Faculty of Pharmacy reaching new heights in global rankings
In the QS World University Ranking 2024, Uppsala University advances ten positions, currently reaching number 24 in the field of Pharmacy and Pharmacology. Looking at individual researchers, this year's rankings also provide inspiring reading for the Faculty of Pharmacy, where, among others, Anna Orlova and Ola Söderberg enter the lists of the foremost in their disciplines.
(Image removed) Anna Orlova, Ola Söderberg, Lena Friberg, Mats Karlsson, Christel Bergström, Christian Benedict
International rankings of the world's universities and individual researchers are gaining increasingly more importance. Universities are well aware that prominent positions on the most prestigious lists will attract financiers as well as potential employees, partners and students. Every place won - or lost - counts, and with several of this year's rankings in hand: How well does the Faculty of Pharmacy perform in a global perspective?
In late June, the QS World University Ranking 2024 was published. Assessing higher education and academic reputation, Uppsala University reaches 105th in the world. In the category Pharmacy and Pharmacology Uppsala advances ten positions, now occupying no. 24, which is our university's highest individual position. Also in the current Shanghai ranking - primarily assessing research-related data - Uppsala University earns its top position in the Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences category, reaching place 23, just above Columbia University and the Sorbonne.
(Image removed) Mathias Hallberg, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy
“As Dean, I experience the enthusiasm and curiosity that characterize our faculty on a daily basis. And the many impressive efforts by our teachers and researchers provide inspiration far beyond our own lecture halls and laboratories. An obvious result of this are the increasingly central roles we play in numerous prolific collaborations, not least with Uppsala's Faculty of Medicine. That we continue to climb on the global rankings is further evidence that we keep developing in the right direction,” states Mathias Hallberg, Dean at the Faculty of Pharmacy.
Turning to individual researchers, Research.com recently reported its 2023 rankings. With primary focus on productivity and impact within specific disciplines, we find Per Artursson, Professor of Pharmaceutical formulation, at no. 914 in the world within the field of Biology and Biochemistry with nearly 35,000 citations. Other high performers are Robert Fredriksson in Genetics (2,076 place, 15,867 citations), Anders Hallberg (4,251, 15,402) and Mats Larhed (4,876, 12,413) in Chemistry. Among this year's debutants on the lists we find Anna Orlova (10,610, 9,152) and Ola Söderberg (14,504, 10,956), both in Biology and Biochemistry.
“That our team in 2017 joined the Faculty of Pharmacy - whose many skilled groups complement each other and stimulate interest-driven research - keeps adding great values to our work with, among other things, Molboolean, a technique for the analysis of individual proteins in tissue sections, as well as Sloppymerase, an artificial enzyme with the potential to pave the way for mapping DNA damage,” states Ola Söderberg, Professor of Pharmaceutical cell biology.
(Image removed) Hans Lennernäs, Professor of Biopharmacy
Scopus, the world's largest reference database for scientifically reviewed literature, ranks researchers according to the H-index – overall productivity and impact regardless of discipline – where an index of 40 or higher characterizes "outstanding scientists, likely to be found only at the top universities or major research laboratories". Nearly 20 researchers at the Faculty of Pharmacy have reached such heights, among them Hans Lennernäs (H-index 67), Mats Karlsson and Fred Nyberg (both 61). Faculty researchers who are closer to the middle of their careers but have already acclompished this achievement include Christel Bergström (42), Lena Friberg (44) and sleep researcher Christian Benedict (49).
“In recent years, our discipline has shifted from side science to interdisciplinary relevant in a number of medical fields. Our group has recently published a number of well-received works - for example an article in Nature Communications where we, in collaboration with Chinese researchers, show that physical exercise has its most life extending effect in the afternoon, as well as a study in Current Biology stating that sleep deprivation during vaccination can inhibit the production of antibodies. The fact that we are also blessed with a number of media platforms to communicate our results contribute to our group currently experiencing a very positive development,” says Christian Benedict.
FACTS UNIVERSITY RANKINGS
- Compare and rank universities, often from a quality perspective.
- Data can come from different types of sources: official statistics, bibliometrics, online analyses, etc.
- From these sources, different data are retrieved and different aspects (indicators) are weighed against each other and combined into a final number that can be presented as a grade or measure of quality at a specific university.
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CONTACT
(Image removed) Mathias Hallberg, Dean
Faculty of Pharmacy
Mathias.Hallberg@farmbio.uu.se
text: Magnus Alsne, photo: Mikael Wallerstedt