The stars of South Korea's research scene

These universities, companies and research institutions are making their mark in a highly competitive landscape. Here is a breakdown of their performance by subject.

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With high R&D spending and more researchers per capita than any other country, South Korea’s research ecosystem has many strengths to set it apart from its competitors. Among the top performers in the Nature Index 2024 South Korea supplement, released this week, are new contenders and partnerships that could shape the direction of research.

These are the institutions to watch in South Korea in the natural sciences.

Physical Sciences

Physical sciences has long been South Korea’s strong suit.

Among the leading cities in the Nature Index, as measured by the metric Share, Seoul ranked 6th in the subject in 2023 – the highest ranked city outside of China and the United States.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), in Daejeon, (Share 108.19) and Seoul National University (SNU) (Share 99.41) take the top two positions in the subject, with Sungkyunkwan University, in Seoul, placing in third (Share 74.73).

Another institution to watch in the physical sciences is Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), in Pohang. Home to South Korea’s only synchrotron radiation facility, which can analyse the structures and chemical properties of materials through high-energy beams. POSTECH is one of the nation’s fastest-growing institutions in the subject, with an increase in adjusted Share (a metric used to account for the small annual variation in the total number of articles in Nature Index journals) of 20.1%, for the period 2019 to 2023.

POSTECH has also established a strong presence in the international research community, marked by rapidly growing collaborations in the physical sciences with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation.

Chemistry

Yonsei University, in Seoul, has seen significant improvements in its research outputs across the board, but its progress is strongest in chemistry. The university is one of South Korea’s fastest risers in chemistry, growing its adjusted Share by 21.79% over a five-year period (2019 to 2023). This growth has propelled the institution into the top five leading institutions for chemistry, up from 7th place in 2019.

Yonsei now holds positions in the top five of all four natural-science subjects tracked by the Nature Index, and the health sciences.

The chemical industry is important to South Korea, accounting for 17% of its global exports, but China has regional dominance in this sector, exporting 10.4% of the world’s chemical products in 2022. Four of South Korea’s five strongest international collaborations in chemistry from 2019 to 2023, measured by bilateral collaboration score (BCS), were with Chinese institutions.

The Institute for Basic Science and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing (BCS 16.57) and Sungkyunkwan University, and Jinan University, in Guangzhou (BCS 15.77) are the strongest South Korea-China collaborations in this subject area, ranked first and third, respectively. Pohang University’s collaboration with Germany’s Max Planck Institute (BCS 15.78) is placed in 2nd.

Biological Sciences

The strength of South Korea’s biological science scene has remained largely unchanged since 2019, with the same three institutions maintaining their lead the field. Among these, SNU dominates, with a Share of 42.65, nearly double that of its closest competitor, KAIST, at 21.54.

SNU was also the fastest rising institution in the subject.

SNU also dominates the leading international collaborations in the subject. Among South Korea’s top five collaborations with international institutions, SNU forms four of them, the strongest of which is with Harvard University, in Boston. The partnership recorded a 16.66% increase in chemistry-related output in the Nature Index in the past five years.

Another notable collaboration in the subject is between Korea University, in Soeul, and Harvard, which grew by 387.76% in the period 2019 to 2023 – the largest increase in BCS for the period across the five subject areas that Nature Index tracks.

Earth and environmental sciences

SNU holds a substantial lead in Earth and environmental sciences output in the index, with a Share of 11.9, followed by Pusan National University, in Busan (Share 7.4), and Yonsei University (Share 6.72). The latter two both recorded an increase in adjusted Share of around 48% for the period 2019 to 2023.

Among the biggest movers in the subject is Hanyang University, in Seoul, which entered the top five in the subject in 2023, placing 4th with a Share of 4.89, up from of 8th in 2019. The Korea Polar Research Institute, in Incheon, fared worse, falling from 2nd place in 2019 to fifth in 2023, with a Share of 4.53.

Of the institutions that grew their adjusted Share the most in the period 2019 to 2023, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, in Seoul, and Pusan University are in the lead.

South Korea’s leading international collaborations show how important the United States is to the country in this subject. However, the leading South Korea-US partnerships have recorded significant declines in BCS since 2019. By contrast, the collaboration between the Korea Basic Science Institute, in Daejeon, and Chinese Academy of Sciences has seen strong growth, with a change in BCS of 69.03%.