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University · Vancouver · Canada

University of British Columbia

In research, University of British Columbia stands highest in Social Sciences (#44 of 10,521 worldwide), Health Sciences (#52 of 11,982 worldwide) and Medicine (#60 of 10,443 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Linguistics and Language, Ecological Modeling and Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics — Linguistics and Language is 2.9× its share of world research.

ubc.caROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#91
of 28,054 · #50 all time
Rank in Canada
#2
of 403
Research works
164k
▲ 6% vs 2013–17
Citations
5.9M
35.9 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
22.7%
record average 16.5%
Open access
36%
world 28%

What is University of British Columbia 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
Social SciencesDomain #44 of 10,521 25.4%4,878 #30
Health SciencesDomain #52 of 11,982 19.7%5,716 #41
MedicineField #60 of 10,443 19.0%4,749 #47
Environmental ScienceField #30 of 3,551 28.3%1,270 #12
Social SciencesField #54 of 6,365 27.2%2,483 #28
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #24 of 2,578 28.0%844 #24
Life SciencesDomain #76 of 7,800 24.3%2,622 #45
PsychologyField #25 of 2,181 23.9%1,012 #23
Physical SciencesDomain #148 of 12,888 22.6%6,729 #73
EngineeringField #145 of 6,636 21.1%2,361 #109

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where University of British Columbia 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. Social Sciences#30 #44
  2. Health Sciences#41 #52
  3. Medicine#47 #60
  4. Environmental Science#12 #30
  5. Social Sciences#28 #54
  6. Sociology and Political Science#24 #24
  7. Life Sciences#45 #76
  8. Psychology#23 #25
  9. Physical Sciences#73 #148
  10. Engineering#109 #145
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 University of British Columbia specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Linguistics and Language takes 2.9× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Linguistics and LanguageSubfield · 67.1 works2.9×
  2. Ecological ModelingSubfield · 43.3 works2.9×
  3. Discrete Mathematics and CombinatoricsSubfield · 21.9 works2.8×
  4. Nature and Landscape ConservationSubfield · 112.9 works2.4×
  5. HealthSubfield · 136.7 works2.3×
← 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: 0.63× its world share, 596 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.18× its world share, 1,254 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.98× its world share, 197 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.61× its world share, 521 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.77× its world share, 54 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.77× its world share, 54 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.70× its world share, 219 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.75× its world share, 1,159 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.11× its world share, 348 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.59× its world share, 109 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.79× its world share, 2,361 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.28× its world share, 1,270 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.67× its world share, 465 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.35× its world share, 317 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.97× its world share, 429 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 1.07× its world share, 104 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.42× its world share, 747 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.24× its world share, 4,748 worksMedicineNursing: 0.78× its world share, 76 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.49× its world share, 40 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 1.06× its world share, 610 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.40× its world share, 259 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.84× its world share, 163 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.82× its world share, 351 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.67× its world share, 1,012 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.98× its world share, 2,483 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

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

Who are the top researchers at University of British Columbia?

Ranked on the composite score, M. Halpern, Michael Bräuer and David G. Huntsman lead among researchers whose main affiliation is University of British Columbia.

  1. 1 M. Halpern Canada · #96 worldwide 7k citations · 144 works
  2. 2 Michael Bräuer Canada · #1,380 worldwide 3.8k citations · 171 works
  3. 3 David G. Huntsman Canada · #1,831 worldwide 1.6k citations · 98 works
  4. 4 Niranjan Kissoon Canada · #2,055 worldwide 1.4k citations · 90 works
  5. 5 James C. Hogg Canada · #2,142 worldwide 1.4k citations · 105 works
  6. 6 Colin Clark Canada · #3,062 worldwide 860 citations · 88 works
  7. 7 D. Scott Canada · #3,725 worldwide 4.6k citations · 272 works
  8. 8 Edith G. McGeer Canada · #4,396 worldwide 1.3k citations · 97 works
  9. 9 Ian Affleck Canada · #4,550 worldwide 2.3k citations · 105 works
  10. 10 Yusuf Altıntaş Canada · #4,656 worldwide 1.3k citations · 66 works
All ranked researchers at University of British Columbia

Which keywords describe research at University of British Columbia?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Climate Change, Mental Health, Globalization, Public Health, Machine Learning, Quality of Life 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 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. Epidemiology989▲ 1.25×133 topics
  2. Climate Change777▲ 1.45×104 topics
  3. Machine Learning556▼ 0.85×87 topics
  4. Deep Learning491▼ 0.72×81 topics
  5. Globalization491▲ 1.25×124 topics
  6. Mental Health440▲ 1.51×42 topics
  7. Public Health421▲ 1.45×66 topics
  8. Inflammation415◆ 1.00×83 topics
  9. Quality of Life372▲ 1.29×57 topics
  10. Sustainability363▼ 0.75×98 topics
  11. Cardiovascular Disease300▲ 1.35×39 topics
  12. Treatment288▲ 1.19×51 topics
  13. Oxidative Stress278▼ 0.85×62 topics
  14. Depression277▲ 1.58×23 topics
  15. Risk Factors274▲ 1.25×37 topics
  16. Environmental Impact262▼ 0.77×59 topics
  17. Biomedical Applications232◆ 0.98×35 topics
  18. Diagnosis226▲ 1.22×40 topics
  19. Clinical Trials219▲ 1.64×19 topics
  20. Identity215▲ 1.48×64 topics
  21. Biodiversity208▲ 1.40×37 topics
  22. Genetics203▲ 1.45×27 topics
  23. Management195▲ 1.25×35 topics
  24. History189▲ 1.35×46 topics
  25. Biomarkers182▲ 1.33×18 topics
  26. Invasive Species180▲ 2.1×21 topics
  27. Social Support176▲ 1.58×19 topics
  28. Mortality173▲ 1.50×13 topics
  29. Physical Activity172▲ 1.76×12 topics
  30. Social Justice170▲ 1.45×40 topics
  31. Anxiety165▲ 1.74×12 topics
  32. Gender164▲ 1.52×50 topics
  33. Ethics162▲ 1.69×43 topics
  34. Nationalism156▲ 1.69×32 topics
  35. Colonialism155▲ 1.64×46 topics
  36. Prevalence149▲ 1.84×15 topics
  37. Ecosystem Services148▲ 1.92×14 topics
  38. Neoliberalism144▲ 2.0×27 topics
  39. Health Equity142▲ 2.6×6 topics
  40. Health Disparities135▲ 2.6×8 topics

Which research topics does University of British Columbia publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Multilingual Education and Policy, Advanced Cellulose Research Studies, Species Distribution and Climate Change and COVID-19 and Mental Health.

Multilingual Education a…43Multilingual Education and Policy: 43 fractional worksAdvanced Cellulose Resea…42Advanced Cellulose Research Studies: 42 fractional worksSpecies Distribution and Climate Change: 41 fractional worksCOVID-19 and Mental Health: 41 fractional worksIndigenous Health, Educa…41Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights: 41 fractional worksHealth Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life: 39 fractional worksChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research: 39 fractional worksOpioid Use Disorder Trea…38Opioid Use Disorder Treatment: 38 fractional worksPlant and animal studies: 38 fractional worksWildlife Ecology and Conservation: 38 fractional works
Linguistics and LanguageBiomaterialsEcological ModelingClinical Psychology6 others

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

  1. 1 Multilingual Education and Policy Linguistics and Language 43 works
  2. 2 Advanced Cellulose Research Studies Biomaterials 42 works
  3. 3 Species Distribution and Climate Change Ecological Modeling 41 works
  4. 4 COVID-19 and Mental Health Clinical Psychology 41 works
  5. 5 Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights Health 41 works
  6. 6 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life Economics and Econometrics 39 works
  7. 7 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine 39 works
  8. 8 Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health 38 works
  9. 9 Plant and animal studies Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics 38 works
  10. 10 Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Ecology 38 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 available35.9%not open64.1%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors22.7%domestic only77.3%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has University of British Columbia's research output changed?

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.

Other research institutions in Vancouver

All research institutions in Vancouver

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.