UZH ranks among the top 50 in 14 out of 37 categories and can count itself among the best 20 universities in five categories. The best result was achieved in Human Biological Sciences, where UZH was able to hold its position of 7th worldwide. The subject comprises various categories from the Web of Science database, including Neurosciences, Anatomy & Morphology, Parasitology, Pathology, Immunology, Medical Informatics as well as Medical and Experimental Research.

Other areas where UZH did particularly well include top 20 positions in Ecology (11th, +4 compared to previous year), Dentistry & Oral Sciences (12th, +13), Remote Sensing (17th, no change) as well as Communication (18th, +3).

UZH also ranks among the top 50 universities in the following fields: Veterinary Sciences (21st), Medical Technology (22nd), Political Sciences (27th), Geography (28th), Economics (34th), Biomedical Engineering (38th), Psychology (47th), Biological Sciences (48th) and Mathematics (50th).

The Global Raking of Academic Subjects 2020 ranks institutions in 54 subjects in the natural sciences, engineering, medical sciences, life sciences and social sciences. To be included in a subject ranking, universities need to have a minimum number of research publications during the period of 2013–2017. The publication threshold is different for different subjects. Bibliometric data are collected from Web of Science and InCites. Over 4,000 universities are evaluated in total.