2016 tables: Institutions - academic

The 2016 tables are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015.

Table criteria

# Institution Share 2015 Count 2015
1 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 438.49 1222
2 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 432.89 1242
3 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 224.33 767
4 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 222.62 780
5 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 167.65 542
6 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 144.36 598
7 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 131.32 423
8 King's College London (KCL), United Kingdom (UK) 94.79 369
9 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 93.16 297
10 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 90.44 266
11 The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (UK) 79.11 287
12 The University of Warwick (Warwick), United Kingdom (UK) 78.83 328
13 Durham University, United Kingdom (UK) 74.98 228
14 University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK) 72.05 391
15 The University of Nottingham (UoN), United Kingdom (UK) 69.11 171
16 University of St Andrews, United Kingdom (UK) 60.63 232
17 University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK) 55.10 341
18 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 52.77 183
19 University of Birmingham (UB), United Kingdom (UK) 51.12 294
20 University of York, United Kingdom (UK) 49.77 133
21 Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), United Kingdom (UK) 49.16 249
22 University of Bath, United Kingdom (UK) 44.99 108
23 Newcastle University, United Kingdom (UK) 40.33 172
24 Cardiff University, United Kingdom (UK) 37.54 136
25 Queen's University Belfast (QUB), United Kingdom (UK) 37.15 103
26 University of Sussex, United Kingdom (UK) 33.19 166
27 University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom (UK) 32.09 106
28 University of Leicester, United Kingdom (UK) 29.84 113
29 University of Reading, United Kingdom (UK) 29.41 101
30 University of East Anglia (UEA), United Kingdom (UK) 24.92 96
31 Lancaster University, United Kingdom (UK) 24.86 172
32 University of Dundee, United Kingdom (UK) 22.00 85
33 Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom (UK) 21.47 56
34 University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom (UK) 21.15 84
35 Swansea University, United Kingdom (UK) 17.43 56
36 The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), United Kingdom (UK) 15.65 47
37 University of London - Royal Holloway (RHUL), United Kingdom (UK) 15.24 143
38 University of Surrey, United Kingdom (UK) 14.91 54
39 Birkbeck, University of London (BBK), United Kingdom (UK) 11.28 53
40 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), United Kingdom (UK) 9.13 47
41 Loughborough University, United Kingdom (UK) 9.03 42
42 The Open University (OU), United Kingdom (UK) 8.52 40
43 University of Plymouth, United Kingdom (UK) 7.98 35
44 Bangor University, United Kingdom (UK) 7.78 22
45 University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom (UK) 6.83 32
46 University of Hull, United Kingdom (UK) 6.59 30
47 Keele University, United Kingdom (UK) 5.17 21
48 University of Kent, United Kingdom (UK) 5.02 39
49 Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), United Kingdom (UK) 4.72 32
50 Cranfield University, United Kingdom (UK) 4.28 22
51 Northumbria University, United Kingdom (UK) 4.23 16
52 University of Essex, United Kingdom (UK) 3.97 16
53 Aston University, United Kingdom (UK) 3.91 16
54 Brunel University London, United Kingdom (UK) 3.53 58
55 Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom (UK) 3.48 19
56 University of Ulster (UU), United Kingdom (UK) 3.23 7
57 University of Hertfordshire (UH), United Kingdom (UK) 3.18 22
58 University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom (UK) 3.15 9
59 University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), United Kingdom (UK) 3.07 8
60 Coventry University, United Kingdom (UK) 3.03 5
61 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), United Kingdom (UK) 2.44 13
62 City, University of London (CUL), United Kingdom (UK) 2.12 9
63 Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), United Kingdom (UK) 2.06 7
64 St George's, University of London (SGUL), United Kingdom (UK) 1.99 18
65 Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), United Kingdom (UK) 1.97 8
66 Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom (UK) 1.78 50
67 University of South Wales, United Kingdom (UK) 1.17 2
68 University of Stirling, United Kingdom (UK) 1.11 8
69 University of Brighton, United Kingdom (UK) 1.10 5
70 Royal Veterinary College, University of London (RVC), United Kingdom (UK) 1.09 5
71 University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), United Kingdom (UK) 1.00 1
72 Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.87 4
73 University of Salford, United Kingdom (UK) 0.82 5
74 Royal Brompton NIHR Biomedical Research Units, United Kingdom (UK) 0.79 4
75 University of Greenwich, United Kingdom (UK) 0.74 4
76 Abertay University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.72 16
77 University of Lincoln, United Kingdom (UK) 0.67 5
78 University of Bradford, United Kingdom (UK) 0.57 6
79 University of Bolton, United Kingdom (UK) 0.56 1
80 London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.50 1
80 University of the West of England (UWE), United Kingdom (UK) 0.50 2
81 London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United Kingdom (UK) 0.44 4
82 University of Chester, United Kingdom (UK) 0.37 3
83 University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom (UK) 0.28 1
84 University of Cumbria, United Kingdom (UK) 0.25 1
85 University of London - Goldsmiths, United Kingdom (UK) 0.20 2
85 De Montfort University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.20 1
86 Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.18 2
87 University of Gloucestershire (UniGlos), United Kingdom (UK) 0.17 1
87 University of Buckingham, United Kingdom (UK) 0.17 1
87 University of Westminster, United Kingdom (UK) 0.17 1
87 University of East London (UEL), United Kingdom (UK) 0.17 1
88 The Royal Agricultural University (RAU), United Kingdom (UK) 0.14 1
88 Tonbridge School, United Kingdom (UK) 0.14 1
89 University of Sunderland, United Kingdom (UK) 0.10 1
89 Bournemouth University (BU), United Kingdom (UK) 0.10 1
90 University of Chichester, United Kingdom (UK) 0.08 1
90 School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS), United Kingdom (UK) 0.08 1
90 St Mary's University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.08 1
91 University of the West of Scotland (UWS), United Kingdom (UK) 0.07 4
92 London South Bank University (LSBU), United Kingdom (UK) 0.06 1
93 Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, United Kingdom (UK) 0.06 1
94 Canterbury Christ Church University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.04 1
95 Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom (UK) 0.01 1
96 University of Winchester, United Kingdom (UK) 0.01 1

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 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 82 natural-science journals through 2022, in 2023 64 health-science journals were added to the Index. The 146 journals in the Nature Index were selected on reputation by an independent panel of leading scientists in their fields.
  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 annual tables.