2021 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in physical sciences

The 2021 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020.

Table criteria

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Position Institution Share 2019 Share 2020 Count 2020 Change in Adjusted Share* 2019–2020
1 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 529.60 572.87 2074 0.6% Increase
2 Max Planck Society, Germany 317.90 330.50 1215 -3.4% Decrease
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 269.18 267.35 1742 -7.7% Decrease
4 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 190.29 237.03 1038 15.8% Increase
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 245.67 223.36 755 -15.5% Decrease
6 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 200.19 216.90 666 0.7% Increase
7 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 214.03 207.47 651 -9.9% Decrease
8 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 202.41 190.99 647 -12.3% Decrease
9 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 167.59 184.31 611 2.2% Increase
10 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 146.67 177.10 544 12.3% Increase
11 Peking University (PKU), China 150.91 166.78 668 2.7% Increase
12 Tsinghua University, China 184.09 165.16 698 -16.6% Decrease
13 National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Italy 134.91 150.17 727 3.5% Increase
14 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 150.66 143.30 422 -11.6% Decrease
15 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 130.81 143.25 908 1.8% Increase
16 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 126.18 139.62 347 2.9% Increase
17 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 123.01 136.02 622 2.8% Increase
18 Nanjing University (NJU), China 128.27 134.53 411 -2.5% Decrease
19 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 113.14 126.87 466 4.2% Increase
20 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 120.97 126.73 477 -2.6% Decrease
21 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 95.08 119.67 311 17.0% Increase
22 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 111.55 118.35 570 -1.4% Decrease
23 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 112.21 117.07 418 -3.0% Decrease
24 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 84.10 117.06 374 29.4% Increase
25 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 90.76 114.27 352 17.0% Increase
26 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea 89.20 107.66 218 12.2% Increase
27 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 91.99 107.17 268 8.3% Increase
28 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 96.94 105.78 308 1.4% Increase
29 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 103.94 105.76 364 -5.4% Decrease
30 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 102.43 105.12 321 -4.6% Decrease
31 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 95.50 104.89 383 2.1% Increase
32 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 85.88 95.78 404 3.7% Increase
33 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 71.26 95.43 355 24.5% Increase
34 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 81.36 94.57 664 8.1% Increase
35 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 86.33 90.77 301 -2.3% Decrease
36 Fudan University, China 95.29 90.35 302 -11.9% Decrease
37 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 73.93 89.67 317 12.8% Increase
38 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 89.54 89.07 532 -7.5% Decrease
39 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 104.37 88.13 273 -21.5% Decrease
40 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 65.54 87.58 368 24.2% Increase
41 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 97.07 87.20 434 -16.5% Decrease
42 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China 44.60 83.02 247 73.1% Increase
43 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 56.32 82.83 235 36.7% Increase
44 Kyoto University, Japan 65.02 81.71 237 16.8% Increase
45 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 65.03 80.38 257 14.9% Increase
46 Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China 86.86 79.81 215 -14.6% Decrease
47 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 73.43 79.75 247 1.0% Increase
48 Soochow University, China 94.38 78.64 205 -22.5% Decrease
49 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 65.90 78.19 319 10.3% Increase
50 Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea 74.53 78.08 265 -2.6% Decrease
51 RIKEN, Japan 60.92 73.21 346 11.7% Increase
52 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), United States of America (USA) 72.16 71.15 352 -8.3% Decrease
53 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 71.61 71.02 212 -7.8% Decrease
54 National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan 65.45 69.48 297 -1.3% Decrease
55 University of Pennsylvania (Penn), United States of America (USA) 69.25 69.22 197 -7.1% Decrease
56 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 61.81 67.63 200 1.7% Increase
57 Tohoku University, Japan 57.81 65.07 281 4.6% Increase
58 Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (IIT), Israel 51.94 65.06 161 16.5% Increase
59 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), United States of America (USA) 72.06 63.19 249 -18.5% Decrease
60 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 56.78 62.33 319 2.1% Increase
61 Nankai University (NKU), China 46.91 61.26 183 21.4% Increase
62 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 58.57 61.19 291 -2.9% Decrease
63 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 64.38 60.86 216 -12.1% Decrease
64 Leibniz Association, Germany 54.89 60.08 364 1.8% Increase
65 Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), China 60.10 59.37 157 -8.2% Decrease
66 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 63.22 58.69 315 -13.7% Decrease
67 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 70.42 58.37 214 -22.9% Decrease
68 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), United States of America (USA) 49.00 57.94 231 9.9% Increase
69 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 45.66 56.90 245 15.8% Increase
70 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 52.71 56.57 201 -0.2% Decrease
71 Tianjin University (TJU), China 57.77 56.04 175 -9.8% Decrease
72 Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea 53.38 55.98 137 -2.5% Decrease
73 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 54.65 55.30 285 -5.9% Decrease
74 Sorbonne University, France 53.54 55.20 555 -4.1% Decrease
75 Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), China 44.04 54.31 138 14.6% Increase
76 Beihang University (BUAA), China 54.29 54.25 278 -7.1% Decrease
77 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 52.05 53.94 268 -3.7% Decrease
78 Wuhan University (WHU), China 61.18 53.70 186 -18.4% Decrease
79 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 49.87 53.53 285 -0.2% Decrease
80 Jilin University (JLU), China 49.92 52.04 143 -3.1% Decrease
81 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland 53.17 51.50 342 -10.0% Decrease
82 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 52.42 51.46 281 -8.7% Decrease
83 Xiamen University (XMU), China 33.96 50.93 114 39.4% Increase
84 Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea 42.06 50.87 151 12.4% Increase
85 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia 47.52 50.51 117 -1.2% Decrease
86 The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France 45.66 50.39 483 2.6% Increase
87 Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), South Korea 51.87 50.39 190 -9.7% Decrease
88 TU Dresden, Germany 43.36 50.19 231 7.6% Increase
89 Uppsala University (UU), Sweden 36.37 50.14 215 28.1% Increase
90 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 46.69 49.70 261 -1.0% Decrease
91 The Ohio State University (OSU), United States of America (USA) 49.10 49.52 306 -6.3% Decrease
92 National Research Council (CNR), Italy 47.74 49.12 259 -4.3% Decrease
93 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 47.06 49.04 177 -3.1% Decrease
94 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), United States of America (USA) 51.57 48.28 259 -13.0% Decrease
95 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 50.46 47.78 251 -12.0% Decrease
96 Sichuan University (SCU), China 40.45 47.46 102 9.1% Increase
97 Durham University, United Kingdom (UK) 51.61 46.68 148 -15.9% Decrease
98 University of Paris-Saclay, France 45.59 46.14 428 -5.9% Decrease
99 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 41.25 44.78 178 0.9% Increase
100 State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY Stony Brook), United States of America (USA) 34.86 44.44 258 18.5% Increase

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.


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