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Oxford Departments of Pharmacology and Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics have been judged best in the world by subject in the QS World Rankings.

Pharmacology along with Physiology and Anatomy are two of eight subject areas at Oxford that top the World Rankings for 2020 - in increase from the five top place rankings in 2019. The University of Oxford secured the highest number of top place subject rankings for a UK institution for the second year running.

Jack Moran, QS Spokesperson, said: “It is a testament to the University of Oxford’s enduring quality that it has not just kept pace with the rate of improvement enjoyed by highly-ambitious, well-funded peers abroad – but has actually managed to continue raising the bar in many areas. A deeper delve into our dataset highlights the outstanding regard in which Oxford’s graduates are held, and the extraordinary impact of the academic inquiry taking place among the spires.”

Each of the subject rankings is compiled using four sources. The first two of these are QS’s global surveys of academics and employers (83,000 academics and 42,000 employers), which are used to assess institutions’ international reputation in each subject. The second two indicators assess research impact, based on research citations per paper and h-index in the relevant subject. These are sourced from Elsevier’s Scopus database, the world’s most comprehensive research citations database.

Head of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, David Paterson said: "We are delighted to recapture this position once again. This reflects the world leading nature of the work undertaken in the Department, and everyone (both academic and professional services staff) should be congratulated and feel proud of this achievement."

The Medical Sciences Division itself has once again been ranked second in the world, and the University as a whole has been ranked world number one in six other subjects: Anthropology, Archaeology, Classics & Ancient History, English Language & Literature, Geography and Modern Languages.

More information is available on The University of Oxford website.