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Subfield · Neuroscience

Biological Psychiatry research

Biological Psychiatry is a subfield of Neuroscience. Science Explorer counts 44k research works in it since 1950. 23.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system.

Research works
44k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
10k
per year above
Top-10% rate
23.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
1
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+61%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Biological Psychiatry research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and the United Kingdom rank highest in Biological Psychiatry. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (3.3k and 2.2k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 28.6% top 10% · 3.3k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 22.5% top 10% · 2.2k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #3 all time 26.9% top 10% · 344 works
  4. 4 Italy · #7 all time 31.5% top 10% · 361 works
  5. 5 India · #12 all time 20.0% top 10% · 461 works
  6. 6 Germany · #4 all time 21.4% top 10% · 362 works
  7. 7 Australia · #6 all time 27.0% top 10% · 214 works
  8. 8 Canada · #5 all time 24.6% top 10% · 288 works
  9. 9 Spain · #11 all time 24.1% top 10% · 261 works
  10. 10 Japan · #10 all time 15.0% top 10% · 343 works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 16 countries ranked in Biological Psychiatry. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Biological Psychiatry

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 3.3k works
  2. 2 United States 2.2k works
  3. 3 India 461 works
  4. 4 Germany 362 works
  5. 5 Italy 361 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 344 works
  7. 7 Japan 343 works
  8. 8 Russia 342 works
  9. 9 Canada 288 works
  10. 10 Brazil 266 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 39.6%United States: 26.8%India: 5.6%Germany: 4.4%6 others listed: 23.6%40%largest
China3,261 · 39.6%United States2,209 · 26.8%India461 · 5.6%Germany362 · 4.4%6 others listed1,945 · 23.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Biological Psychiatry research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College publishes the most Biological Psychiatry research, followed by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard University.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College China 47 works
  2. 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States 44 works
  3. 3 Harvard University United States 42 works
  4. 4 King's College London United Kingdom 38 works
  5. 5 University of Toronto Canada 35 works
  6. 6 Capital Medical University China 34 works
  7. 7 Southern Medical University China 33 works
  8. 8 Sichuan University China 33 works
  9. 9 Central South University China 33 works
  10. 10 Mental Health Research Center of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Russia 32 works

Who are the leading researchers in Biological Psychiatry?

Among the most productive authors in Biological Psychiatry, Perminder S. Sachdev, Rob Knight and John J. McGrath rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Perminder S. Sachdev Australia · #56 worldwide 4.6k citations · 215 works
  2. 2 Rob Knight United States · #97 worldwide 4.9k citations · 202 works
  3. 3 John J. McGrath Australia · #105 worldwide 5.3k citations · 193 works
  4. 4 James G. Scott Australia · #112 worldwide 4.3k citations · 219 works
  5. 5 Philip B. Mitchell Australia · #134 worldwide 3.7k citations · 146 works
  6. 6 Patrick F. Sullivan United States · #162 worldwide 3.6k citations · 158 works
  7. 7 Stephan Ripke United States · #629 worldwide 4k citations · 102 works
  8. 8 Edward T. Bullmore United Kingdom · #709 worldwide 2.6k citations · 165 works
  9. 9 Simon Baron‐Cohen United Kingdom · #719 worldwide 3.8k citations · 212 works
  10. 10 Timothy G. Dinan Ireland · #742 worldwide 3.1k citations · 126 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,501 highest-output authors in Biological Psychiatry. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Biological Psychiatry researchers

Where is Biological Psychiatry research done?

The largest centres of Biological Psychiatry research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Guangzhou (China), Shanghai (China) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Cork.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 414 works
  2. 2 Guangzhou China 214 works
  3. 3 Shanghai China 206 works
  4. 4 Moscow Russia 160 works
  5. 5 Nanjing China 145 works
  6. 6 London United Kingdom 132 works
  7. 7 Chengdu China 129 works
  8. 8 Hangzhou China 128 works
  9. 9 Wuhan China 126 works
  10. 10 Changsha China 119 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. CorkIE · 24.5 works5.8×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Biological Psychiatry than the world average.

See Biological Psychiatry on the map

Biological Psychiatry research by country

The best places for Biological Psychiatry research inside each country, with that country's researchers and world standing.

Where is the best place to study Biological Psychiatry?

Among universities, judged by research, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine and Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%25%50%mean 32.81%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine: 30, 31.3%Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine: 25, 30.3%Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine: 25, 41.1%Southern Medical University: 33, 29.5%King's College London: 38, 33.0%Beijing University of Chinese Medicine: 30, 20.1%Medical University of Lodz: 18, 26.1%Medical University of Białystok: 14, 29.1%Hunan Agricultural University: 12, 57.3%Capital Medical University: 34, 30.3%Chengdu University o…Nanjing University o…Guangzhou University…Southern Medical Uni…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine China 67.931.3%11.0×30 +165.8%
2Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine China 66.430.3%12.2×25 +176.9%
3Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine China 63.341.1%10.2×25
4Southern Medical University China 59.229.5%8.3×33 +75.0%
5King's College London United Kingdom 58.133.0%4.5×38 +105.0%
6Beijing University of Chinese Medicine China 57.720.1%15.5×30 +86.7%
7Medical University of Lodz Poland 56.426.1%10.8×18 +87.6%
8Medical University of Białystok Poland 56.029.1%14.1×14 +111.0%
9Hunan Agricultural University China 55.957.3%7.0×12
10Capital Medical University China 55.830.3%5.3×34 +143.5%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Biological Psychiatry research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 61% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Tryptophan and brain disorders.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

What does Biological Psychiatry include?