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University · San Diego · United States

University of California San Diego

In research, University of California San Diego stands highest in Life Sciences (#11 of 7,800 worldwide), Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (#6 of 3,579 worldwide) and Medicine (#31 of 10,443 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Aging, Virology and Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience — Aging is 5.8× its share of world research.

ucsd.eduROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#33
of 28,054 · #18 all time
Rank in United States
#7
of 4,192
Research works
143k
▲ 10% vs 2013–17
Citations
7.6M
53.3 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
22.3%
record average 16.5%
Open access
37%
world 28%

What is University of California San Diego 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
Life SciencesDomain #11 of 7,800 25.6%3,329 #7
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #6 of 3,579 25.3%1,960 #9
MedicineField #31 of 10,443 19.7%5,090 #20
Health SciencesDomain #39 of 11,982 19.9%5,530 #23
Molecular BiologySubfield #11 of 2,175 25.0%1,212 #7
Physical SciencesDomain #73 of 12,888 21.6%5,962 #31
NeuroscienceField #9 of 1,168 23.1%779 #8
Computer ScienceField #36 of 4,667 21.3%1,422 #19
SurgerySubfield #27 of 1,816 17.7%545 #22
Social SciencesDomain #159 of 10,521 24.8%2,620 #42

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where University of California San Diego 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. Life Sciences#7 #11
  2. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#9 #6
  3. Medicine#20 #31
  4. Health Sciences#23 #39
  5. Molecular Biology#7 #11
  6. Physical Sciences#31 #73
  7. Neuroscience#8 #9
  8. Computer Science#19 #36
  9. Surgery#22 #27
  10. Social Sciences#42 #159
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 California San Diego specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Aging takes 5.8× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. AgingSubfield · 24.2 works5.8×
  2. VirologySubfield · 34.1 works3.4×
  3. Cellular and Molecular NeuroscienceSubfield · 180.0 works3.3×
  4. OceanographySubfield · 153.8 works3.1×
  5. Discrete Mathematics and CombinatoricsSubfield · 21.3 works3.1×
  6. Cognitive NeuroscienceSubfield · 389.4 works3.1×
  7. BiophysicsSubfield · 60.6 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: 0.24× its world share, 197 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 2.11× its world share, 1,960 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.92× its world share, 337 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 2.75× its world share, 779 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.92× its world share, 56 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.49× its world share, 30 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.68× its world share, 186 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.05× its world share, 1,422 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.43× its world share, 392 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.39× its world share, 63 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.75× its world share, 1,957 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.57× its world share, 496 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.57× its world share, 350 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.87× its world share, 383 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.76× its world share, 684 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.24× its world share, 20 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.79× its world share, 363 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.52× its world share, 5,090 worksMedicineNursing: 0.53× its world share, 46 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.46× its world share, 11 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.52× its world share, 260 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.25× its world share, 139 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.00× its world share, 169 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.62× its world share, 232 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.36× its world share, 721 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.50× its world share, 1,098 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

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

Who are the top researchers at University of California San Diego?

Ranked on the composite score, Rob Knight, Clive W. J. Granger and L. J. Sham lead among researchers whose main affiliation is University of California San Diego.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States · #97 worldwide 4.9k citations · 202 works
  2. 2 Clive W. J. Granger United States · #256 worldwide 4.5k citations · 117 works
  3. 3 L. J. Sham United States · #756 worldwide 13k citations · 92 works
  4. 4 Sia Nemat‐Nasser United States · #954 worldwide 2.7k citations · 106 works
  5. 5 J. Andrew McCammon United States · #959 worldwide 3.4k citations · 160 works
  6. 6 Marc A. Meyers United States · #1,008 worldwide 3.2k citations · 128 works
  7. 7 Donald A. Norman United States · #1,026 worldwide 2.6k citations · 91 works
  8. 8 Michael Karin United States · #1,120 worldwide 4k citations · 94 works
  9. 9 Amin Vahdat United States · #1,445 worldwide 3k citations · 89 works
  10. 10 Sonia Ancoli‐Israel United States · #2,421 worldwide 1.5k citations · 98 works
All ranked researchers at University of California San Diego

Which keywords describe research at University of California San Diego?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Inflammation, Deep Learning, Oxidative Stress, Machine Learning, Neurological Disorders, Cancer and Risk Factors.

▲ 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. Epidemiology944▲ 1.37×130 topics
  2. Deep Learning600◆ 1.01×82 topics
  3. Inflammation598▲ 1.65×83 topics
  4. Machine Learning555◆ 0.97×88 topics
  5. Oxidative Stress441▲ 1.54×61 topics
  6. Climate Change365▼ 0.78×95 topics
  7. Cancer341▲ 1.46×55 topics
  8. Neural Networks332▲ 1.24×36 topics
  9. Treatment314▲ 1.49×50 topics
  10. Cardiovascular Disease309▲ 1.60×39 topics
  11. Risk Factors309▲ 1.61×36 topics
  12. Metabolic Syndrome260▲ 1.83×22 topics
  13. Neurological Disorders259▲ 2.6×20 topics
  14. Public Health255◆ 1.01×63 topics
  15. Quality of Life254◆ 1.01×53 topics
  16. Mental Health246◆ 0.96×40 topics
  17. Biomarkers242▲ 2.0×18 topics
  18. Depression236▲ 1.54×24 topics
  19. Genetics236▲ 1.93×26 topics
  20. Immunotherapy232▲ 1.87×19 topics
  21. Diagnosis209▲ 1.29×41 topics
  22. Aging208▲ 2.2×18 topics
  23. Obesity190▲ 1.44×25 topics
  24. Insulin Resistance184▲ 2.3×10 topics
  25. Mortality173▲ 1.72×13 topics
  26. Clinical Trials173▲ 1.48×19 topics
  27. Gene Expression167▲ 1.58×19 topics
  28. Cancer Therapy159▲ 1.60×20 topics
  29. Neuroimaging152▲ 3.2×11 topics
  30. Genetic Mutations151▲ 2.0×23 topics
  31. Neurodegeneration149▲ 2.9×11 topics
  32. Prevalence140▲ 1.97×14 topics
  33. Immunity137▲ 1.95×11 topics
  34. Neuroinflammation136▲ 2.8×6 topics
  35. Innate Immunity131▲ 2.4×11 topics
  36. Alzheimer's Disease131▲ 2.7×9 topics
  37. Neurobiology127▲ 2.8×10 topics
  38. Synaptic Plasticity123▲ 3.2×6 topics
  39. Antiretroviral Therapy106▲ 3.8×6 topics
  40. Prefrontal Cortex78▲ 5.6×3 topics

Which research topics does University of California San Diego publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research, Neural dynamics and brain function, Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment and RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms.

Dementia and Cognitive I…62Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research: 62 fractional worksNeural dynamics and brai…58Neural dynamics and brain function: 58 fractional worksLiver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment: 57 fractional worksRNA and protein synthesis mechanisms: 56 fractional worksRNA Research and Splicing: 50 fractional worksGut microbiota and health: 49 fractional worksCRISPR and Genetic Engineering: 49 fractional worksAdvanced Memory and Neur…47Advanced Memory and Neural Computing: 47 fractional worksFunctional Brain Connectivity Studies: 47 fractional worksRNA modifications and cancer: 46 fractional works
Psychiatry and Mental healthCognitive NeuroscienceEpidemiologyMolecular Biology1 others

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

  1. 1 Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research Psychiatry and Mental health 62 works
  2. 2 Neural dynamics and brain function Cognitive Neuroscience 58 works
  3. 3 Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Epidemiology 57 works
  4. 4 RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms Molecular Biology 56 works
  5. 5 RNA Research and Splicing Molecular Biology 50 works
  6. 6 Gut microbiota and health Molecular Biology 49 works
  7. 7 CRISPR and Genetic Engineering Molecular Biology 49 works
  8. 8 Advanced Memory and Neural Computing Electrical and Electronic Engineering 47 works
  9. 9 Functional Brain Connectivity Studies Cognitive Neuroscience 47 works
  10. 10 RNA modifications and cancer Molecular Biology 46 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 available37.3%not open62.7%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors16.0%domestic only84.0%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has University of California San Diego's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 10% 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 San Diego

All research institutions in San Diego

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.