2016 tables: Institutions - Earth & environmental sciences

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 Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 32.81 111
2 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 29.39 99
3 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 29.03 104
4 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 27.34 98
5 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 24.85 103
6 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 21.44 86
7 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 20.56 73
8 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 16.72 58
9 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 16.15 64
10 Met Office, United Kingdom (UK) 15.65 45
11 NERC National Oceanography Centre (NOC), United Kingdom (UK) 14.09 64
12 Durham University, United Kingdom (UK) 13.60 55
13 University of Reading, United Kingdom (UK) 13.19 60
14 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 9.96 30
15 NERC British Antarctic Survey (BAS), United Kingdom (UK) 9.23 32
16 Newcastle University, United Kingdom (UK) 9.21 55
17 University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK) 8.85 44
18 British Geological Survey (BGS), United Kingdom (UK) 7.99 30
19 University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom (UK) 7.31 23
20 Lancaster University, United Kingdom (UK) 7.26 31
21 NERC National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), United Kingdom (UK) 6.95 46
22 University of Birmingham (UB), United Kingdom (UK) 6.68 21
23 University of East Anglia (UEA), United Kingdom (UK) 6.54 34
24 University of London - Royal Holloway (RHUL), United Kingdom (UK) 6.51 23
25 University of York, United Kingdom (UK) 6.09 18
26 University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK) 6.03 35
27 The Open University (OU), United Kingdom (UK) 5.67 21
28 The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (UK) 4.66 32
29 University of Leicester, United Kingdom (UK) 4.54 25
30 University of Plymouth, United Kingdom (UK) 4.18 18
31 European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), United Kingdom (UK) 4.16 13
32 NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), United Kingdom (UK) 3.92 19
33 Cardiff University, United Kingdom (UK) 3.91 15
34 Natural History Museum, United Kingdom (UK) 3.75 20
35 University of Bath, United Kingdom (UK) 3.54 9
36 Bangor University, United Kingdom (UK) 3.49 10
37 Swansea University, United Kingdom (UK) 3.19 14
38 Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom (UK) 3.03 7
39 University of St Andrews, United Kingdom (UK) 3.03 17
40 NERC National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO), United Kingdom (UK) 2.92 28
41 Cranfield University, United Kingdom (UK) 2.48 17
42 Queen's University Belfast (QUB), United Kingdom (UK) 2.26 13
43 Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), United Kingdom (UK) 2.05 8
44 University of Hull, United Kingdom (UK) 2.01 9
45 The University of Nottingham (UoN), United Kingdom (UK) 2.01 11
46 Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom (UK) 1.90 8
47 Coventry University, United Kingdom (UK) 1.87 3
48 Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom (UK) 1.85 9
49 Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), United Kingdom (UK) 1.75 6
50 Birkbeck, University of London (BBK), United Kingdom (UK) 1.64 11
51 University of Sussex, United Kingdom (UK) 1.48 7
52 United Kingdom Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), United Kingdom (UK) 1.48 8
53 King's College London (KCL), United Kingdom (UK) 1.40 7
54 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), United Kingdom (UK) 1.25 2
55 BP plc, United Kingdom (UK) 1.23 9
56 The University of Warwick (Warwick), United Kingdom (UK) 1.10 3
57 Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), United Kingdom (UK) 1.10 7
58 Keele University, United Kingdom (UK) 1.00 1
58 University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), United Kingdom (UK) 1.00 1
59 University of Brighton, United Kingdom (UK) 0.88 2
60 Loughborough University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.82 4
61 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom (UK) 0.82 22
62 Northumbria University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.78 6
63 University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom (UK) 0.76 4
64 Brunel University London, United Kingdom (UK) 0.75 5
65 University of Surrey, United Kingdom (UK) 0.74 5
66 University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom (UK) 0.64 5
66 Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.64 2
67 Moredun Foundation, United Kingdom (UK) 0.64 1
68 The James Hutton Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 0.56 3
69 Unilever, United Kingdom (UK) 0.52 3
70 British Ministry of Defence, United Kingdom (UK) 0.44 3
71 Pennon Group plc, United Kingdom (UK) 0.40 1
72 AstraZeneca plc, United Kingdom (UK) 0.39 1
73 University of the West of England (UWE), United Kingdom (UK) 0.36 1
74 National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), United Kingdom (UK) 0.34 2
75 Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom (UK) 0.33 1
75 University of Ulster (UU), United Kingdom (UK) 0.33 1
75 Wessex Water Services Ltd., United Kingdom (UK) 0.33 1
75 Armagh Observatory, United Kingdom (UK) 0.33 1
76 Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS), United Kingdom (UK) 0.30 1
77 Royal Veterinary College, University of London (RVC), United Kingdom (UK) 0.29 2
78 Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), United Kingdom (UK) 0.29 1
79 Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), United Kingdom (UK) 0.27 3
80 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom (UK) 0.27 2
81 The Crown Estate, United Kingdom (UK) 0.25 1
81 Northumbrian Water Ltd., United Kingdom (UK) 0.25 1
81 Badley Technology Ltd., United Kingdom (UK) 0.25 1
81 BirdLife International, United Kingdom (UK) 0.25 2
82 University of Bradford, United Kingdom (UK) 0.24 2
83 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), United Kingdom (UK) 0.23 2
84 Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO), United Kingdom (UK) 0.21 3
85 Marine Biological Association of the UK, United Kingdom (UK) 0.21 4
86 University of Chester, United Kingdom (UK) 0.20 1
86 Thames Water Utilities Limited, United Kingdom (UK) 0.20 1
86 De Montfort University, United Kingdom (UK) 0.20 1
86 South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI), United Kingdom (UK) 0.20 1
86 Carbon Fluids Limited, United Kingdom (UK) 0.20 1
86 Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), United Kingdom (UK) 0.20 1
87 Scottish Water, United Kingdom (UK) 0.18 1
88 Zoological Society of London (ZSL), United Kingdom (UK) 0.17 3
89 University of Greenwich, United Kingdom (UK) 0.17 1
89 Natural England, United Kingdom (UK) 0.17 1
89 Butterfly Conservation, United Kingdom (UK) 0.17 1
90 London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United Kingdom (UK) 0.16 2
91 University of Essex, United Kingdom (UK) 0.16 2
92 Serco Group plc, United Kingdom (UK) 0.15 3
93 Skymat Limited, United Kingdom (UK) 0.14 1
93 Severn Trent Water Ltd., United Kingdom (UK) 0.14 1
93 Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), United Kingdom (UK) 0.14 1
93 The Royal Agricultural University (RAU), United Kingdom (UK) 0.14 1
93 Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), United Kingdom (UK) 0.14 1
94 British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), United Kingdom (UK) 0.13 1
94 Nautilus Ltd., United Kingdom (UK) 0.13 1
95 Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), United Kingdom (UK) 0.11 1
95 CDP, United Kingdom (UK) 0.11 1
96 Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS), United Kingdom (UK) 0.09 1
96 Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), United Kingdom (UK) 0.09 1
97 School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS), United Kingdom (UK) 0.08 1
98 BG Group plc., United Kingdom (UK) 0.08 1
99 Noctilucent Cloud Observing Network, United Kingdom (UK) 0.08 1
100 Aspinall Consultants Limited, United Kingdom (UK) 0.07 2

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.