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University · London · United Kingdom

King's College London

In research, King's College London stands highest in Health Professions (#2 of 1,928 worldwide), Health Sciences (#13 of 11,982 worldwide) and Clinical Psychology (#1 of 738 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Psychiatry and Mental health, Biological Psychiatry and Music — Psychiatry and Mental health is 4.5× its share of world research.

kcl.ac.uk/index.aspxROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#90
of 28,054 · #120 all time
Rank in United Kingdom
#6
of 1,094
Research works
91k
▲ 14% vs 2013–17
Citations
2.7M
29.9 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
25.2%
record average 16.5%
Open access
42%
world 28%

What is King's College London known for in research?

The fields where it stands highest, 2022–2025, ranked among every institution above the floor in each field.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorksAll time
Health ProfessionsField #2 of 1,928 27.1%738 #19
Health SciencesDomain #13 of 11,982 24.3%5,067 #32
Clinical PsychologySubfield #1 of 738 32.3%582 #3
PsychologyField #4 of 2,181 32.1%1,152 #27
Social SciencesDomain #21 of 10,521 26.4%5,944 #49
MedicineField #22 of 10,443 23.7%4,071 #45
Social SciencesField #24 of 6,365 27.6%2,851 #51
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #14 of 2,578 25.7%987 #45
Political Science and International RelationsSubfield #8 of 1,201 26.6%731 #18
General Health ProfessionsSubfield #9 of 916 27.7%506 #16

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where King's College London sits in it, in the colour of the band that rank falls in. The track under the rate is the rate itself: it carries no world mark, because the world rate differs by field (from about 6% to 21% in this record).

Which of those standings moved

The same fields on both windows: where it stood over the whole record, and where it stands in 2022–2025. The distance is the story, and it is the one thing the two rank columns above cannot show.

  1. Health Professions#19 #2
  2. Health Sciences#32 #13
  3. Clinical Psychology#3 #1
  4. Psychology#27 #4
  5. Social Sciences#49 #21
  6. Medicine#45 #22
  7. Social Sciences#51 #24
  8. Sociology and Political Science#45 #14
  9. Political Science and International Relations#18 #8
  10. General Health Professions#16 #9
all time2022–2025, better2022–2025, worse

A dot further right is a better standing. Fields it was not ranked in over the whole record are left out.

What does King's College London specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Psychiatry and Mental health takes 4.5× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Psychiatry and Mental healthSubfield · 344.9 works4.5×
  2. Biological PsychiatrySubfield · 37.7 works4.5×
  3. MusicSubfield · 54.6 works4.4×
  4. Behavioral NeuroscienceSubfield · 25.5 works4.3×
  5. History and Philosophy of ScienceSubfield · 92.0 works3.9×
  6. Applied PsychologySubfield · 83.5 works3.8×
  7. Public AdministrationSubfield · 30.2 works3.7×
  8. PeriodonticsSubfield · 75.8 works3.6×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient, a volume reading rather than an impact one. It surfaces small, lopsided specialities.

Field profile

Location quotient across every field it publishes in: outside the ring is more than an institution of this size would be expected to publish, inside it is less.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 0.14× its world share, 99 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.97× its world share, 787 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.08× its world share, 165 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 2.30× its world share, 568 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.86× its world share, 46 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.13× its world share, 7 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.29× its world share, 70 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.69× its world share, 816 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.19× its world share, 46 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.23× its world share, 32 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.27× its world share, 619 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.35× its world share, 266 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.21× its world share, 110 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.98× its world share, 176 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.20× its world share, 405 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 2.50× its world share, 185 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.84× its world share, 738 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.39× its world share, 4,070 worksMedicineNursing: 0.89× its world share, 67 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.34× its world share, 7 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 2.02× its world share, 886 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.76× its world share, 371 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.09× its world share, 160 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.61× its world share, 525 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 2.48× its world share, 1,152 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 1.48× its world share, 2,851 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Dentistry, 2.5×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at King's College London?

Ranked on the composite score, Stuart Hall, Lawrence Freedman and Barry Halliwell lead among researchers whose main affiliation is King's College London.

  1. 1 Stuart Hall United Kingdom · #115 worldwide 1.9k citations · 137 works
  2. 2 Lawrence Freedman United Kingdom · #179 worldwide 1.2k citations · 214 works
  3. 3 Barry Halliwell United Kingdom · #215 worldwide 4k citations · 147 works
  4. 4 Charles Wolfe United Kingdom · #1,206 worldwide 6k citations · 84 works
  5. 5 Roderick J. Hay United Kingdom · #1,354 worldwide 4k citations · 83 works
  6. 6 Tim D. Spector United Kingdom · #1,390 worldwide 3k citations · 224 works
  7. 7 Stephen J. Ball United Kingdom · #2,268 worldwide 1.4k citations · 128 works
  8. 8 Avshalom Caspi United Kingdom · #2,391 worldwide 2k citations · 108 works
  9. 9 Brian Street United Kingdom · #2,417 worldwide 1.9k citations · 74 works
  10. 10 Massimo Mangino United Kingdom · #2,698 worldwide 1.8k citations · 81 works
All ranked researchers at King's College London

Which keywords describe research at King's College London?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Depression, Mental Health, Globalization, Genetics, Prevalence, Inflammation and Public Health.

▲ 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 institution'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. Epidemiology850▲ 1.41×132 topics
  2. Globalization576▲ 1.93×130 topics
  3. Mental Health518▲ 2.3×43 topics
  4. Inflammation472▲ 1.49×83 topics
  5. Depression465▲ 3.5×25 topics
  6. Public Health396▲ 1.79×62 topics
  7. Quality of Life390▲ 1.78×56 topics
  8. Deep Learning383▼ 0.73×81 topics
  9. Machine Learning382▼ 0.77×87 topics
  10. Human Rights332▲ 2.1×68 topics
  11. Genetics329▲ 3.1×25 topics
  12. Oxidative Stress313▲ 1.26×60 topics
  13. Treatment303▲ 1.64×49 topics
  14. Risk Factors267▲ 1.60×37 topics
  15. Prevalence264▲ 4.3×15 topics
  16. Colonialism257▲ 3.6×45 topics
  17. Identity251▲ 2.3×69 topics
  18. Metabolic Syndrome242▲ 1.95×24 topics
  19. Anxiety235▲ 3.3×12 topics
  20. Neurological Disorders232▲ 2.7×20 topics
  21. Gender231▲ 2.8×52 topics
  22. Nationalism226▲ 3.2×32 topics
  23. Neoliberalism224▲ 4.1×26 topics
  24. History207▲ 1.93×53 topics
  25. Adolescents204▲ 3.6×10 topics
  26. Ethics199▲ 2.7×47 topics
  27. Global Burden188▲ 2.3×12 topics
  28. International Law183▲ 3.9×24 topics
  29. Resilience180▲ 2.5×17 topics
  30. Democracy174▲ 3.2×27 topics
  31. Emotion Regulation173▲ 3.6×9 topics
  32. Neurobiology162▲ 4.1×10 topics
  33. Primary Care162▲ 2.8×15 topics
  34. Global Governance159▲ 4.6×21 topics
  35. Neuroimaging155▲ 3.8×11 topics
  36. International Relations146▲ 4.0×26 topics
  37. Psychological Distress139▲ 3.6×6 topics
  38. Psychiatric Disorders120▲ 6.0×4 topics
  39. Cognitive Therapy119▲ 7.3×3 topics
  40. Mental Disorders116▲ 6.7×3 topics

Which research topics does King's College London publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Schizophrenia research and treatment, Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development, Mental Health Treatment and Access and Autism Spectrum Disorder Research.

Schizophrenia research a…72Schizophrenia research and treatment: 72 fractional worksChild and Adolescent Psy…68Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development: 68 fractional worksMental Health Treatment and Access: 62 fractional worksAutism Spectrum Disorder…60Autism Spectrum Disorder Research: 60 fractional worksDigital Mental Health In…57Digital Mental Health Interventions: 57 fractional worksCOVID-19 and Mental Health: 55 fractional worksFunctional Brain Connectivity Studies: 51 fractional worksEating Disorders and Beh…50Eating Disorders and Behaviors: 50 fractional worksDementia and Cognitive Impairment Research: 46 fractional worksHealth disparities and outcomes: 45 fractional works
Psychiatry and Mental healthClinical PsychologySocial PsychologyCognitive Neuroscience2 others

Area is fractional works; colour is the subfield each topic belongs to.

  1. 1 Schizophrenia research and treatment Psychiatry and Mental health 72 works
  2. 2 Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development Clinical Psychology 68 works
  3. 3 Mental Health Treatment and Access Social Psychology 62 works
  4. 4 Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Cognitive Neuroscience 60 works
  5. 5 Digital Mental Health Interventions Applied Psychology 57 works
  6. 6 COVID-19 and Mental Health Clinical Psychology 55 works
  7. 7 Functional Brain Connectivity Studies Cognitive Neuroscience 51 works
  8. 8 Eating Disorders and Behaviors Clinical Psychology 50 works
  9. 9 Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research Psychiatry and Mental health 46 works
  10. 10 Health disparities and outcomes Health 45 works

How open and international is its research?

Against the world’s own shares — the tick on each track. Both are shares of its output, so they sit on one scale and can be read against each other as well as against the world.

openly available42.1%not open57.9%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors27.7%domestic only72.3%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has King's College London's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 14% 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.

Other research institutions in London

All research institutions in London

Research measures only: rankings here say nothing about teaching, admissions or student experience. Comparable institutions and collaboration partners are in the interactive view on the map.