2022 Research Leaders: Leading corporate institutions in physical sciences

The 2022 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021.

Table criteria

Position Institution Share 2020 Share 2021 Count 2021 Change in Adjusted Share* 2020–2021
1 Thales S.A., France 3.47 4.04 51 7.6% Increase
2 NaMLab gGmbH, Germany 0.00 2.00 5 0.0% Increase
3 Nokia Corporation, Finland 1.47 1.97 10 24.6% Increase
4 BASF SE, Germany 1.82 1.91 14 -2.6% Decrease
5 AstraZeneca plc, United Kingdom (UK) 1.07 1.90 4 65.1% Increase
6 TYDEX LLC, Russia 0.00 1.25 2 0.0% Increase
7 AMO GmbH, Germany 0.38 1.23 6 196.2% Increase
8 Schott AG, Germany 0.00 1.17 2 0.0% Increase
9 Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany 0.16 1.11 5 523.2% Increase
10 Bayer AG, Germany 0.61 1.04 4 59.5% Increase
11 Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany 1.70 1.04 2 -43.6% Decrease
12 ELI-HU Nonprofit Ltd., Hungary 0.93 1.03 6 3.0% Increase
13 Anglo American plc, United Kingdom (UK) 0.45 0.98 4 102.2% Increase
14 ThrustMe, France 0.00 0.95 1 0.0% Increase
15 Unilever, United Kingdom (UK) 0.70 0.94 3 24.9% Increase
16 Saule Technologies Ltd., Poland 0.20 0.80 1 265.9% Increase
17 Oxford Instruments, United Kingdom (UK) 0.87 0.79 5 -15.7% Decrease
18 Attocube Systems AG, Germany 0.20 0.78 3 260.2% Increase
19 Evotec AG, Germany 0.00 0.75 1 0.0% Increase
20 Center for Nanotechnology GmbH (CeNTech GmbH), Germany 1.65 0.73 4 -59.3% Decrease
21 CNSystems Medizintechnik GmbH, Austria 0.00 0.71 1 0.0% Increase
22 Institut National des Sciences Mathématiques et de leurs Interactions (INSMI), CNRS, France 0.00 0.68 4 0.0% Increase
23 Phasecraft Ltd., United Kingdom (UK) 0.71 0.67 1 -12.9% Decrease
24 SiSaf Ltd., United Kingdom (UK) 0.00 0.64 1 0.0% Increase
25 Merck KGaA, Germany 0.48 0.60 5 15.5% Increase
26 NIL Technology ApS, Denmark 0.00 0.60 1 0.0% Increase
27 Silicon Austria Labs GmbH, Austria 0.00 0.58 2 0.0% Increase
28 NanOsc AB, Sweden 0.26 0.54 3 91.7% Increase
29 Earlham Institute (EI), United Kingdom (UK) 0.00 0.53 2 132,582.3% Increase
30 mirSense SAS, France 0.00 0.53 2 0.0% Increase
31 Aixtron SE, Germany 0.00 0.51 2 0.0% Increase
32 Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), Sweden 0.71 0.50 4 -34.5% Decrease
33 PragmatIC Semiconductor Ltd., United Kingdom (UK) 0.00 0.50 1 0.0% Increase
33 Abberior Instruments GmbH, Germany 0.04 0.50 1 1,010.6% Increase
33 IQE plc, United Kingdom (UK) 0.00 0.50 1 0.0% Increase
33 3SP Technologies SAS, France 0.00 0.50 1 0.0% Increase
33 Eni s.p.a., Italy 0.00 0.50 1 0.0% Increase
33 Nanoscribe GmbH, Germany 0.00 0.50 1 0.0% Increase
33 VASP Software GmbH, Austria 0.50 0.50 1 -7.4% Decrease
33 Aledia S.A, France 0.00 0.50 1 0.0% Increase
33 Arm Limited, United Kingdom (UK) 0.00 0.50 1 0.0% Increase
33 Alpes Lasers SA, Switzerland 0.00 0.50 1 0.0% Increase
34 European Spallation Source ESS AB, Sweden 0.32 0.44 7 26.4% Increase
35 Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH, Austria 0.00 0.44 2 0.0% Increase
36 AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Austria 0.30 0.41 10 25.0% Increase
37 Soitec S.A., France 0.00 0.40 2 0.0% Increase
38 Abbelight SAS, France 0.00 0.40 1 0.0% Increase
39 Qnami AG, Switzerland 0.00 0.39 1 0.0% Increase
40 Cycle GmbH, Germany 0.00 0.39 2 0.0% Increase
41 Studio Tomás Saraceno GmbH, Germany 0.00 0.38 1 0.0% 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.