2017 Research Leaders: Leading academic institutions in chemistry

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

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Position Institution Share 2015 Share 2016 Count 2016 Change in Adjusted Share* 2015–2016
1 Peking University (PKU), China 184.40 180.00 517 3.7% Increase
2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 179.35 165.85 331 -1.7% Decrease
3 Nanjing University (NJU), China 158.29 157.77 252 5.9% Increase
4 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 134.96 154.16 266 21.4% Increase
5 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 150.16 150.16 291 6.3% Increase
6 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 146.06 147.04 272 7.0% Increase
7 Kyoto University, Japan 168.02 139.87 255 -11.5% Decrease
8 Tsinghua University, China 126.79 138.44 293 16.0% Increase
9 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 171.22 134.41 235 -16.6% Decrease
10 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 169.88 133.73 252 -16.3% Decrease
11 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 123.68 125.57 254 7.9% Increase
12 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 159.29 125.23 227 -16.5% Decrease
13 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 139.67 124.31 274 -5.4% Decrease
14 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 115.28 119.57 236 10.2% Increase
15 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 108.55 119.55 218 17.0% Increase
16 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 119.65 118.38 171 5.1% Increase
17 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 124.91 117.07 220 -0.4% Decrease
18 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 128.63 115.04 198 -5.0% Decrease
19 Nankai University (NKU), China 117.83 111.73 306 0.8% Increase
20 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 133.57 109.99 169 -12.5% Decrease
21 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 89.22 98.57 152 17.4% Increase
22 Xiamen University (XMU), China 94.80 93.55 150 4.9% Increase
23 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 76.92 91.55 143 26.5% Increase
24 Soochow University, China 78.47 89.70 143 21.5% Increase
25 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 94.98 88.78 186 -0.7% Decrease
26 Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Japan 89.08 88.05 137 5.0% Increase
27 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 100.42 86.95 147 -8.0% Decrease
28 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 83.30 85.34 138 8.9% Increase
29 Osaka University, Japan 110.97 84.40 157 -19.2% Decrease
30 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 61.43 83.58 434 44.6% Increase
31 Fudan University, China 111.13 82.71 155 -20.9% Decrease
32 University of Pennsylvania (Penn), United States of America (USA) 94.58 80.47 125 -9.6% Decrease
33 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 87.90 78.74 145 -4.8% Decrease
34 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 84.64 78.49 123 -1.4% Decrease
35 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 82.22 78.40 159 1.3% Increase
36 Sichuan University (SCU), China 75.32 78.24 118 10.4% Increase
37 East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), China 86.30 78.22 134 -3.7% Decrease
38 Wuhan University (WHU), China 74.29 76.60 125 9.6% Increase
39 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), United States of America (USA) 66.41 71.82 117 14.9% Increase
40 Lanzhou University (LZU), China 69.40 71.01 108 8.7% Increase
41 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 82.98 69.50 117 -11.0% Decrease
42 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 62.95 69.24 145 16.9% Increase
43 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 74.81 67.96 146 -3.5% Decrease
44 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 92.53 67.88 136 -22.0% Decrease
45 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea 77.79 67.16 116 -8.2% Decrease
46 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 65.61 66.12 125 7.1% Increase
47 Hunan University (HNU), China 91.26 65.92 104 -23.2% Decrease
48 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 55.61 64.25 130 22.8% Increase
49 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 71.30 64.23 99 -4.3% Decrease
50 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 82.55 63.98 133 -17.6% Decrease
51 Jilin University (JLU), China 75.68 63.58 131 -10.7% Decrease
52 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany 62.17 63.32 137 8.2% Increase
53 Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea 60.07 63.03 102 11.5% Increase
54 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 51.55 61.79 91 27.4% Increase
55 Tohoku University, Japan 75.11 60.53 119 -14.4% Decrease
56 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 59.75 60.32 128 7.3% Increase
57 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 73.66 60.32 114 -13.0% Decrease
58 South China University of Technology (SCUT), China 51.37 60.26 106 24.7% Increase
59 Hokkaido University, Japan 65.09 59.93 98 -2.2% Decrease
60 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 57.09 59.66 106 11.0% Increase
61 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 71.25 58.60 109 -12.6% Decrease
62 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia 56.35 58.38 117 10.1% Increase
63 East China Normal University (ECNU), China 56.35 56.22 98 6.0% Increase
64 Kyushu University, Japan 51.43 55.95 122 15.6% Increase
65 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 67.23 55.33 97 -12.5% Decrease
66 University of Münster (WWU), Germany 62.67 55.04 88 -6.7% Decrease
67 RWTH Aachen University (RWTH Aachen), Germany 54.61 54.43 107 5.9% Increase
68 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 43.25 54.26 143 33.3% Increase
69 Nagoya University, Japan 76.82 53.96 92 -25.4% Decrease
70 Monash University, Australia 45.55 53.51 128 24.8% Increase
71 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 63.18 52.58 126 -11.6% Decrease
72 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 50.45 51.77 93 9.0% Increase
73 Yonsei University, South Korea 48.28 50.69 95 11.6% Increase
74 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 54.82 50.55 73 -2.0% Decrease
75 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 47.55 50.51 117 12.9% Increase
76 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 44.92 49.90 95 18.0% Increase
77 University of Groningen (RUG), Netherlands 47.45 49.21 82 10.2% Increase
78 Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea 55.04 48.33 93 -6.7% Decrease
79 Tianjin University (TJU), China 68.56 46.06 258 -28.6% Decrease
80 University of Göttingen, Germany 52.06 45.85 90 -6.4% Decrease
81 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (RU), United States of America (USA) 32.05 45.84 83 52.0% Increase
82 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 43.56 45.20 79 10.3% Increase
83 Shandong University (SDU), China 44.89 45.16 77 6.9% Increase
84 The University of Warwick (Warwick), United Kingdom (UK) 40.67 43.78 93 14.4% Increase
85 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 40.47 42.90 116 12.7% Increase
86 Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium 33.54 42.52 82 34.7% Increase
87 Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany 44.51 42.49 78 1.4% Increase
88 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 59.65 42.37 71 -24.5% Decrease
89 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 53.69 41.92 63 -17.0% Decrease
90 The Ohio State University (OSU), United States of America (USA) 51.13 41.39 71 -14.0% Decrease
91 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany 51.70 41.20 83 -15.3% Decrease
92 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 44.87 41.11 104 -2.6% Decrease
93 Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China 46.89 40.87 88 -7.4% Decrease
94 Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), Israel 29.37 40.65 73 47.1% Increase
95 Indiana University (IU), United States of America (USA) 37.23 40.02 66 14.2% Increase
96 Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea 37.71 39.71 82 11.9% Increase
97 University of Basel (UB), Switzerland 24.45 39.63 90 72.3% Increase
98 Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), South Korea 38.53 39.26 81 8.3% Increase
99 University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), United States of America (USA) 34.07 39.20 75 22.3% Increase
100 Southeast University (SEU), China 20.57 39.19 64 102.4% 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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