PsychologyField #15 of 109 24.1%5,492 Institutions
Decision SciencesField #11 of 79 21.9%1,439 Institutions
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #18 of 122 21.4%6,011 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. Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsSubfield · 1,373.2 works3.1×
  2. ClassicsSubfield · 257.8 works3.0×
  3. Structural BiologySubfield · 68.3 works3.0×
  4. EquineSubfield · 55.0 works3.0×
  5. General Decision SciencesSubfield · 76.8 works2.9×
  6. Theoretical Computer ScienceSubfield · 66.7 works2.8×
  7. RadiationSubfield · 519.4 works2.7×
  8. History and Philosophy of ScienceSubfield · 515.6 works2.4×
← 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: 0.59× its world share, 3,992 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.16× its world share, 8,739 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.26× its world share, 1,798 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.54× its world share, 3,546 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.79× its world share, 395 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.79× its world share, 391 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.94× its world share, 2,091 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.79× its world share, 8,682 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.23× its world share, 2,741 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.60× its world share, 785 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.68× its world share, 15k worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.89× its world share, 6,247 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.61× its world share, 2,998 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.06× its world share, 1,765 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.80× its world share, 5,668 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 1.21× its world share, 833 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.15× its world share, 4,283 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.29× its world share, 35k worksMedicineNursing: 0.72× its world share, 498 worksNursingVeterinary: 2.04× its world share, 392 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 1.48× its world share, 6,076 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.90× its world share, 4,125 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.05× its world share, 1,439 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.13× its world share, 3,422 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.27× its world share, 5,492 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.88× its world share, 16k worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Veterinary, 2.0×. Every wedge is a field page.

Which keywords describe research in Switzerland?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Climate Change, Inflammation, Machine Learning, Public Health, Quality of Life, Deep Learning and Treatment.

▲ 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. Epidemiology7,015▲ 1.25×140 topics
  2. Climate Change4,292◆ 1.12×128 topics
  3. Machine Learning3,647▼ 0.79×96 topics
  4. Deep Learning3,370▼ 0.69×84 topics
  5. Inflammation3,073◆ 1.04×83 topics
  6. Sustainability2,642▼ 0.76×137 topics
  7. Globalization2,520◆ 0.91×180 topics
  8. Public Health2,423▲ 1.17×77 topics
  9. Quality of Life2,356◆ 1.15×61 topics
  10. Mental Health2,157◆ 1.04×48 topics
  11. Treatment2,148▲ 1.25×52 topics
  12. Oxidative Stress1,961▼ 0.85×63 topics
  13. Sustainable Development1,856▼ 0.82×106 topics
  14. Diagnosis1,744▲ 1.32×41 topics
  15. Risk Factors1,717◆ 1.10×37 topics
  16. Cardiovascular Disease1,699◆ 1.08×39 topics
  17. Neural Networks1,601▼ 0.73×41 topics
  18. Artificial Intelligence1,592▼ 0.82×66 topics
  19. Cancer1,544▼ 0.81×59 topics
  20. Big Data1,431◆ 1.11×34 topics
  21. Clinical Trials1,421▲ 1.49×19 topics
  22. Innovation1,394◆ 0.94×85 topics
  23. Identity1,370▲ 1.33×80 topics
  24. Depression1,335◆ 1.07×26 topics
  25. Management1,303▲ 1.17×40 topics
  26. Immunotherapy1,296▲ 1.28×19 topics
  27. Gender1,284▲ 1.67×58 topics
  28. Complications1,238▲ 1.75×17 topics
  29. Neurological Disorders1,191▲ 1.48×20 topics
  30. Biodiversity1,165◆ 1.10×38 topics
  31. Rehabilitation1,098▲ 1.96×13 topics
  32. Mortality1,088▲ 1.33×13 topics
  33. Ethics1,044▲ 1.52×61 topics
  34. Global Burden1,018▲ 1.34×12 topics
  35. Religion986▲ 1.47×42 topics
  36. Governance983▲ 2.1×20 topics
  37. Guidelines961▲ 1.45×13 topics
  38. Magnetic Resonance Imaging859▲ 2.4×8 topics
  39. Biomechanics830▲ 1.94×12 topics
  40. Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse603▲ 10×2 topics

How many world-class institutions does Switzerland 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.

in the world top 50151st to 100th2101st to 500th4501st to 1,000th4

Bands are exclusive, so the squares add up to 11 — the institutions it holds in the world top 1,000 — and not to four times it.

Which universities in Switzerland lead research?

ETH Zurich, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and University of Zurich rank highest in Switzerland on research quality in 2022–2025.

0%20%40%mean 24.6267%fractional works (log) →share in the world top 10% →ETH Zurich: 14k, 30.1%École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne: 8,507, 25.1%University of Zurich: 11k, 27.2%University of Basel: 5,684, 25.4%University of Geneva: 6,801, 24.4%University of Bern: 8,455, 24.6%University of Lausanne: 6,982, 24.3%Paul Scherrer Institute: 1,780, 21.5%University Hospital of Zurich: 3,173, 19.9%University of Fribourg: 2,913, 20.9%European Organization for Nuclear Research: 1,960, 21.3%Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology: 1,403, 24.2%World Health Organization: 1,059, 40.5%University Hospital of Basel: 1,940, 20.4%University Hospital of Bern: 2,931, 19.6%ETH ZurichUniversity of ZurichUniversity of BaselÉcole Polytechnique …
above the meannear itbelow it

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

  1. 1ETH ZurichUniversity · Zurich · #20 worldwide30.1% top 10% · 14k works
  2. 2École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneUniversity · Lausanne · #63 worldwide25.1% top 10% · 8.5k works
  3. 3University of ZurichUniversity · Zurich · #96 worldwide27.2% top 10% · 11k works
  4. 4University of BaselUniversity · Basel · #208 worldwide25.4% top 10% · 5.7k works
  5. 5University of GenevaUniversity · Geneva · #242 worldwide24.4% top 10% · 6.8k works
  6. 6University of BernUniversity · Bern · #243 worldwide24.6% top 10% · 8.5k works
  7. 7University of LausanneUniversity · Lausanne · #288 worldwide24.3% top 10% · 7k works
  8. 8Paul Scherrer InstituteResearch facility · Villigen · #552 worldwide21.5% top 10% · 1.8k works
  9. 9University Hospital of ZurichFunder · Zurich · #906 worldwide19.9% top 10% · 3.2k works
  10. 10University of FribourgUniversity · Fribourg · #946 worldwide20.9% top 10% · 2.9k works
  11. 11European Organization for Nuclear ResearchResearch facility · Geneva · #960 worldwide21.3% top 10% · 2k works
  12. 12Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and TechnologyResearch facility · Dübendorf · #1,040 worldwide24.2% top 10% · 1.4k works
  13. 13World Health OrganizationGovernment institution · Geneva · #1,112 worldwide40.5% top 10% · 1.1k works
  14. 14University Hospital of BaselHospital / health system · Basel · #1,144 worldwide20.4% top 10% · 1.9k works
  15. 15University Hospital of BernHospital / health system · Bern · #1,223 worldwide19.6% top 10% · 2.9k 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 Switzerland

Who are the top researchers in Switzerland?

Matthias Egger, Michele Parrinello and Peter Jüni rank highest among researchers based in Switzerland.

  1. 1 Matthias Egger · #110 worldwide 2.9k citations · 177 works
  2. 2 Michele Parrinello · #191 worldwide 5.6k citations · 175 works
  3. 3 Peter Jüni · #207 worldwide 4.2k citations · 118 works
  4. 4 Jean Piaget · #208 worldwide 1.6k citations · 144 works
  5. 5 A. Tykhonov · #302 worldwide 4.8k citations · 146 works
  6. 6 F. Anghinolfi · #382 worldwide 4.7k citations · 139 works
  7. 7 M. Borri · #428 worldwide 4.4k citations · 130 works
  8. 8 Jürgen Schmidhuber · #468 worldwide 4.3k citations · 146 works
  9. 9 Stephan Windecker · #471 worldwide 4.2k citations · 273 works
  10. 10 G. Chiefari · #486 worldwide 4.5k citations · 162 works
Top researchers in Switzerland

Which cities in Switzerland are research hubs?

  1. 1 Zurich Switzerland 249k works
  2. 2 Lausanne Switzerland 151k works
  3. 3 Geneva Switzerland 139k works
  4. 4 Basel Switzerland 102k works
  5. 5 Bern Switzerland 94k works
  6. 6 Fribourg Switzerland 22k works
  7. 7 St. Gallen Switzerland 20k works
  8. 8 Neuchâtel Switzerland 17k works

How much of it is in the largest

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

Zurich: 31.4%Lausanne: 19.0%Geneva: 17.5%Basel: 12.8%4 others listed: 19.3%31%largest
Zurich249k · 31.4%Lausanne151k · 19.0%Geneva139k · 17.5%Basel102k · 12.8%4 others listed154k · 19.3%

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

How open and international is Switzerland's research?

47% of its research is openly available (world: 40%), and 34% is written with international co-authors (world: 18%).

openly available47.2%not open52.8%

World: 63% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors33.6%domestic only66.4%

World: 22% is written across borders.

How has Switzerland's research grown?

Output in 2018–2022 was 11% 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 Switzerland