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Subfield · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Biophysics research

Biophysics is a subfield of Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology. Science Explorer counts 144k research works in it since 1950. 21.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: study of biological systems using methods from the physical sciences.

Research works
144k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
31k
per year above
Top-10% rate
21.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
6
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+18%
the tick is no change

What is Biophysics research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Bioimage Analysis, High-Content Screening, Infrared Spectroscopy, Raman Spectroscopy, Fluorescent Proteins, Super-Resolution Imaging. Gaining share since 2009–13: Bioimage Analysis, High-Content Screening. Losing share: Distance Measurements, Electron Spin Resonance, Electromagnetic Fields, Magnetoreception.

▲ gaining share of this field◆ holding its share▼ losing share

Size is the world's fractional works in 2019–23 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2009–13. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 12 words, with their numbers
  1. Bioimage Analysis7,896▲ 1.57×1 topic
  2. High-Content Screening7,896▲ 1.57×1 topic
  3. Infrared Spectroscopy7,766◆ 1.04×1 topic
  4. Raman Spectroscopy7,766◆ 1.04×1 topic
  5. Fluorescent Proteins6,440◆ 0.89×1 topic
  6. Super-Resolution Imaging6,440◆ 0.89×1 topic
  7. Distance Measurements2,601▼ 0.59×1 topic
  8. Electron Spin Resonance2,601▼ 0.59×1 topic
  9. Electromagnetic Fields2,302▼ 0.84×1 topic
  10. Magnetoreception2,302▼ 0.84×1 topic
  11. Aqueous Solutions676◆ 0.89×1 topic
  12. Interfacial Water676◆ 0.89×1 topic

Which countries lead Biophysics research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, China and Germany rank highest in Biophysics. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (5.2k and 5k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 21.8% top 10% · 5.2k works
  2. 2 China · #4 all time 24.5% top 10% · 5k works
  3. 3 Germany · #2 all time 24.2% top 10% · 1.4k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom · #3 all time 25.2% top 10% · 1k works
  5. 5 India · #13 all time 14.8% top 10% · 1.4k works
  6. 6 France · #5 all time 17.0% top 10% · 908 works
  7. 7 Italy · #9 all time 20.5% top 10% · 713 works
  8. 8 Switzerland · #7 all time 30.4% top 10% · 276 works
  9. 9 South Korea · #15 all time 22.3% top 10% · 512 works
  10. 10 Japan · #6 all time 12.6% top 10% · 1k 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 19 countries ranked in Biophysics. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Biophysics

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 5.2k works
  2. 2 China 5k works
  3. 3 Germany 1.4k works
  4. 4 India 1.4k works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 1k works
  6. 6 Japan 1k works
  7. 7 France 908 works
  8. 8 Russia 805 works
  9. 9 Italy 713 works
  10. 10 South Korea 512 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.

United States: 29.2%China: 27.6%Germany: 7.9%India: 7.5%6 others listed: 27.7%29%largest
United States5,245 · 29.2%China4,964 · 27.6%Germany1,426 · 7.9%India1,354 · 7.5%6 others listed4,967 · 27.7%

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

Which institutions lead Biophysics research?

Tsinghua University (China) ranks first in Biophysics on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Harvard University and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Tsinghua University China · Beijing · #46 all time 30.8% top 10% · 92 works
  2. 2 Harvard University United States · Cambridge · #1 all time 30.1% top 10% · 68 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #49 all time 26.2% top 10% · 120 works
  4. 4 Stanford University United States · Stanford · #3 all time 29.2% top 10% · 69 works
  5. 5 Peking University China · Beijing · #66 all time 31.0% top 10% · 64 works
  6. 6 University of Washington United States · Seattle · #18 all time 31.4% top 10% · 70 works
  7. 7 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #14 all time 20.5% top 10% · 116 works
  8. 8 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing 26.9% top 10% · 73 works
  9. 9 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China · Shanghai 32.2% top 10% · 62 works
  10. 10 Zhejiang University China · Hangzhou · #62 all time 23.0% top 10% · 92 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 15 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Biophysics.

Top 100 Biophysics institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China 120 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France 116 works
  3. 3 Zhejiang University China 92 works
  4. 4 Tsinghua University China 91 works
  5. 5 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 73 works
  6. 6 The University of Tokyo Japan 71 works
  7. 7 University of Washington United States 70 works
  8. 8 Stanford University United States 69 works
  9. 9 Harvard University United States 68 works
  10. 10 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States 65 works

Who are the leading researchers in Biophysics?

Among the most productive authors in Biophysics, Barry Halliwell, Jürgen Schmidhuber and Moungi G. Bawendi rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Barry Halliwell United Kingdom · #215 worldwide 4k citations · 147 works
  2. 2 Jürgen Schmidhuber Switzerland · #468 worldwide 4.3k citations · 146 works
  3. 3 Moungi G. Bawendi United States · #653 worldwide 4.1k citations · 131 works
  4. 4 Jack L. Koenig United States · #1,155 worldwide 2.9k citations · 117 works
  5. 5 Mostafa A. El‐Sayed United States · #1,236 worldwide 3.5k citations · 149 works
  6. 6 Michael S. Feld United States · #1,344 worldwide 2k citations · 139 works
  7. 7 Pascal Frossard Switzerland · #1,457 worldwide 3.8k citations · 208 works
  8. 8 Richard R. Ernst Switzerland · #1,796 worldwide 2.6k citations · 85 works
  9. 9 Róbert Langer United States · #1,884 worldwide 4.2k citations · 244 works
  10. 10 Manuel Salto‐Tellez United Kingdom · #2,011 worldwide 1.4k citations · 95 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 4,434 highest-output authors in Biophysics. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Biophysics researchers

Where is Biophysics research done?

The largest centres of Biophysics research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Paris (France) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Chevy Chase and Jena.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 948 works
  2. 2 Shanghai China 378 works
  3. 3 Paris France 349 works
  4. 4 Moscow Russia 346 works
  5. 5 Tokyo Japan 307 works
  6. 6 London United Kingdom 254 works
  7. 7 Hangzhou China 251 works
  8. 8 Guangzhou China 236 works
  9. 9 Nanjing China 235 works
  10. 10 Seoul South Korea 229 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Chevy ChaseUS · 25.2 works12×
  2. JenaDE · 84.6 works8.6×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Biophysics on the map

Biophysics research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Biophysics?

Among universities, judged by research, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science and Shenzhen University 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%20%40%mean 35.03%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences: 12, 40.1%Weizmann Institute of Science: 25, 36.6%Shenzhen University: 61, 23.1%École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne: 50, 35.0%Technological University Dublin: 12, 43.3%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 73, 26.9%University of Strathclyde: 28, 38.8%Boston University: 53, 34.5%The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering: 14, 26.2%Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University: 12, 45.8%Max Planck Institute…Weizmann Institute o…École Polytechnique …Shenzhen University
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
1Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences ?? 57.340.1%30.0×12 —
2Weizmann Institute of Science Israel 52.636.6%7.4×25 -6.6%
3Shenzhen University China 52.323.1%3.5×61 +192.8%
4École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Switzerland 52.335.0%5.2×50 -12.0%
5Technological University Dublin Ireland 51.043.3%5.6×12 +124.2%
6University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 50.926.9%1.9×73 +278.6%
7University of Strathclyde United Kingdom 50.138.8%4.4×28 +56.7%
8Boston University United States 50.034.5%4.7×53 +23.3%
9The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering United States 49.926.2%27.2×14 +60.9%
10Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University China 47.645.8%8.9×12 -43.6%

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 Biophysics research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 18% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Cell Image Analysis Techniques, Spectroscopy Techniques in Biomedical and Chemical Research and Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques.

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.

  1. Cell Image Analysis Techniques+112%
  2. Spectroscopy Techniques in Biomedical and Chemical Research+59%
  3. Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques+57%
  4. Electromagnetic Fields and Biological Effects+32%
  5. Chemical and Physical Studies+22%
  6. Electron Spin Resonance Studies-9%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Biophysics include?

Spectroscopy Techniques …37kSpectroscopy Techniques in Biomedical and Chemical Research: 37k fractional worksElectron Spin Resonance …30kElectron Spin Resonance Studies: 30k fractional worksAdvanced Fluorescence Mi…29kAdvanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques: 29k fractional worksCell Image Analysis Techniques: 29k fractional worksElectromagnetic Fields and Biological Effects: 13k fractional worksChemical and Physical Studies: 4,695 fractional works

Area is fractional works in that topic. Every name below is a page of its own.