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University · Montreal · Canada

McGill University

In research, McGill University stands highest in Health Sciences (#67 of 11,982 worldwide), Medicine (#63 of 10,443 worldwide) and Social Sciences (#117 of 10,521 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Music, Behavioral Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroscience — Music is 3.9× its share of world research.

mcgill.caROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#123
of 28,054 · #70 all time
Rank in Canada
#3
of 403
Research works
131k
◆ 0% vs 2013–17
Citations
4.6M
35.2 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
22.2%
record average 16.5%
Open access
34%
world 28%

What is McGill University 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 SciencesDomain #67 of 11,982 20.3%3,945 #47
MedicineField #63 of 10,443 19.8%3,345 #46
Social SciencesDomain #117 of 10,521 23.3%3,848 #54
Life SciencesDomain #88 of 7,800 26.0%2,388 #56
Physical SciencesDomain #238 of 12,888 21.0%5,040 #106
Social SciencesField #120 of 6,365 24.2%1,822 #54
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #78 of 3,579 24.0%1,124 #65
PsychologyField #59 of 2,181 24.5%863 #36
NeuroscienceField #33 of 1,168 22.8%605 #37
Cognitive NeuroscienceSubfield #18 of 530 22.8%342 #20

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where McGill University 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 Sciences#47 #67
  2. Medicine#46 #63
  3. Social Sciences#54 #117
  4. Life Sciences#56 #88
  5. Physical Sciences#106 #238
  6. Social Sciences#54 #120
  7. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#65 #78
  8. Psychology#36 #59
  9. Neuroscience#37 #33
  10. Cognitive Neuroscience#20 #18
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 McGill University specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Music takes 3.9× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. MusicSubfield · 49.0 works3.9×
  2. Behavioral NeuroscienceSubfield · 21.1 works3.5×
  3. Cognitive NeuroscienceSubfield · 341.9 works3.1×
  4. Statistics and ProbabilitySubfield · 99.5 works3.1×
← 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: 0.65× its world share, 473 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.38× its world share, 1,124 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.01× its world share, 155 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 2.45× its world share, 605 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.58× its world share, 31 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.70× its world share, 37 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.80× its world share, 190 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.71× its world share, 840 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.02× its world share, 243 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.45× its world share, 64 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.80× its world share, 1,836 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.01× its world share, 765 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.74× its world share, 394 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.37× its world share, 246 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.26× its world share, 425 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.59× its world share, 44 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.18× its world share, 473 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.14× its world share, 3,345 worksMedicineNursing: 0.98× its world share, 73 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.52× its world share, 11 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 1.19× its world share, 524 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.48× its world share, 237 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.95× its world share, 139 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.81× its world share, 263 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.86× its world share, 863 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.95× its world share, 1,822 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

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

Who are the top researchers at McGill University?

Ranked on the composite score, G. Brandenburg, M. Dobbs and Ronald Melzack lead among researchers whose main affiliation is McGill University.

  1. 1 G. Brandenburg Canada · #1,628 worldwide 5.7k citations · 209 works
  2. 2 M. Dobbs Canada · #1,901 worldwide 4.2k citations · 164 works
  3. 3 Ronald Melzack Canada · #2,248 worldwide 2.3k citations · 75 works
  4. 4 Henry Mintzberg Canada · #2,348 worldwide 2.3k citations · 72 works
  5. 5 R. Capra Canada · #2,481 worldwide 2.3k citations · 94 works
  6. 6 Qutayba Hamid Canada · #3,217 worldwide 991 citations · 81 works
  7. 7 Michael S. Kramer Canada · #3,316 worldwide 1.1k citations · 94 works
  8. 8 Guy A. Rouleau Canada · #3,843 worldwide 1.6k citations · 135 works
  9. 9 Joëlle Pineau Canada · #4,094 worldwide 1.8k citations · 86 works
  10. 10 Charles Taylor Canada · #4,531 worldwide 453 citations · 86 works
All ranked researchers at McGill University

Which keywords describe research at McGill University?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Mental Health, Climate Change, Oxidative Stress, Machine Learning, Depression, 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. Epidemiology694◆ 1.15×135 topics
  2. Machine Learning419▼ 0.84×88 topics
  3. Climate Change417◆ 1.02×102 topics
  4. Mental Health371▲ 1.66×43 topics
  5. Deep Learning350▼ 0.67×79 topics
  6. Inflammation325◆ 1.03×83 topics
  7. Oxidative Stress324▲ 1.30×60 topics
  8. Globalization315◆ 1.05×118 topics
  9. Public Health279▲ 1.26×62 topics
  10. Quality of Life263▲ 1.20×56 topics
  11. Depression237▲ 1.77×25 topics
  12. Cancer230◆ 1.13×58 topics
  13. Treatment221▲ 1.20×51 topics
  14. Risk Factors210▲ 1.26×37 topics
  15. Cardiovascular Disease196▲ 1.16×39 topics
  16. Neurological Disorders191▲ 2.2×20 topics
  17. Biomedical Applications180◆ 1.00×34 topics
  18. Biomarkers175▲ 1.68×18 topics
  19. Human Rights167◆ 1.06×64 topics
  20. Metabolic Syndrome167▲ 1.35×24 topics
  21. Identity164▲ 1.48×61 topics
  22. Genetics164▲ 1.54×27 topics
  23. Aging157▲ 1.92×19 topics
  24. History156▲ 1.46×54 topics
  25. Clinical Trials139▲ 1.37×19 topics
  26. Nationalism132▲ 1.88×29 topics
  27. Emotion Regulation132▲ 2.8×9 topics
  28. Gender128▲ 1.55×48 topics
  29. Anxiety127▲ 1.76×12 topics
  30. Neurodegeneration126▲ 2.8×11 topics
  31. Biosensors125▲ 1.59×12 topics
  32. Adolescents124▲ 2.2×9 topics
  33. Prevalence118▲ 1.90×15 topics
  34. Neuroimaging115▲ 2.8×11 topics
  35. Neuroinflammation112▲ 2.6×6 topics
  36. Neurobiology108▲ 2.8×10 topics
  37. Neuroscience106▲ 2.4×15 topics
  38. Health Disparities98▲ 2.5×9 topics
  39. Brain Development86▲ 3.2×6 topics
  40. Immigration78▲ 4.5×8 topics

Which research topics does McGill University publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research, Functional Brain Connectivity Studies, Canadian Identity and History and Alzheimer's disease research and treatments.

Dementia and Cognitive I…59Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research: 59 fractional worksFunctional Brain Connect…58Functional Brain Connectivity Studies: 58 fractional worksCanadian Identity and History: 45 fractional worksAlzheimer's disease research and treatments: 44 fractional worksPhotonic and Optical Devices: 40 fractional worksChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development: 38 fractional worksCOVID-19 and Mental Health: 37 fractional worksMigration, Health and Tr…34Migration, Health and Trauma: 34 fractional worksOptical Network Technologies: 34 fractional worksNeural dynamics and brain function: 33 fractional works
Psychiatry and Mental healthCognitive NeuroscienceSociology and Political SciencePhysiology2 others

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

  1. 1 Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research Psychiatry and Mental health 59 works
  2. 2 Functional Brain Connectivity Studies Cognitive Neuroscience 58 works
  3. 3 Canadian Identity and History Sociology and Political Science 45 works
  4. 4 Alzheimer's disease research and treatments Physiology 44 works
  5. 5 Photonic and Optical Devices Electrical and Electronic Engineering 40 works
  6. 6 Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development Clinical Psychology 38 works
  7. 7 COVID-19 and Mental Health Clinical Psychology 37 works
  8. 8 Migration, Health and Trauma Clinical Psychology 34 works
  9. 9 Optical Network Technologies Electrical and Electronic Engineering 34 works
  10. 10 Neural dynamics and brain function Cognitive Neuroscience 33 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 available34.3%not open65.7%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors22.9%domestic only77.1%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has McGill University's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 0% 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 Montreal

All research institutions in Montreal

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.