The State of Science, Technology, and Innovation in Canada 2025

Client: Council of Canadian Academies

Published: 5 October 2025

Science-Metrix was commissioned by CCA to perform bibliometric and technometric analyses to evaluate Canada’s research and innovation performance. This was the latest update to a series of studies carried out in 2006, 2011 and 2016. 

The current analysis covers 2012–2023 and draws on global publication and patent data to benchmark Canada’s output, impact, collaboration patterns, and largest research areas in comparison with other countries.

Highlights from the report:

  • Canada’s scientific production of publications slipped two places from the previous study (to 11th globally by fractional counting; to 9th by full counting). Canada’s publication growth rate (1.09) was modest relative to the world (1.37), but ahead of most non-emerging nations.
  • Just over half (53.2%) of Canada’s papers were international co-publications. Canadian scientists’ collaboration affinity was strongest with the United States (PAI = 1.95) and Iran (PAI = 1.77), followed by China and Australia.
  • Clinical Medicine is Canada’s largest research field (23.6% of Canada’s publication output). 
  • Ontario produced 42.9% of outputs, followed by Quebec (19.3%), British Columbia (11.9%) and Alberta (11.3%). British Columbia led on impact, closely followed by Ontario. Territories showed higher public–private and interprovincial collaboration rates.
  • Canada ranks 8th globally in new ownership of patents at the USPTO and 13th at the EPO. Patent impact is at world level in the US market (ARC 1.00) and above world level in Europe (ARC 1.16).
  • The majority of Canada’s patents are in Electrical Engineering and notably influenced by BlackBerry, whose decline weighed on Ontario’s totals.
 
The full analytic report provides detailed bibliometric and technometric results, methods and indicators. 
 
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