2018 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in physical sciences

The 2018 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017.

Table criteria

Request a badge Export CSV
Position Institution Share 2016 Share 2017 Count 2017 Change in Adjusted Share* 2016–2017
1 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 515.14 516.86 1609 -0.8% Decrease
2 Max Planck Society, Germany 318.30 311.65 1084 -3.2% Decrease
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 302.24 272.65 1621 -10.8% Decrease
4 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 168.58 217.65 621 27.6% Increase
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 237.56 214.30 726 -10.8% Decrease
6 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 223.48 210.58 606 -6.9% Decrease
7 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 182.62 188.27 609 1.9% Increase
8 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 193.46 186.99 844 -4.5% Decrease
9 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 162.40 145.72 507 -11.3% Decrease
10 Tsinghua University, China 136.19 145.34 600 5.5% Increase
11 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 124.32 145.04 400 15.3% Increase
12 Peking University (PKU), China 141.83 141.25 589 -1.6% Decrease
13 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 124.33 131.52 555 4.6% Increase
14 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 108.24 122.93 424 12.2% Increase
15 National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Italy 118.92 117.06 647 -2.7% Decrease
16 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 126.98 116.49 445 -9.3% Decrease
17 Nanjing University (NJU), China 121.33 115.11 373 -6.2% Decrease
18 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 98.22 113.93 268 14.6% Increase
19 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 92.52 112.45 344 20.1% Increase
20 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 98.56 108.53 359 8.8% Increase
21 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 109.30 104.58 397 -5.4% Decrease
22 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 90.98 103.90 468 12.9% Increase
23 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 104.15 103.39 432 -1.9% Decrease
24 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 96.98 99.80 236 1.7% Increase
25 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 92.06 95.98 521 3.0% Increase
26 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 101.08 91.36 285 -10.7% Decrease
27 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 91.32 90.94 566 -1.6% Decrease
28 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 82.48 90.46 673 8.4% Increase
29 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea 90.40 89.26 191 -2.4% Decrease
30 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 95.21 87.54 311 -9.1% Decrease
31 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 98.66 83.87 345 -16.0% Decrease
32 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 91.76 80.94 358 -12.8% Decrease
33 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 63.75 79.25 237 22.9% Increase
34 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 70.31 78.27 246 10.0% Increase
35 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 85.03 78.02 336 -9.3% Decrease
36 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), United States of America (USA) 69.37 77.78 386 10.8% Increase
37 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 78.89 76.47 367 -4.2% Decrease
38 Soochow University, China 73.78 75.75 150 1.5% Increase
39 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 79.87 74.77 280 -7.5% Decrease
40 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 41.00 74.75 498 80.2% Increase
41 Kyoto University, Japan 70.44 74.31 245 4.3% Increase
42 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 67.12 72.15 225 6.2% Increase
43 Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea 70.74 71.26 263 -0.4% Decrease
44 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 54.84 70.51 339 27.1% Increase
45 Leibniz Association, Germany 75.51 66.48 281 -13.0% Decrease
46 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), United States of America (USA) 75.73 65.50 219 -14.5% Decrease
47 University of Pennsylvania (Penn), United States of America (USA) 66.39 64.78 205 -3.6% Decrease
48 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 69.59 64.47 274 -8.4% Decrease
49 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 65.11 62.23 195 -5.5% Decrease
50 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), United States of America (USA) 69.09 62.18 224 -11.0% Decrease
51 RIKEN, Japan 58.44 61.52 260 4.0% Increase
52 Fudan University, China 71.81 61.46 175 -15.4% Decrease
53 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 71.03 59.40 228 -17.4% Decrease
54 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 55.81 59.37 236 5.1% Increase
55 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 60.36 59.03 227 -3.3% Decrease
56 Tohoku University, Japan 78.84 58.85 252 -26.2% Decrease
57 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 59.69 58.16 219 -3.7% Decrease
58 National Research Council (CNR), Italy 60.45 57.20 264 -6.5% Decrease
59 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 67.43 56.93 348 -16.6% Decrease
60 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 58.64 56.10 323 -5.5% Decrease
61 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland 53.18 55.47 394 3.1% Increase
62 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 57.59 55.36 191 -5.0% Decrease
63 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 49.51 54.78 275 9.4% Increase
64 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 62.80 54.24 201 -14.6% Decrease
65 Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China 35.88 52.88 132 45.7% Increase
66 Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), India 48.80 52.47 180 6.3% Increase
67 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 69.66 52.18 305 -26.0% Decrease
68 Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), China 48.24 51.25 118 5.0% Increase
69 Sorbonne University, France 53.44 50.84 561 -6.0% Decrease
70 Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI), Canada 33.70 50.72 128 48.7% Increase
71 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 47.93 50.67 317 4.5% Increase
72 Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany 47.83 49.96 228 3.2% Increase
73 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Spain 47.33 49.69 211 3.8% Increase
74 U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), United States of America (USA) 58.03 49.26 159 -16.1% Decrease
75 National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan 53.72 48.92 172 -10.0% Decrease
76 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 38.20 47.59 172 23.1% Increase
77 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 55.86 47.36 230 -16.2% Decrease
78 The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France 61.04 47.32 504 -23.4% Decrease
79 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia 47.87 47.20 93 -2.6% Decrease
80 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 57.33 46.94 267 -19.1% Decrease
81 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), United States of America (USA) 52.42 46.45 235 -12.4% Decrease
82 University of Paris-Saclay, France 55.81 46.10 430 -18.4% Decrease
83 University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany 36.31 45.87 222 24.8% Increase
84 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 46.50 45.65 234 -3.0% Decrease
85 Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), South Korea 48.56 45.03 184 -8.4% Decrease
86 Durham University, United Kingdom (UK) 57.64 44.80 120 -23.2% Decrease
87 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 46.81 44.67 160 -5.7% Decrease
88 Grenoble Alpes University (UGA), France 42.70 43.95 338 1.7% Increase
89 Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Japan 39.53 43.89 179 9.7% Increase
90 Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea 52.43 43.55 118 -17.9% Decrease
91 TU Dresden, Germany 50.21 43.05 202 -15.3% Decrease
92 Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea 31.47 42.95 88 34.9% Increase
93 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 52.76 42.82 187 -19.8% Decrease
94 Institute for Basic Science (IBS), South Korea 42.87 42.81 177 -1.3% Decrease
95 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 46.58 42.57 221 -9.7% Decrease
96 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 44.04 42.04 102 -5.7% Decrease
97 Tel Aviv University (TAU), Israel 37.19 41.72 175 10.9% Increase
98 IBM Corporation, United States of America (USA) 33.54 41.71 83 22.9% Increase
99 North Carolina State University (NCSU), United States of America (USA) 31.57 41.59 109 30.2% Increase
100 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 43.50 40.72 194 -7.5% Decrease

Footnote

Each year, the Nature Index publishes tables based on counts of high-quality research outputs in the previous calendar year. Users please note:

  1. The data behind the tables are based on a relatively small proportion of total research papers, they cover the natural sciences and health sciences only and outputs are non-normalized (that is, they don’t reflect the size of the country or institution, or its overall research output).
  2. The Nature Index is one indicator of institutional research performance. The metrics of Count and Share used to order Nature Index listings are based on an institution’s or country’s publication output in 145 natural-science and health-science journals. The journals were selected on reputation by an independent panel of leading scientists in their fields. The list is reviewed periodically and journals may be removed or added. Articles from eLife were no longer included in the Nature Index from 2023 after the journal changed its publishing model.
  3. Nature Index recognizes that many other factors must be taken into account when considering research quality and institutional performance; Nature Index metrics alone should not be used to assess institutions or individuals.
  4. Nature Index data and methods are transparent and available under a creative commons licence at nature.com/nature-index/.
  5. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The Nature Index database undergoes regular updating, corrections, adjustment of institutional hierarchies, and removal of retracted papers and thus the live website can differ from the frozen research leaders.


Numerical information only is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.