In the “Best Global Universities” 2023 ranking of US News, Semmelweis University has moved up 12 places from last year’s ranking in the field of cardiology and cardiovascular systems, and is now in 43rd position. This year, the university has been ranked for 9 medical and health sciences disciplines and is ranked first in most fields at the national level.

Semmelweis University has been included in the list of 9 disciplines of the “US News Best Global Universities 2023” world ranking. As in previous years, this year it achieved the highest ranking in the category “Cardiology and Cardiovascular System”, moving 12 places up from last year’s 55th position, making it the 43rd best in the world in this field. Semmelweis has now overtaken institutions such as the Sorbonne University, Leiden University and McGill University in Canada. Semmelweis is 12th among EU universities in this area. Harvard University tops the list.

In terms of indicators, the international level of citations of academic publications in the field remains outstanding in the institution, with Semmelweis University ranking 8th in the world (the indicator examined the proportion of all academic publications in the field that are related to the university and belong to the top one percent of the most cited publications in the world).

The institution is ranked 6th in the field for international collaboration and 4th in the field for the so-called “normalised citation impact”, with a significant improvement.

The university has also improved its ranking regarding the “Percentage of total publications that are among the 10 percent most cited”, where it has moved from last year’s 60th position to 24th this year, and in the “Total citation”, where it has moved from 95th to 79th.

The Heart and Vascular Centre of Városmajor is not only the flagship of Semmelweis University, but also the leading institution in its field within Hungary, and is now among the world leaders. Our goal is to become one of the leading cardiovascular centres in Europe.”

“To this end, we have recently made numerous improvements in our clinic. In March this year, we inaugurated the first phase of a complex investment; our world-class scientific research laboratory has been worthily renovated; we have a new operating theatre for lymphatic surgery, named after Dr Péter Gloviczki, a world-renowned Hungarian vascular surgeon from Semmelweis University; and the building in Határőr street has been renewed and upgraded in terms of energy technology. In the coming years, we will continue to expand: further improvements are expected within the framework of the Városmajor 70 project, and the large-scale National Cardiovascular Laboratory, of which the clinic is the centre, will be launched soon,” said Dr. Béla Merkely, Rector and Director of the Városmajor Heart and Vascular Centre.

The University also improved its ranking in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the 344th rank of last year to 292nd, in Neuroscience and Behavioural Sciences (from 324th to 319th) and Oncology (from 218th to 212th). This year, for the first time, Semmelweis has been included in the list of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, at position 147. In Biology and Biochemistry, the university is ranked 377th, in Cell Biology 227th, in Clinical Medicine 279th and in Endocrinology and Metabolism 175th, making it the top or only national institution in these rankings. In Pharmacology and Toxicology, it is ranked for the first time, at the 341st position – in this ranking, the University of Szeged is 320th.

In the global aggregate ranking, smaller universities are at a disadvantage due to size-dependent indicators, but Semmelweis University was also the best-ranked among Hungarian medical schools in this ranking. Semmelweis University was ranked 653rd out of 2165 universities in this year’s ranking, second among Hungarian universities. Eötvös Loránd University is ranked 368th, the University of Szeged 662nd, the University of Debrecen 794th, the University of Pécs 1140th, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics 1151st and the Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences 1818th.

Szabó Ádám, translation by Veronika Jávor-Szelid
Photo: Attila Kovács – Semmelweis University (illustration)