Facts and figures

The Alliance members

See the list of Centres and Units here

38 Centres

Currently hold the Severo Ochoa label. The first open call for applicants was launched in 2011

30 Units

Currently hold the María de Maeztu label. The first open call for applicants was launched in 2014

All Research Disciplines

From life sciences to humanities, from maths to engineering and to experimental and social sciences

2017 October

The SOMM alliance was officially born during its kick-off meeting in Madrid

People

The main asset of the SOMMa centres and units is their staff. Highly qualified professionals, many of them arriving from all over the world.

49.2% Total Staff

SOMMa Centres and Units employ thousands of professionals (data at end 2021, obtained from 59 members)

11.963 Researchers

At different career levels, from PhD students, to independent researchers and group leaders (data at end 2021, obtained from 59 members)

44.3% Women

In Group Leader and Senior Researcher positions

43.7% International Postdocs

Out of 2.242 Postdocs, 1059 come from abroad (2021, data from 59 members)

International Competitiveness

SOMMa Researchers are highly competitive at the international arena. They are successful in the most prestigious grants and lead many international collaborative projects.

189 ERC Grants

The European Research Council grants are among the most competitive and prestigious individual grants (data from 2021)

54 ERC Advanced

Representing over 40% of the total ERC Advanced Grants awarded in Spain to the most experienced researchers (data from 2021)

141 Coordinated

Ongoing EU collaborative projects led by SOMMa researchers, which also participate in additional 550 projects as partners (data from data from 2021)

86 € Million

Received from EC framework programmes FP7/H2020 in 2021 only

Research

Cutting-edge research performed at SOMMa centres and units is published in top-tier journals for each scientific field

11.599 Publications

In international peer-reviewed journals (data from 2021)

71.4% Q1 Publications

Published in the top-25% (first quartile) ranked journals (data from 2021)

35.8% D1 Publications

Published in the top-10% (first decile) ranked journals (data from 2021)

550 EU consortia

SOMMa researchers contribute to international science with several collaborations, for instance participating in all these EU collaborative projects (2021)

Open Science figures

See the list of Centres and Units here

72.3% Open Access

About half the publications from SOMMa members are published in Open Access journals or placed in freely accessible repositories (data from 2021)

67.7% Open Access Policy

SOMMa members that have in place or endorsed Open Access policies for their publications

Creating value

Top-notch science generates knowledge and value for society. SOMMa members foster entrepreneurship and collaboration with industry for optimal exploitation of research results

168 Patent applications

Priority Patent Applications filled by SOMMa members (data from 2023)

100 Spin-offs

Active during 2023

54 Contracts

And collaborations with industrial partners were initiated during 2023

74 Licences

Involving Intellectual Property from SOMMa members were issued in 2023

Training and Career

Attracting talent, providing training, and promoting careers are within the main goals of SOMMa members

814 PhD Theses

Defended during 2021

81.3% PhD Programme

SOMMa members that run their own international PhD Programmes

2289 New hires

During 2021

77.9% HRS4R label

SOMMa members that hold the ‘Human Resources Strategy for Researchers” award, issued by the EC (as of 2021)

Funding attraction

AThe funding structure of the SOMMa centres and units is very diverse, but all together attract significant amounts from national and international competitive sources and also from private origin

628 € Million

Yearly turnover of 59 of our members together (2021)

89 € Million

Private funding to 44 of our members, over 14.1 % of total turnover (2021)

13,6% FP7/H2020

Funds received from the EC Research Framework Programmes in 2021, representing about one sixth of the total turnover