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Subfield · Immunology and Microbiology

Virology research

Virology is a subfield of Immunology and Microbiology. Science Explorer counts 90k research works in it since 1950. 18.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: study of viruses.

Research works
90k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
16k
per year above
Top-10% rate
18.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
3
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+2%
the tick is no change

What is Virology research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are AIDS, HIV, Rabies, Virus, Monkeypox Virus, Smallpox Vaccination. Gaining share since 2009–13: Monkeypox Virus, Smallpox Vaccination, Rabies, Virus. Losing share: AIDS, HIV.

▲ 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 6 words, with their numbers
  1. AIDS8,048▼ 0.74×1 topic
  2. HIV8,048▼ 0.74×1 topic
  3. Rabies4,688▲ 1.55×1 topic
  4. Virus4,688▲ 1.55×1 topic
  5. Monkeypox Virus2,547▲ 1.81×1 topic
  6. Smallpox Vaccination2,547▲ 1.81×1 topic

Which countries lead Virology research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, China and the United Kingdom rank highest in Virology. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.1k and 1.3k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 16.3% top 10% · 3.1k works
  2. 2 China · #7 all time 18.8% top 10% · 1.3k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #2 all time 21.4% top 10% · 482 works
  4. 4 India · #15 all time 10.4% top 10% · 979 works
  5. 5 Germany · #4 all time 19.5% top 10% · 296 works
  6. 6 France · #3 all time 16.5% top 10% · 384 works
  7. 7 Spain · #10 all time 15.7% top 10% · 302 works
  8. 8 Australia · #5 all time 20.3% top 10% · 242 works
  9. 9 Canada · #6 all time 16.6% top 10% · 269 works
  10. 10 South Africa · #12 all time 19.4% top 10% · 219 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 14 countries ranked in Virology. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Virology

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 3.1k works
  2. 2 China 1.3k works
  3. 3 India 979 works
  4. 4 Brazil 522 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 482 works
  6. 6 France 384 works
  7. 7 Italy 323 works
  8. 8 Spain 302 works
  9. 9 Germany 296 works
  10. 10 Canada 269 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: 39.1%China: 15.9%India: 12.4%Brazil: 6.6%6 others listed: 26.0%39%largest
United States3,091 · 39.1%China1,252 · 15.9%India979 · 12.4%Brazil522 · 6.6%6 others listed2,055 · 26.0%

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

Which institutions lead Virology research?

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

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States · Chapel Hill · #13 all time 5.1% top 10% · 126 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 1 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Virology.

Top 100 Virology institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States 126 works
  2. 2 Johns Hopkins University United States 49 works
  3. 3 Emory University United States 41 works
  4. 4 University of Washington United States 39 works
  5. 5 University of California, San Francisco United States 37 works
  6. 6 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention United States 36 works
  7. 7 Harvard University United States 35 works
  8. 8 University of California San Diego United States 34 works
  9. 9 University of Pennsylvania United States 32 works
  10. 10 Inserm France 30 works

Who are the leading researchers in Virology?

Among the most productive authors in Virology, Matthias Egger, Anthony S. Fauci and S. Brunet rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Matthias Egger Switzerland · #110 worldwide 2.9k citations · 177 works
  2. 2 Anthony S. Fauci United States · #216 worldwide 2.7k citations · 158 works
  3. 3 S. Brunet United States · #447 worldwide 5.4k citations · 175 works
  4. 4 Don C. Des Jarlais United States · #628 worldwide 4k citations · 101 works
  5. 5 Alan S. Perelson United States · #1,080 worldwide 2k citations · 102 works
  6. 6 David Baltimore United States · #1,227 worldwide 2.7k citations · 190 works
  7. 7 Henry Masur United States · #1,702 worldwide 1.9k citations · 86 works
  8. 8 Nicola Low Switzerland · #1,728 worldwide 2.5k citations · 79 works
  9. 9 Jack S. Remington United States · #1,756 worldwide 1.2k citations · 92 works
  10. 10 Dan J. Stein South Africa · #1,863 worldwide 7.7k citations · 620 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,743 highest-output authors in Virology. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Virology researchers

Where is Virology research done?

The largest centres of Virology research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Paris (France), London (United Kingdom) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Frederick.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 287 works
  2. 2 Paris France 182 works
  3. 3 London United Kingdom 178 works
  4. 4 New York United States 152 works
  5. 5 Atlanta United States 140 works
  6. 6 Chapel Hill United States 129 works
  7. 7 São Paulo Brazil 123 works
  8. 8 Madrid Spain 110 works
  9. 9 Bethesda United States 109 works
  10. 10 Baltimore United States 109 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. FrederickUS · 21.0 works26×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Virology on the map

Virology research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Virology?

Among universities, judged by research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Royal Veterinary College and Weill Cornell 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%10%20%30%mean 18.4%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: 15, 21.6%Royal Veterinary College: 8, 19.8%Weill Cornell Medicine: 12, 22.1%University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: 126, 5.1%Makerere University: 17, 17.0%Johns Hopkins University: 49, 22.2%University of Gondar: 10, 24.5%University of California, San Francisco: 36, 19.8%University of the Witwatersrand: 27, 18.6%Rockefeller University: 13, 13.3%Weill Cornell MedicineLondon School of Hyg…Royal Veterinary Col…University of North …
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
1London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine United Kingdom 54.521.6%8.3×15 -2.6%
2Royal Veterinary College United Kingdom 50.019.8%15.2×8 +33.9%
3Weill Cornell Medicine United States 48.222.1%7.5×12 —
4University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States 48.05.1%6.3×126 +77.8%
5Makerere University Uganda 45.917.0%7.8×17 -5.8%
6Johns Hopkins University United States 45.222.2%3.9×49 -11.6%
7University of Gondar Ethiopia 44.924.5%5.6×10 +96.6%
8University of California, San Francisco United States 44.319.8%4.9×36 -1.6%
9University of the Witwatersrand South Africa 44.218.6%5.5×27 +1.0%
10Rockefeller University United States 44.113.3%17.7×13 -2.2%

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 Virology research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 2% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Rabies epidemiology and control, HIV Research and Treatment and Poxvirus research and outbreaks.

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. Rabies epidemiology and control+74%
  2. HIV Research and Treatment+11%
  3. Poxvirus research and outbreaks+10%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Virology include?