University of California-San Diego: Rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 20 in United States, 25 in the global 2026 rating, and scored in the TOP 1-3 across multiple research topics. The ranking is based on 3 factors: research output (EliteDegrees's index has 313,402 academic publications and 16,907,719 citations attributed to the university), non-academic reputation, and the impact of notable alumni.
| Position | Category |
|---|---|
| # 25 of 14,131 | In the World |
| # 4 of 249 | In California |
| # 21 of 2,597 | In North America |
| # 1 of 20 | In San Diego |
| # 20 of 2,496 | In United States |
| # 13 of 5,430 | For Chemistry |
| # 14 of 6,308 | For Biology |
| # 14 of 6,057 | For Computer Science |
| Top 1-3 | For 12 other topics |
Jump to topical rankings below
Biology rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 11 for Biology in United States and 14 in the World with 198,994 publications made and 12,340,971 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Biology Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bioinformatics / Computational biology | #7 | #7 | #7 |
| Biophysics | #7 | #7 | #7 |
| Biochemistry | #9 | #9 | #9 |
| Molecular | #8 | #8 | #9 |
| Genetics | #10 | #10 | #10 |
| Neuroscience | #9 | #10 | #11 |
| Biotechnology | #10 | #11 | #11 |
| Evolutionary | #9 | #9 | #12 |
| Pharmacology | #10 | #11 | #12 |
| Immunology | #12 | #13 | #14 |
| Wildlife and Fisheries Management | #9 | #11 | #16 |
| Oncology | #15 | #16 | #18 |
| Virology | #14 | #15 | #19 |
| Paleontology | #16 | #18 | #22 |
| Microbiology | #17 | #19 | #23 |
| Astrobiology | #20 | #21 | #29 |
| Ethics | #21 | #23 | #32 |
| Botany | #21 | #23 | #35 |
| Nanotechnology | #20 | #21 | #57 |
| Zoology | #29 | #34 | #59 |
| Horticulture | #38 | #44 | #119 |
| Entomology | #53 | #60 | #139 |
| Toxicology | #54 | #60 | #145 |
| Animal Science | #55 | #66 | #200 |
| Forestry | #69 | #80 | #247 |
Medicine rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 14 for Medicine in United States and 17 in the World with 166,179 publications made and 9,358,753 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Medicine Subfield Rankings
Chemistry rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 9 for Chemistry in United States and 13 in the World with 157,490 publications made and 9,938,204 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Chemistry Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biochemistry | #9 | #9 | #9 |
| Organic chemistry | #13 | #14 | #22 |
| Computational | #14 | #14 | #25 |
| Biochemical Engineering | #8 | #9 | #27 |
| Nanotechnology | #20 | #21 | #57 |
| Physical | #23 | #25 | #72 |
| Pharmacy | #23 | #25 | #93 |
| Radiochemistry | #50 | #57 | #327 |
| Environmental Chemistry | #38 | #43 | #100 |
| Materials Science | #19 | #20 | #43 |
| Inorganic Chemistry | #24 | #27 | #87 |
| Petrology and Geochemistry | #21 | #24 | #54 |
Computer Science rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 10 for Computer Science in United States and 14 in the World with 134,358 publications made and 7,762,622 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Computer Science Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bioinformatics / Computational biology | #7 | #7 | #7 |
| Cognitive Science | #5 | #6 | #8 |
| Neuroscience | #9 | #10 | #11 |
| Data Science | #9 | #9 | #12 |
| Telecommunications | #11 | #12 | #16 |
| Cryptography and Distributed computing | #13 | #14 | #16 |
| Computer Engineering | #15 | #16 | #20 |
| Machine Learning | #15 | #16 | #21 |
| Computational Linguistics | #15 | #16 | #21 |
| Computer Vision | #16 | #17 | #23 |
| Multimedia | #18 | #20 | #28 |
| Software Engineering | #21 | #24 | #41 |
| Animation | #24 | #27 | #47 |
| Robotics | #18 | #21 | #65 |
| Management Information Systems (MIS) | #73 | #89 | #218 |
| Information Technology | #171 | #189 | #488 |
| Web Design and Development | #16 | #17 | #29 |
| Library and Information science | #23 | #24 | #28 |
| Human-Computer Interaction | #13 | #15 | #28 |
| Database Administration | #24 | #27 | #37 |
| Cyber Security | #15 | #17 | #21 |
| Computer Networking | #10 | #11 | #13 |
| Artificial Intelligence (AI) | #12 | #13 | #17 |
Engineering rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 14 for Engineering in United States and 24 in the World with 121,057 publications made and 6,229,794 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Engineering Subfield Rankings
Physics rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 15 for Physics in United States and 23 in the World with 120,130 publications made and 6,203,456 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Physics Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biophysics | #7 | #7 | #7 |
| Optics | #12 | #13 | #18 |
| Condensed Matter | #12 | #12 | #27 |
| Astrobiology | #20 | #21 | #29 |
| Molecular | #19 | #19 | #30 |
| Theoretical | #24 | #27 | #41 |
| Applied Physics | #24 | #24 | #49 |
| Nanotechnology | #20 | #21 | #57 |
| Quantum and Particle physics | #18 | #19 | #32 |
| Astrophysics and Astronomy | #23 | #24 | #32 |
| Atomic and Molecular physics | #19 | #19 | #30 |
Liberal Arts & Social Sciences rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 23 for Liberal Arts & Social Sciences in United States and 33 in the World with 103,466 publications made and 5,381,066 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aesthetics | #14 | #15 | #18 |
| Linguistics | #17 | #19 | #23 |
| Philosophy | #18 | #21 | #30 |
| Demography | #23 | #25 | #33 |
| Archaeology | #23 | #25 | #33 |
| History | #24 | #26 | #34 |
| Genealogy | #22 | #25 | #35 |
| Law | #30 | #32 | #42 |
| Political Science | #29 | #31 | #43 |
| Sociology | #32 | #35 | #47 |
| Anthropology | #31 | #35 | #50 |
| Media Studies | #31 | #34 | #61 |
| Education | #47 | #52 | #82 |
| Gender Studies | #54 | #62 | #98 |
| Publishing | #48 | #59 | #128 |
| Broadcast Journalism | #71 | #79 | #140 |
| Special Education | #93 | #106 | #191 |
| Forensic Science | #57 | #66 | #207 |
| International Law | #119 | #137 | #361 |
| Social Work | #210 | #236 | #459 |
| Classics and Ancient History | #24 | #26 | #45 |
| Military science | #10 | #10 | #11 |
| Theology / Divinity / Religious studies | #31 | #34 | #61 |
| Sports / Exercise science | #14 | #21 | #34 |
| Journalism and Digital Media | #30 | #31 | #35 |
| Law Enforcement | #32 | #34 | #52 |
Environmental Science rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 19 for Environmental Science in United States and 27 in the World with 90,413 publications made and 4,897,851 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Environmental Science Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oceanography | #6 | #6 | #8 |
| Wildlife and Fisheries Management | #9 | #11 | #16 |
| Geology | #14 | #16 | #19 |
| Paleontology | #16 | #18 | #22 |
| Earth science and Geoscience | #14 | #14 | #25 |
| Ecology | #27 | #30 | #44 |
| Environmental Management | #38 | #44 | #124 |
| Environmental Engineering | #51 | #61 | #205 |
| Forestry | #69 | #80 | #247 |
| Hydrology and Water resources | #87 | #102 | #528 |
| Meteorology and Atmospheric Science | #13 | #13 | #18 |
| Geography and Cartography | #16 | #18 | #22 |
Psychology rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 12 for Psychology in United States and 15 in the World with 89,190 publications made and 5,198,150 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Psychology Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cognitive Science | #5 | #6 | #8 |
| Neuroscience | #9 | #10 | #11 |
| Psychiatry | #12 | #13 | #14 |
| Clinical Psychology | #13 | #14 | #16 |
| Occupational Therapy | #34 | #43 | #70 |
| Human Sexuality | #53 | #58 | #73 |
| Education | #47 | #52 | #82 |
| Special Education | #93 | #106 | #191 |
| Social Work | #210 | #236 | #459 |
| Child Psychology | #23 | #25 | #29 |
| Social Psychology | #32 | #34 | #42 |
Mathematics rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 16 for Mathematics in United States and 20 in the World with 53,656 publications made and 2,830,068 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Mathematics Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cryptography and Distributed computing | #13 | #14 | #16 |
| Statistics | #15 | #16 | #19 |
| Econometrics | #21 | #22 | #25 |
| Applied Mathematics | #21 | #22 | #32 |
| Actuarial Science | #42 | #46 | #64 |
| Mathematics Education | #53 | #59 | #98 |
| Operations Research | #67 | #84 | #265 |
Business rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 31 for Business in United States and 42 in the World with 28,689 publications made and 1,532,264 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Business Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management | #22 | #23 | #31 |
| Advertising | #28 | #30 | #36 |
| Finance | #27 | #29 | #40 |
| Actuarial Science | #42 | #46 | #64 |
| International Trade | #18 | #20 | #66 |
| Marketing | #42 | #45 | #75 |
| Accounting | #58 | #63 | #89 |
| Risk Management | #41 | #47 | #94 |
| Real Estate | #61 | #64 | #138 |
| Engineering Management | #79 | #86 | #163 |
| Management Information Systems (MIS) | #73 | #89 | #218 |
| Entrepreneurship | #75 | #90 | #228 |
| Construction Management | #56 | #69 | #247 |
| Operations Research | #67 | #84 | #265 |
| Project Management | #96 | #116 | #325 |
| Occupational Safety and Health | #40 | #50 | #70 |
| Investment Banking and Stock trading | #17 | #18 | #23 |
| Public Policy / Administration | #22 | #23 | #33 |
| International Business | #24 | #27 | #65 |
| Tax Law | #29 | #31 | #45 |
Economics rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 28 for Economics in United States and 40 in the World with 22,187 publications made and 1,257,907 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Economics Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Econometrics | #21 | #22 | #25 |
| Finance | #27 | #29 | #40 |
| Actuarial Science | #42 | #46 | #64 |
| International Trade | #18 | #20 | #66 |
| Development Studies | #34 | #37 | #49 |
| International Relations and Diplomacy | #40 | #46 | #97 |
| Political Economy | #12 | #14 | #25 |
Art & Design rankings
University of California-San Diego ranked 25 for Art & Design in United States and 34 in the World with 16,813 publications made and 722,492 citations received.
University of California-San Diego
Art & Design Subfield Rankings
| Field | Nat. | Cont. | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Music | #3 | #5 | #6 |
| Graphic Design | #12 | #13 | #16 |
| Aesthetics | #14 | #15 | #18 |
| Architecture | #11 | #12 | #20 |
| Multimedia | #18 | #20 | #28 |
| Photography | #18 | #20 | #30 |
| Acting and Drama | #23 | #26 | #39 |
| Animation | #24 | #27 | #47 |
| Literature | #31 | #35 | #52 |
| Cinematography | #20 | #23 | #64 |
| Sculpture | #29 | #30 | #90 |
| Creative Writing | #43 | #51 | #97 |
| Interior Design | #85 | #100 | #479 |
| Computer Graphics | #11 | #12 | #18 |
| Illustration and Concept Art | #29 | #30 | #90 |
| Fashion Design | #24 | #26 | #31 |
| Painting and Drawing | #29 | #30 | #90 |
| UX/UI Desgin | #12 | #12 | #13 |
| Game Design and Development | #36 | #44 | #97 |
