Genentech, Inc, of San Francisco, CA, has earned top honors in a ranking of the world's most respected biopharmaceutical employers. The company has placed first each of the five years that Science has carried out this survey.

This year's survey identified 19 other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, making up a top 20 of biopharma employers.

The rankings, determined from a study conducted by an independent research firm commissioned by the business office of the journal, will appear in a special business supplement of the 20 October 2006 issue.

Like Science's 2005 ranking of biopharma employers, the 2006 survey sought to identify the companies with the best reputations as employers, based on 656 survey responses from readers of Science and other selected respondents. Thirty-two percent of the respondents came from outside the United States, primarily Western Europe, and 73 percent worked in private industry.

Survey responses were analyzed by Senn-Delaney Culture Diagnostics & Measurement, which used a mathematical process to assign a unique score to rate the companies' employer reputation, taking into account 42 specific characteristics or attributes in seven categories. Each company received a ranking, for example, on the basis of whether it treats its employees with respect, whether its work-culture values align with employees' personal values, and other factors.

For the complete business office supplement with individual company rankings, go to http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/more_topics/business_office_supplements. The article will not be posted at this URL address until the evening of 19 October 2006.