UK research and innovation performance: A Global Node for Collaboration and Innovation
Explore the latest trends in UK research excellence, highlighting data on high-quality outputs, international collaboration, and impactful societal contributions.
As a prominent player in the global research landscape, the UK not only demonstrates impressive growth in scholarly output but also stands out for its quality, with high citation rates, and commitment to international collaboration. Universities are at the heart of this research excellence, as the driving force of UK research publications and a hub for business collaboration. With notable strength in addressing pressing societal challenges, particularly in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UK research plays a vital role in shaping both national and global advancements.
Here, we present key insights that highlight the UK’s position as a leading hub for innovative research and collaborative efforts.
All data refers to the period 2019 – 2023 unless otherwise stated
Research and Innovation in the UK
Over the past five years, UK research has seen a robust growth of 5.8%, resulting in a total of 1,214,961 scholarly publications authored by 708,207 researchers. This impressive output reflects the UK’s strong emphasis on quality, as evidenced by an average Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) of 1.55, indicating that UK research is cited 55% more than the global average.
Subject Areas
The UK has strength across all disciplines. The subject area (THE classification) with the largest output is Clinical and Health, accounting for 427,469 papers with an average FWCI of 1.72.
This is followed by Physical Sciences (329,525 papers, FWCI 1.42) and Engineering and Technology (236,232 papers, FWCI 1.38). The relative activity index in these subjects is impacted by the scale of output from China.
The chart shows relative activity index of each discipline for selected countries, meaning the relative share of output in each discipline compared to the global average.
Gender
A notable highlight is the increasing participation of women in research, who now represent 41% of active researchers in the UK. The impact of papers authored by women is significantly high, achieving higher citations in policy documents and patents compared to both EU and global averages.
UK papers authored by women are 35% more highly cited than the global average for women; 80% more cited in patents; and nearly three times more cited in policy-related documents (277%).
More insights are available from Elsevier’s global gender report and dashboard.’ With this link: elsevier.com/en-au/insights/gender-and-diversity-in-research
International Collaboration
The UK is a hub for international collaboration. Over half of UK research publications are with an international partner, nearly three times the global average. Research with international partners is impactful: nearly 40% more highly cited that UK only collaboration.
This collaborative spirit positions the UK as a vital node in the global research network, facilitating knowledge exchange and innovation across borders.
International collaboration has high impact, with a FWCI of 1.87 compared to the UK average of 1.55.
Business Collaboration
Business collaboration in UK research is strong. Academic research is highly collaborative with industry, at more than twice the global average (5.6% vs. 2.7%).
Universities are the driving force of UK research publications. When universities collaborate across sectors, with business, government or health institutions, the impact of their research is high. Academic collaboration with industry leads to research outputs that are among the most highly cited.
UK universities are global leaders in technology transfer and research collaboration. The UK’s thriving spinout ecosystem is a major driver of economic growth, turning breakthrough discoveries into successful companies, particularly in high growth sectors such as life sciences, artificial intelligence and clean energy.
Social Impact
Citations in Patents and Policy
When examining the contribution of research to innovation and commercialisation, the share of UK research output cited in patents over the past decade is in line with the global average, trailing the USA and China.
However, UK research makes a significant contribution to global policy making. UK research is referenced in policy-related documents more than twice as frequently as the global average and significantly more than research from the EU and USA
Sustainable Development Goals
Approximately one-third of global research relates to the SDGs, with the UK slightly above average in its contributions. The UK has particular strength in research relating to SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, SDG 5: Gender Equality, SDG 1: No Poverty, and SDG 10: Reduced inequality.
These strengths align closely with those of the USA, while China leads in areas like SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.
The chart shows relative activity index of each SDG for selected countries, meaning the relative share of output related to each SDG compared to the global average.
Global Research and Innovation
In the context of global research output, in the last 5 years, the UK produced 1.2 million publications, ranking fourth globally, behind China (4.6 million), the USA (3.8 million), and India (1.3 million).
The citation of UK research was the highest in the world, with a Field Weighted Citation Impact of 1.55 compared to China (1.11), USA (1.35) and India (1.03), showing that UK research is the most highly referenced compared to the global average.
This position underscores the UK’s significant contributions to the global knowledge economy and its role as a leader in collaborative research.
Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive of Universities UK, said:
“The UK has long been a global leader in research, driving innovation and advancing knowledge. This data from Elsevier highlights the volume, quality and collaboration of UK research and is an important reminder of the need to sustainably fund our vital research sector.
“At the heart of this success are the UK’s universities - world-class institutions that serve as engines of discovery, innovation, and collaboration. Through cutting-edge research, interdisciplinary partnerships, and a commitment to pushing the boundaries of knowledge, UK universities play a pivotal role in securing the nation’s position as a leading hub for research excellence.”
Dr Sarah Main, Elsevier Vice President, Academic and Government, said:
“It is a pleasure to share global insights that demonstrate the UK’s leadership in research and innovation. These data reinforce the UK’s position as a global hub for high-quality research, attracting groundbreaking ideas and investment through international collaboration and strong partnerships between universities and businesses. The impact of this research extends beyond academia, shaping global policy and driving progress toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The UK’s extensive research network fosters engagement in an evolving global landscape, and as research continues to transform it will be valuable to track these trends over time.”
Conclusion
The data presented here illustrates the UK as powerhouse of high-quality research, recognized for its international collaboration and societal impact, and underpinned by a world-class university sector.
As we continue to navigate the evolving landscape of global research, the insights provided by Elsevier through the SciVal tool serve as a valuable resource for university and government stakeholders. Together, we can appreciate the UK’s role in leading transformation, promoting inclusion, and driving social change through research.
We invite you to explore these insights further and consider how they can inform future strategies for growth and collaboration in the UK research community.
Elsevier and UniversitiesUK welcome use of this data. Please feel free to use the charts and download the data, noting the source and citing Elsevier and UniversitiesUK when using them. Thank you.
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Explore SciVal Potential
SciVal offers a comprehensive solution to help research leaders and academic institutions navigate the complexities of the global research landscape.
Research Performance Evaluation: SciVal provides detailed insights into research outputs, enabling institutions to track and analyse their scholarly publications. With UK research witnessing a robust growth, SciVal allows you to benchmark your performance against peers and identify areas of strength and opportunity.
Collaboration Insights: The UK excels in international collaboration. SciVal’s tools enable you to discover potential collaborators worldwide, fostering partnerships that can enhance your institution’s research capabilities and visibility.
Impact Measurement: SciVal helps you measure the impact of your research initiatives. By analysing citations in patents and policy documents, you can understand how your work influences societal change and contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Customized Reporting: SciVal’s user-friendly interface allows you to create tailored reports that highlight key metrics relevant to your institution’s goals. Whether you’re focusing on industry collaboration or assessing contributions to specific SDGs, SciVal equips you with the necessary data to make informed decisions.
Glossary
Academic-corporate collaboration
In Scopus, institutions are classified into one of four main sectors (Corporate, Academic, Government, and Medical sectors). In this report, academic–corporate collaboration is analysed via the proxy of papers whose authors’ affiliations belong to both the academic and corporate sectors.
Citation
A citation is a formal reference to earlier work made in a paper or patent, frequently to other papers. A citation is used to credit the originator of an idea or finding and is typically used to indicate that the earlier work supports the claims of the work citing it. The number of citations received by a paper from subsequently published papers can be used as a proxy of the quality or importance of the reported research.
International collaboration
International collaboration in this report is indicated by papers with at least two different countries listed in the authorship byline.
FWCI (Field-weighted citation impact)
Field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) is an indicator of mean citation impact and compares the actual number of citations received by a paper with the expected number of citations for papers of the same document type (article, review, or conference proceeding), publication year, and subject area. When the paper is classified in two or more subject areas, the harmonic mean of the actual and expected citation rates is used.
The indicator is therefore always defined with reference to a global baseline of 1.0 and intrinsically accounts for differences in citation accrual over time, differences in citation rates for different document types (e.g., reviews typically attract more citations than research articles), as well as subject specific differences in citation frequencies overall and over time and document types.
RAI (Relative Activity Index):
Relative Activity Index is defined as the share of an entity's publications in a subject relative to the global share of publications in the same subject. A value of 1.0 indicates that an entity's research activity in a field corresponds exactly with the global activity in that field; higher than 1.0 implies a greater emphasis while lower than 1.0 suggests a lesser focus.
Scholarly Output:
Scholarly Output in SciVal indicates the prolificacy of an entity: how many publications does this entity have indexed in Scopus? Scholarly Output is a:
- Productivity metric
- Snowball Metric
- “Power Metric”
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