Science Explorer Interactive view Map
Subfield · Health Professions

Pharmacy research

Pharmacy is a subfield of Health Professions. Science Explorer counts 112k research works in it since 1950. 17.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: science that studies the chemical, pharmacological and pharmaceutical properties of drugs.

Research works
112k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
20k
per year above
Top-10% rate
17.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
5
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+16%
the tick is no change

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

What is Pharmacy research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Defensive Medicine, Malpractice Risk, Obesity Stigma, Weight Bias, Colic, Infant Crying.

▲ 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 10 words, with their numbers
  1. Defensive Medicine7,512◆ 0.98×1 topic
  2. Malpractice Risk7,512◆ 0.98×1 topic
  3. Obesity Stigma5,597◆ 0.94×1 topic
  4. Weight Bias5,597◆ 0.94×1 topic
  5. Colic4,482◆ 1.03×1 topic
  6. Infant Crying4,482◆ 1.03×1 topic
  7. Drug-Induced3,859◆ 1.10×1 topic
  8. Gingival Overgrowth3,859◆ 1.10×1 topic
  9. Family Caregivers1,886◆ 1.06×1 topic
  10. Self-Care1,886◆ 1.06×1 topic

Which countries lead Pharmacy research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, the United Kingdom and China rank highest in Pharmacy. By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (4k and 1.3k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 19.2% top 10% · 4k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom · #2 all time 17.1% top 10% · 1.3k works
  3. 3 China · #7 all time 25.0% top 10% · 854 works
  4. 4 Australia · #3 all time 27.1% top 10% · 531 works
  5. 5 Canada · #4 all time 22.6% top 10% · 489 works
  6. 6 Italy · #6 all time 27.8% top 10% · 398 works
  7. 7 India · #13 all time 8.5% top 10% · 1.2k works
  8. 8 Germany · #5 all time 15.0% top 10% · 503 works
  9. 9 Brazil · #12 all time 5.8% top 10% · 1.2k works
  10. 10 Spain · #11 all time 10.2% top 10% · 682 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 21 countries ranked in Pharmacy. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Pharmacy

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 4k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 1.3k works
  3. 3 Brazil 1.2k works
  4. 4 India 1.2k works
  5. 5 China 854 works
  6. 6 Türkiye 695 works
  7. 7 Spain 682 works
  8. 8 Australia 531 works
  9. 9 Indonesia 527 works
  10. 10 Germany 503 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: 34.7%United Kingdom: 11.3%Brazil: 10.7%India: 10.2%6 others listed: 33.0%35%largest
United States3,990 · 34.7%United Kingdom1,297 · 11.3%Brazil1,228 · 10.7%India1,177 · 10.2%6 others listed3,792 · 33.0%

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

Which institutions lead Pharmacy research?

Harvard University (United States) ranks first in Pharmacy on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of Birmingham.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Harvard University United States · Cambridge · #1 all time 31.6% top 10% · 63 works
  2. 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States · Chapel Hill · #11 all time 8.4% top 10% · 67 works
  3. 3 University of Birmingham United Kingdom · Birmingham · #59 all time 3.2% top 10% · 66 works
  4. 4 Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los Andes Ecuador · Ambato 1.7% top 10% · 67 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 4 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Pharmacy.

Top 100 Pharmacy institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los Andes Ecuador 67 works
  2. 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States 67 works
  3. 3 University of Birmingham United Kingdom 66 works
  4. 4 Harvard University United States 63 works
  5. 5 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil 55 works
  6. 6 University of Michigan United States 47 works
  7. 7 Yale University United States 44 works
  8. 8 University of Toronto Canada 40 works
  9. 9 Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Türkiye 40 works
  10. 10 University of Pennsylvania United States 39 works

Who are the leading researchers in Pharmacy?

Among the most productive authors in Pharmacy, John P. A. Ioannidis, James Thomas and Azeem Majeed rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 John P. A. Ioannidis United States · #10 worldwide 8k citations · 222 works
  2. 2 James Thomas United Kingdom · #27 worldwide 13k citations · 154 works
  3. 3 Azeem Majeed United Kingdom · #51 worldwide 6k citations · 151 works
  4. 4 Ali H. Mokdad United States · #76 worldwide 10k citations · 131 works
  5. 5 Martin McKee United Kingdom · #78 worldwide 5.4k citations · 369 works
  6. 6 Lisa Hartling Canada · #92 worldwide 5k citations · 144 works
  7. 7 Walter C. Willett United States · #154 worldwide 6.8k citations · 360 works
  8. 8 Susanne Hempel United States · #170 worldwide 4.8k citations · 116 works
  9. 9 James F. Sallis United States · #427 worldwide 2.5k citations · 136 works
  10. 10 Hermann Brenner Germany · #461 worldwide 5.8k citations · 356 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,692 highest-output authors in Pharmacy. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Pharmacy researchers

Where is Pharmacy research done?

The largest centres of Pharmacy research in 2022–2025 are London (United Kingdom), São Paulo (Brazil), Istanbul (Türkiye) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in London, Ambato and Ciudad Victoria.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 331 works
  2. 2 São Paulo Brazil 219 works
  3. 3 Istanbul Türkiye 174 works
  4. 4 New York United States 170 works
  5. 5 Boston United States 156 works
  6. 6 Madrid Spain 147 works
  7. 7 Mexico City Mexico 134 works
  8. 8 Beijing China 129 works
  9. 9 Melbourne Australia 125 works
  10. 10 Bogotá Colombia 112 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. London40.3 works13×
  2. AmbatoEC · 102.3 works13×
  3. Ciudad VictoriaMX · 20.7 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Pharmacy on the map

Pharmacy research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Pharmacy?

Among universities, judged by research, Iranshahr University, Leeds Beckett University and Harvard 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%60%mean 19.15%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Iranshahr University: 14, 19.0%Leeds Beckett University: 8, 51.5%Harvard University: 63, 31.6%University of Connecticut: 18, 40.3%Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los Andes: 67, 1.7%Universidad El Bosque: 8, 8.7%University of Birmingham: 66, 3.2%Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi: 40, 5.2%Universidad Técnica de Ambato: 31, 0.7%Monash University: 37, 29.6%Leeds Beckett Univer…University of Connec…Harvard UniversityIranshahr 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
1Iranshahr University Iran 55.019.0%9.0×14 +273.0%
2Leeds Beckett University United Kingdom 54.351.5%6.0×8 +35.9%
3Harvard University United States 52.831.6%2.8×63 +7.7%
4University of Connecticut United States 52.840.3%2.7×18 +157.7%
5Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los Andes Ecuador 52.31.7%18.0×67 —
6Universidad El Bosque Colombia 47.18.7%9.4×8 +249.4%
7University of Birmingham United Kingdom 46.93.2%6.4×66 +18.9%
8Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Türkiye 46.45.2%3.9×40 +943.1%
9Universidad Técnica de Ambato Ecuador 45.70.7%11.5×31 —
10Monash University Australia 44.329.6%2.5×37 -30.3%

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 Pharmacy research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 16% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Nursing care and research, Oral and gingival health research and Obesity and Health Practices.

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. Nursing care and research+129%
  2. Oral and gingival health research+76%
  3. Obesity and Health Practices+75%
  4. Infant Health and Development+66%
  5. Medical Malpractice and Liability Issues+42%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Pharmacy include?

Medical Malpractice and …36kMedical Malpractice and Liability Issues: 36k fractional worksObesity and Health Pract…26kObesity and Health Practices: 26k fractional worksInfant Health and Development: 23k fractional worksOral and gingival health research: 19k fractional worksNursing care and research: 8,176 fractional works

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