Science Explorer Interactive view Map
University · Lugano · Switzerland

Università della Svizzera italiana

In research, Università della Svizzera italiana stands highest in Computer Science (#190 of 4,667 worldwide), Social Sciences (#1,122 of 10,521 worldwide) and Health Sciences (#1,584 of 11,982 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Software — Software is 33.2× its share of world research.

usi.chROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#1,606
of 28,054 · #1,804 all time
Rank in Switzerland
#21
of 220
Research works
6k
▲ 20% vs 2013–17
Citations
134k
22.6 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
27.4%
record average 16.5%
Open access
45%
world 28%

What is Università della Svizzera italiana 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
Computer ScienceField #190 of 4,667 24.3%306 #195
Social SciencesDomain #1,122 of 10,521 29.4%499 #887
Health SciencesDomain #1,584 of 11,982 30.4%339 #2209
MedicineField #1,427 of 10,443 30.8%298 #2061
Social SciencesField #1,031 of 6,365 34.9%196 #1199
Physical SciencesDomain #2,413 of 12,888 21.8%473 #1875
Life SciencesDomain #1,463 of 7,800 32.7%112 #2521
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #838 of 2,578 35.2%78 #762
Business, Management and AccountingField #912 of 2,578 31.3%68 #607
Artificial IntelligenceSubfield #939 of 1,884 23.8%97 #430

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Università della Svizzera italiana 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. Computer Science#195 #190
  2. Social Sciences#887 #1,122
  3. Health Sciences#2,209 #1,584
  4. Medicine#2,061 #1,427
  5. Social Sciences#1,199 #1,031
  6. Physical Sciences#1,875 #2,413
  7. Life Sciences#2,521 #1,463
  8. Sociology and Political Science#762 #838
  9. Business, Management and Accounting#607 #912
  10. Artificial Intelligence#430 #939
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 Università della Svizzera italiana specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Software takes 33.2× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. SoftwareSubfield · 30.4 works33×
← 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: 0.11× its world share, 8 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.78× its world share, 59 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.14× its world share, 16 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.20× its world share, 28 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.32× its world share, 2 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.10× its world share, 2 worksChemistryComputer Science: 2.77× its world share, 306 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.15× its world share, 3 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.39× its world share, 5 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.39× its world share, 84 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.25× its world share, 18 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.08× its world share, 4 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.29× its world share, 22 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.90× its world share, 29 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.24× its world share, 2 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.96× its world share, 36 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.09× its world share, 298 worksMedicineNursing: 0.41× its world share, 3 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.32× its world share, 1 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 2.16× its world share, 89 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 1.48× its world share, 68 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 2.05× its world share, 28 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.54× its world share, 47 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.64× its world share, 71 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 1.09× its world share, 196 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Computer Science, 2.8×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at Università della Svizzera italiana?

Ranked on the composite score, Antonio Lanzavecchia, Peter Seele and Silke Gillessen lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Università della Svizzera italiana.

  1. 1 Antonio Lanzavecchia Switzerland · #6,599 worldwide 1.2k citations · 78 works
  2. 2 Peter Seele Switzerland · #23,709 worldwide 382 citations · 70 works
  3. 3 Silke Gillessen Switzerland · #26,501 worldwide 548 citations · 70 works
  4. 4 Michele Lanza Switzerland · #80,897 worldwide 603 citations · 87 works
  5. 5 Antonio Carzaniga Switzerland · #98,776 worldwide 251 citations · 29 works
  6. 6 Natasha Sharygina Switzerland · #105,700 worldwide 358 citations · 55 works
  7. 7 Robert Soulé Switzerland · #107,078 worldwide 300 citations · 26 works
  8. 8 Colin Porlezza Switzerland · #108,147 worldwide 73 citations · 32 works
  9. 9 Francesco Regazzoni Switzerland · #126,021 worldwide 352 citations · 62 works
  10. 10 Marc Langheinrich Switzerland · #132,689 worldwide 328 citations · 65 works
All ranked researchers at Università della Svizzera italiana

Which keywords describe research at Università della Svizzera italiana?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Distributed Systems, Social Media, Code Clone Detection, Refactoring, Automated Testing and Software Fault Localization.

▲ 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. Machine Learning84▲ 1.80×58 topics
  2. Deep Learning72▲ 1.49×58 topics
  3. Epidemiology53◆ 0.94×102 topics
  4. Social Media47▲ 2.3×24 topics
  5. Neural Networks34▲ 1.55×29 topics
  6. Inflammation34◆ 1.15×71 topics
  7. Sustainability34◆ 0.97×40 topics
  8. Globalization33▲ 1.19×51 topics
  9. Distributed Systems29▲ 12×6 topics
  10. Big Data26▲ 1.99×18 topics
  11. Code Clone Detection25▲ 44×1 topic
  12. Refactoring25▲ 44×1 topic
  13. Identity24▲ 2.3×24 topics
  14. Innovation22▲ 1.46×27 topics
  15. Depression21▲ 1.69×18 topics
  16. Anomaly Detection21▲ 5.0×3 topics
  17. Social Interaction19▲ 3.3×9 topics
  18. Cultural Studies18▲ 3.4×13 topics
  19. Automated Testing18▲ 50×1 topic
  20. Biomarkers18▲ 1.88×15 topics
  21. Software Fault Localization18▲ 50×1 topic
  22. Complications18▲ 2.5×16 topics
  23. Embodiment17▲ 6.3×7 topics
  24. Performance Prediction16▲ 17×2 topics
  25. Fault Localization16▲ 16×2 topics
  26. Log Analysis15▲ 28×1 topic
  27. Microservices15▲ 28×1 topic
  28. Surveillance15▲ 4.0×4 topics
  29. Pragmatics14▲ 6.0×5 topics
  30. Institutional Theory13▲ 9.8×3 topics
  31. Parallel Computing13▲ 7.6×4 topics
  32. Online Communication12▲ 5.4×3 topics
  33. Sensitivity Analysis11▲ 8.2×3 topics
  34. Model Checking11▲ 17×3 topics
  35. Open Source Software10▲ 19×2 topics
  36. Business Ethics9▲ 8.1×3 topics
  37. High-Performance Computing9▲ 7.8×2 topics
  38. Organizational Change9▲ 8.8×5 topics
  39. Software Development9▲ 13×2 topics
  40. Architecture-Based Approach9▲ 27×1 topic

Which research topics does Università della Svizzera italiana publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Software Engineering Research, Software Testing and Debugging Techniques, Software System Performance and Reliability and Software Reliability and Analysis Research.

Software Engineering Res…25Software Engineering Research: 25 fractional worksSoftware Testing and Debugging Techniques: 18 fractional worksSoftware System Performance and Reliability: 15 fractional worksSoftware Reliability and Analysis Research: 9 fractional worksAdversarial Robustness in Machine Learning: 8 fractional worksCOVID-19 and Mental Health: 7 fractional worksOsteoarthritis Treatment and Mechanisms: 7 fractional worksEthics and Social Impacts of AI: 6 fractional worksManagement and Organizational Studies: 6 fractional worksParallel Computing and Optimization Techniques: 6 fractional works
Information SystemsSoftwareComputer Networks and CommunicationsArtificial Intelligence5 others

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

  1. 1 Software Engineering Research Information Systems 25 works
  2. 2 Software Testing and Debugging Techniques Software 18 works
  3. 3 Software System Performance and Reliability Computer Networks and Communications 15 works
  4. 4 Software Reliability and Analysis Research Software 9 works
  5. 5 Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 8 works
  6. 6 COVID-19 and Mental Health Clinical Psychology 7 works
  7. 7 Osteoarthritis Treatment and Mechanisms Rheumatology 7 works
  8. 8 Ethics and Social Impacts of AI Safety Research 6 works
  9. 9 Management and Organizational Studies Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management 6 works
  10. 10 Parallel Computing and Optimization Techniques Hardware and Architecture 6 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 available44.7%not open55.3%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors41.2%domestic only58.8%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Università della Svizzera italiana's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 20% 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 Lugano

All research institutions in Lugano

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.