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Science in United Kingdom

The United Kingdom ranks #3 of 192 countries on research quality in 2022–2025 (#3 all time), with 727k research works and 21.8% of them in the world's top 10%.

World rank, 2022–2025
#3
of 192 · #3 all time
Works, 2022–2025
727k
▲ 6% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate
21.8%
record average 16.5%
In the world top 100
7
42 in the top 1,000
Open access
37%
world 63%

What is United Kingdom strongest at in science?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United Kingdom ranks highest in Arts and Humanities (#2 of 106), Medicine (#3 of 155) and Social Sciences (#3 of 151). Relative to its size it is most specialised in Classics, Medical Terminology and Space and Planetary Science.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorks
Arts and HumanitiesField #2 of 106 18.3%36,233 Institutions
MedicineField #3 of 155 17.7%173,881 Institutions
Social SciencesField #3 of 151 26.3%104,612 Institutions
Political Science and International RelationsSubfield #2 of 97 24.3%17,131 Institutions
General Health ProfessionsSubfield #2 of 86 21.7%18,929 Institutions
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #3 of 122 26.7%37,050 Institutions
Economics, Econometrics and FinanceField #3 of 110 24.2%21,208 Institutions
PsychologyField #3 of 109 24.6%35,699 Institutions
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #3 of 108 23.7%36,251 Institutions
Economics and EconometricsSubfield #3 of 101 24.9%14,912 Institutions
EngineeringField #4 of 134 19.4%76,937 Institutions
Computer ScienceField #4 of 131 22.7%42,497 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. ClassicsSubfield · 1,420.1 works3.3×
  2. Medical TerminologySubfield · 67.6 works3.1×
  3. Space and Planetary ScienceSubfield · 440.3 works3.0×
  4. Public AdministrationSubfield · 1,135.4 works2.9×
  5. HistorySubfield · 6,588.8 works2.8×
  6. MusicSubfield · 1,657.6 works2.8×
  7. History and Philosophy of ScienceSubfield · 3,057.2 works2.7×
  8. EquineSubfield · 244.4 works2.6×
← 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: 0.47× its world share, 16k worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.93× its world share, 36k worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.01× its world share, 7,418 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.35× its world share, 16k worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.67× its world share, 1,723 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.66× its world share, 1,670 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.61× its world share, 6,971 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.75× its world share, 42k worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.02× its world share, 12k worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.59× its world share, 3,957 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.71× its world share, 77k worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.82× its world share, 30k worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.52× its world share, 13k worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.89× its world share, 7,588 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.09× its world share, 18k worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.79× its world share, 2,781 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.56× its world share, 30k worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.24× its world share, 174k worksMedicineNursing: 0.84× its world share, 2,992 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.71× its world share, 1,686 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 1.73× its world share, 36k worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.89× its world share, 21k worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.14× its world share, 8,016 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.36× its world share, 21k worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.61× its world share, 36k worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 1.14× its world share, 105k worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Arts and Humanities, 1.7×. Every wedge is a field page.

Which keywords describe research in United Kingdom?

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

▲ 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. Epidemiology37k▲ 1.28×140 topics
  2. Globalization20k▲ 1.44×186 topics
  3. Climate Change20k◆ 1.00×132 topics
  4. Machine Learning19k▼ 0.82×97 topics
  5. Deep Learning19k▼ 0.76×85 topics
  6. Public Health16k▲ 1.55×77 topics
  7. Mental Health16k▲ 1.49×48 topics
  8. Inflammation15k◆ 1.02×83 topics
  9. Sustainability15k▼ 0.85×140 topics
  10. Quality of Life15k▲ 1.40×61 topics
  11. Treatment12k▲ 1.31×52 topics
  12. Risk Factors11k▲ 1.32×37 topics
  13. Identity9,505▲ 1.80×80 topics
  14. Human Rights9,335▲ 1.25×91 topics
  15. Healthcare9,332◆ 1.14×44 topics
  16. COVID-199,185◆ 0.92×34 topics
  17. Oxidative Stress9,130▼ 0.77×63 topics
  18. Depression8,914▲ 1.40×26 topics
  19. Cardiovascular Disease8,877◆ 1.10×39 topics
  20. Gender8,610▲ 2.2×58 topics
  21. History8,245▲ 1.62×66 topics
  22. Diagnosis8,141▲ 1.20×41 topics
  23. Mortality7,848▲ 1.87×13 topics
  24. Colonialism7,343▲ 2.1×52 topics
  25. Genetics7,343▲ 1.44×27 topics
  26. Primary Care7,329▲ 2.7×15 topics
  27. Nationalism7,180▲ 2.1×34 topics
  28. Economic Growth7,157▲ 1.16×38 topics
  29. Ethics6,831▲ 1.94×62 topics
  30. Neoliberalism6,658▲ 2.6×30 topics
  31. Religion6,637▲ 1.92×43 topics
  32. Literature6,454▲ 1.64×64 topics
  33. Ethical Considerations6,030▲ 2.4×21 topics
  34. Complications5,692▲ 1.57×17 topics
  35. Resilience5,590▲ 1.60×19 topics
  36. Anxiety5,587▲ 1.62×12 topics
  37. Guidelines5,395▲ 1.59×13 topics
  38. Prevalence5,336▲ 1.80×15 topics
  39. Neuroscience4,657▲ 2.2×20 topics
  40. Health Disparities4,454▲ 2.3×9 topics

How many world-class institutions does United Kingdom 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 50451st to 100th3101st to 500th19501st to 1,000th16

Bands are exclusive, so the squares add up to 42 — the institutions it holds in the world top 1,000 — and not to four times it.

Which universities in United Kingdom lead research?

University of Oxford, University College London and University of Cambridge rank highest in United Kingdom on research quality in 2022–2025.

0%10%20%30%mean 24.4333%fractional works (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Oxford: 26k, 26.7%University College London: 28k, 26.3%University of Cambridge: 22k, 25.0%Imperial College London: 18k, 24.6%University of Manchester: 16k, 23.2%King's College London: 15k, 25.2%University of Edinburgh: 15k, 23.6%University of Birmingham: 12k, 25.5%University of Glasgow: 12k, 23.7%University of Bristol: 11k, 23.6%University of Exeter: 8,473, 27.6%University of Leeds: 11k, 24.2%University of Liverpool: 10k, 22.6%University of Nottingham: 11k, 22.0%University of Warwick: 9,224, 22.7%University of OxfordUniversity College L…University of Cambri…Imperial College Lon…
above the meannear itbelow it

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

  1. 1University of OxfordUniversity · Oxford · #9 worldwide26.7% top 10% · 26k works
  2. 2University College LondonUniversity · London · #21 worldwide26.3% top 10% · 28k works
  3. 3University of CambridgeUniversity · Cambridge · #22 worldwide25.0% top 10% · 22k works
  4. 4Imperial College LondonUniversity · London · #44 worldwide24.6% top 10% · 18k works
  5. 5University of ManchesterUniversity · Manchester · #87 worldwide23.2% top 10% · 16k works
  6. 6King's College LondonUniversity · London · #90 worldwide25.2% top 10% · 15k works
  7. 7University of EdinburghUniversity · Edinburgh · #99 worldwide23.6% top 10% · 15k works
  8. 8University of BirminghamUniversity · Birmingham · #150 worldwide25.5% top 10% · 12k works
  9. 9University of GlasgowUniversity · Glasgow · #160 worldwide23.7% top 10% · 12k works
  10. 10University of BristolUniversity · Bristol · #173 worldwide23.6% top 10% · 11k works
  11. 11University of ExeterUniversity · Exeter · #177 worldwide27.6% top 10% · 8.5k works
  12. 12University of LeedsUniversity · Leeds · #183 worldwide24.2% top 10% · 11k works
  13. 13University of LiverpoolUniversity · Liverpool · #202 worldwide22.6% top 10% · 10k works
  14. 14University of NottinghamUniversity · Nottingham · #244 worldwide22.0% top 10% · 11k works
  15. 15University of WarwickUniversity · Coventry · #255 worldwide22.7% top 10% · 9.2k 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 United Kingdom

Who are the top researchers in United Kingdom?

Andrew Zisserman, Aziz Sheikh and James Thomas rank highest among researchers based in United Kingdom.

  1. 1 Andrew Zisserman · #3 worldwide 25k citations · 241 works
  2. 2 Aziz Sheikh · #17 worldwide 5.8k citations · 274 works
  3. 3 James Thomas · #27 worldwide 13k citations · 154 works
  4. 4 Azeem Majeed · #51 worldwide 6k citations · 151 works
  5. 5 Mika Kivimäki · #69 worldwide 6.7k citations · 266 works
  6. 6 Martin McKee · #78 worldwide 5.4k citations · 369 works
  7. 7 Stuart Hall · #115 worldwide 1.9k citations · 137 works
  8. 8 Stuart Pocock · #122 worldwide 4.3k citations · 148 works
  9. 9 Richard Blundell · #129 worldwide 5.2k citations · 140 works
  10. 10 Carol Brayne · #131 worldwide 3.9k citations · 167 works
Top researchers in United Kingdom

Which cities in United Kingdom are research hubs?

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 1.5M works
  2. 2 Cambridge United Kingdom 285k works
  3. 3 Oxford United Kingdom 273k works
  4. 4 Manchester United Kingdom 206k works
  5. 5 Edinburgh United Kingdom 203k works
  6. 6 Glasgow United Kingdom 192k works
  7. 7 Birmingham United Kingdom 169k works
  8. 8 Bristol United Kingdom 152k works
  9. 9 Leeds United Kingdom 140k works
  10. 10 Nottingham United Kingdom 138k works
  11. 11 Sheffield United Kingdom 130k works
  12. 12 Liverpool United Kingdom 128k works

How much of it is in the largest

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

London: 42.2%Cambridge: 8.2%Oxford: 7.8%Manchester: 5.9%8 others listed: 35.9%42%largest
London1.5M · 42.2%Cambridge285k · 8.2%Oxford273k · 7.8%Manchester206k · 5.9%8 others listed1.3M · 35.9%

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

How open and international is United Kingdom's research?

37% of its research is openly available (world: 40%), and 23% is written with international co-authors (world: 18%).

openly available37.4%not open62.6%

World: 63% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors23.4%domestic only76.6%

World: 22% is written across borders.

How has United Kingdom's research grown?

Output in 2018–2022 was 6% 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 United Kingdom