2017 Research Leaders: Leading countries/territories in Earth & environmental sciences

The 2017 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016.

Table criteria

Position Country/territory Share 2015 Share 2016 Count 2016 Change in Adjusted Share* 2015–2016
1 United States of America (USA) 2832.34 2956.83 4112 -2.6% Decrease
2 China 723.44 915.47 1350 18.1% Increase
3 United Kingdom (UK) 482.03 524.26 1103 1.5% Increase
4 Germany 429.40 466.78 942 1.5% Increase
5 France 363.54 373.34 805 -4.1% Decrease
6 Australia 294.38 308.22 594 -2.3% Decrease
7 Japan 259.47 301.88 492 8.6% Increase
8 Canada 318.16 285.71 571 -16.2% Decrease
9 Switzerland 207.20 196.69 431 -11.4% Decrease
10 Netherlands 114.12 129.97 307 6.3% Increase
11 Italy 131.29 120.84 260 -14.1% Decrease
12 Spain 113.71 116.16 245 -4.7% Decrease
13 Sweden 99.34 86.80 251 -18.4% Decrease
14 South Korea 73.26 82.21 142 4.7% Increase
15 Norway 62.19 75.31 212 13.0% Increase
16 Denmark 66.43 70.13 180 -1.5% Decrease
17 India 53.53 59.06 109 3.0% Increase
18 Belgium 46.81 54.97 133 9.6% Increase
19 Israel 48.62 52.45 92 0.7% Increase
20 Singapore 35.03 43.15 86 15.0% Increase
21 New Zealand 49.87 42.50 117 -20.5% Decrease
22 Taiwan 51.81 42.38 84 -23.6% Decrease
23 Finland 36.53 37.98 90 -3.0% Decrease
24 Brazil 25.92 35.41 88 27.5% Increase
25 Austria 25.92 34.72 152 25.0% Increase
26 Russia 25.65 29.70 105 8.1% Increase
27 Czech Republic 17.21 25.66 59 39.2% Increase
28 Saudi Arabia 14.23 21.60 58 41.7% Increase
29 Portugal 16.36 19.68 52 12.3% Increase
30 South Africa 13.20 16.96 52 19.9% Increase
31 Chile 14.17 15.41 51 1.5% Increase
32 Ireland 11.68 14.86 48 18.8% Increase
33 Greece 16.88 12.84 37 -29.0% Decrease
34 Mexico 10.07 12.49 41 15.8% Increase
35 Iceland 10.33 9.96 30 -10.0% Decrease
36 Argentina 8.66 9.52 36 2.6% Increase
37 Poland 12.13 7.62 35 -41.4% Decrease
38 Turkey 15.77 7.49 23 -55.7% Decrease
39 Colombia 3.59 6.68 19 73.7% Increase
40 Indonesia 3.63 6.37 27 63.9% Increase
41 Thailand 0.36 5.57 17 1,351.6% Increase
42 Luxembourg 2.83 4.41 8 45.4% Increase
43 Panama 1.31 4.40 21 214.6% Increase
44 Hungary 2.64 4.29 16 52.1% Increase
45 Peru 2.65 3.94 16 38.6% Increase
46 Ecuador 1.02 3.88 16 255.8% Increase
47 Estonia 1.19 3.19 11 150.7% Increase
48 Slovenia 3.88 3.01 4 -27.7% Decrease
49 Iran 1.34 2.99 7 108.4% Increase
50 Kenya 1.22 2.87 14 119.1% 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.