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Research facility · Norwich · United Kingdom

Sainsbury Laboratory

In research, Sainsbury Laboratory stands highest in Plant Science (#216 of 1,395 worldwide), Life Sciences (#1,520 of 7,800 worldwide) and Agricultural and Biological Sciences (#1,144 of 3,409 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Plant Science and Agricultural and Biological Sciences — Plant Science is 17.7× its share of world research.

tsl.ac.ukROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#4,178
of 28,054 · #2,226 all time
Rank in United Kingdom
#162
of 1,094
Research works
1.2k
▲ 34% vs 2013–17
Citations
111k
93.7 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
34.2%
record average 16.5%
Open access
61%
world 28%

What is Sainsbury Laboratory 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
Plant ScienceSubfield #216 of 1,395 51.4%64 #22
Life SciencesDomain #1,520 of 7,800 44.5%136 #787
Agricultural and Biological SciencesField #1,144 of 3,409 50.0%72 #153

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Sainsbury Laboratory 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. Plant Science#22 #216
  2. Life Sciences#787 #1,520
  3. Agricultural and Biological Sciences#153 #1,144
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 Sainsbury Laboratory specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Plant Science takes 17.7× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Plant ScienceSubfield · 63.6 works18×
  2. Agricultural and Biological SciencesField · 71.9 works7.3×
← 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: 7.35× its world share, 72 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 4.33× its world share, 48 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.98× its world share, 2 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 4.49× its world share, 15 worksNeuroscienceChemical Engineering: 0.15× its world share, 0 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.07× its world share, 0 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.45× its world share, 7 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.12× its world share, 0 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.22× its world share, 0 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.43× its world share, 13 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.35× its world share, 4 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.11× its world share, 1 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.17× its world share, 0 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.28× its world share, 1 worksPhysics and AstronomyHealth Professions: 0.18× its world share, 1 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.27× its world share, 11 worksMedicineNursing: 0.26× its world share, 0 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.47× its world share, 0 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.94× its world share, 6 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.27× its world share, 2 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 4.03× its world share, 8 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.01× its world share, 0 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.72× its world share, 4 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.38× its world share, 10 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Agricultural and Biological Sciences, 7.3×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at Sainsbury Laboratory?

Ranked on the composite score, Jonathan D. G. Jones, David C. Baulcombe and Sophien Kamoun lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Sainsbury Laboratory.

  1. 1 Jonathan D. G. Jones United Kingdom · #17,587 worldwide 842 citations · 82 works
  2. 2 David C. Baulcombe United Kingdom · #24,498 worldwide 593 citations · 45 works
  3. 3 Sophien Kamoun United Kingdom · #44,648 worldwide 648 citations · 91 works
  4. 4 Cyril Zipfel United Kingdom · #110,280 worldwide 333 citations · 38 works
  5. 5 James Locke United Kingdom · #203,938 worldwide 226 citations · 19 works
  6. 6 Silke Robatzek United Kingdom · #243,798 worldwide 438 citations · 16 works
  7. 7 Yan Xia United Kingdom · #400,445 worldwide 134 citations · 22 works
  8. 8 Joe Win United Kingdom · #754,788 worldwide 78 citations · 25 works
  9. 9 Dan MacLean United Kingdom · #1,319,253 worldwide 31 citations · 30 works
  10. 10 Hiroaki Adachi United Kingdom · #1,348,588 worldwide 34 citations · 17 works
All ranked researchers at Sainsbury Laboratory

Which keywords describe research at Sainsbury Laboratory?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Plant Immunity, Gene Expression, Rhizosphere Interactions, Pattern Recognition Receptors, Microbiome, Microbial Pathogens, Systemic Acquired Resistance and Host Recognition.

▲ 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. Plant Immunity17▲ 89×2 topics
  2. Gene Expression16▲ 13×9 topics
  3. Rhizosphere Interactions14▲ 81×2 topics
  4. Pattern Recognition Receptors14▲ 53×3 topics
  5. Microbiome14▲ 48×2 topics
  6. Microbial Pathogens13▲ 117×1 topic
  7. Systemic Acquired Resistance13▲ 117×1 topic
  8. Host Recognition10▲ 75×2 topics
  9. Genomics10▲ 17×9 topics
  10. Transcription Factors9▲ 37×4 topics
  11. Development9▲ 13×3 topics
  12. Epigenetic Regulation8▲ 19×4 topics
  13. Phylogenetic Analysis8▲ 13×7 topics
  14. MicroRNA8▲ 32×1 topic
  15. Plant8▲ 84×1 topic
  16. Peer Review7▲ 122×2 topics
  17. Scholarly Communication7▲ 141×2 topics
  18. Mycorrhizal Fungi7▲ 48×2 topics
  19. Host Specificity7▲ 29×2 topics
  20. Genome Analysis6▲ 31×4 topics
  21. Fungal Pathogens6▲ 23×5 topics
  22. Heat Transfer6▲ 5.9×6 topics
  23. Nitrogen Fixation6▲ 40×2 topics
  24. Large-Eddy Simulation6▲ 14×5 topics
  25. Signal Transduction6▲ 19×5 topics
  26. Symbiosis6▲ 29×3 topics
  27. Plant Hormones5▲ 42×2 topics
  28. Legumes5▲ 73×1 topic
  29. Parasitic Plants5▲ 76×1 topic
  30. Rhizobium5▲ 73×1 topic
  31. Strigolactones5▲ 76×1 topic
  32. Type III Secretion System5▲ 43×2 topics
  33. Health Research4▲ 21×2 topics
  34. Pollen Tube Growth4▲ 87×1 topic
  35. Self-Incompatibility4▲ 87×1 topic
  36. Open Access4▲ 20×2 topics
  37. Plant Development4▲ 31×2 topics
  38. Small RNAs4▲ 33×2 topics
  39. Genome Sequencing4▲ 12×4 topics
  40. Bacterial Blight4▲ 91×1 topic

Which research topics does Sainsbury Laboratory publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity, Plant Molecular Biology Research, Plant Parasitism and Resistance and Legume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis.

Plant-Microbe Interactio…13Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity: 13 fractional worksPlant Molecular Biology Research: 8 fractional worksPlant Parasitism and Resistance: 5 fractional worksLegume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis: 5 fractional worksPlant Reproductive Biology: 4 fractional worksPlant Pathogenic Bacteria Studies: 4 fractional worksPlant Virus Research Stu…4Plant Virus Research Studies: 4 fractional worksAcademic Publishing and Open Access: 4 fractional worksAcademic Writing and Publishing: 4 fractional worksNeural dynamics and brain function: 4 fractional works
Plant ScienceMolecular BiologyInformation Systems and ManagementHistory and Philosophy of Science1 others

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

  1. 1 Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity Plant Science 13 works
  2. 2 Plant Molecular Biology Research Plant Science 8 works
  3. 3 Plant Parasitism and Resistance Plant Science 5 works
  4. 4 Legume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis Plant Science 5 works
  5. 5 Plant Reproductive Biology Molecular Biology 4 works
  6. 6 Plant Pathogenic Bacteria Studies Plant Science 4 works
  7. 7 Plant Virus Research Studies Plant Science 4 works
  8. 8 Academic Publishing and Open Access Information Systems and Management 4 works
  9. 9 Academic Writing and Publishing History and Philosophy of Science 4 works
  10. 10 Neural dynamics and brain function Cognitive Neuroscience 4 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 available61.1%not open38.9%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors37.4%domestic only62.6%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Sainsbury Laboratory's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 34% 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 Norwich

All research institutions in Norwich

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.