2017 Research Leaders: Leading academic institutions in Earth & environmental sciences

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

Table criteria

Region/country

Sector

Subject/journals

Position	Institution	Share 2015	Share 2016	Count 2016	Change in Adjusted Share* 2015–2016
1	Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland	86.99	84.32	241	-9.5%
2	University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK)	29.03	43.91	136	41.2%
3	Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands	31.65	35.53	113	4.8%
4	University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK)	27.34	32.11	112	9.6%
5	University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK)	32.81	31.15	125	-11.4%
6	Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK)	24.85	29.03	127	9.0%
7	University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK)	29.39	24.71	97	-21.5%
8	Stockholm University, Sweden	21.71	23.61	80	1.5%
9	University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark	19.29	23.10	89	11.8%
10	Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark	21.69	21.17	50	-8.9%
11	University of Oslo (UiO), Norway	11.68	20.82	75	66.4%
12	The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK)	16.72	20.64	74	15.2%
13	Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands	15.45	18.35	48	10.9%
14	Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany	8.87	18.05	42	89.9%
15	University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK)	20.56	16.26	60	-26.2%
16	The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK)	9.96	16.09	49	50.8%
17	University of Potsdam, Germany	9.63	15.80	49	53.1%
18	University of Reading, United Kingdom (UK)	13.19	15.72	71	11.3%
19	University of Bremen (Uni Bremen), Germany	15.14	15.66	65	-3.4%
20	UCL, United Kingdom (UK)	21.44	15.14	84	-34.1%
21	University of Bayreuth (UBT), Germany	15.30	15.12	40	-7.8%
22	Durham University, United Kingdom (UK)	13.60	14.75	69	1.2%
23	Ghent University (UGent), Belgium	16.26	14.44	35	-17.1%
24	University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK)	16.15	14.15	64	-18.3%
25	Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Netherlands	12.68	13.98	56	2.9%
26	University of Bern (UniBE), Switzerland	17.79	13.02	54	-31.7%
27	Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany	18.44	13.01	40	-34.2%
28	Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland	10.87	12.79	49	9.8%
29	University of Lyon, France	12.71	12.58	71	-7.6%
30	University of Helsinki, Finland	12.18	12.48	48	-4.4%
31	VU Amsterdam, Netherlands	8.45	12.41	31	37.1%
32	University of Tübingen (Uni Tübingen), Germany	10.05	11.98	32	11.2%
33	Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin), Germany	12.66	11.54	50	-15.0%
34	University of Münster (WWU), Germany	8.81	10.54	39	11.6%
35	Sorbonne University, France	12.98	10.41	142	-25.1%
36	Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium	8.45	10.38	28	14.6%
37	University of Bergen (UIB), Norway	9.05	10.20	57	5.2%
38	University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK)	8.85	10.18	47	7.3%
39	University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland	13.39	10.17	37	-29.1%
40	Lancaster University, United Kingdom (UK)	7.26	9.82	43	26.4%
41	Grenoble Alpes University (UGA), France	6.85	9.63	87	31.2%
42	Paris Cité University, France	14.09	9.24	100	-38.8%
43	Université PSL, France	9.12	9.20	121	-5.8%
44	University of Barcelona (UB), Spain	7.20	8.87	29	14.9%
45	Aarhus University (AU), Denmark	9.64	8.79	39	-14.9%
46	The Open University (OU), United Kingdom (UK)	5.67	8.52	31	40.4%
47	Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany	5.78	8.42	25	35.8%
48	Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), Germany	8.65	8.32	21	-10.3%
49	Lund University (LU), Sweden	10.02	8.04	36	-25.1%
50	Goethe University Frankfurt (GU), Germany	6.11	7.84	33	19.8%
51	University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK)	6.03	7.71	55	19.3%
52	University of Lorraine (UL), France	7.67	7.62	45	-7.3%
53	Charles University (CU), Czech Republic	3.99	7.59	25	77.4%
54	Umeå University (UMU), Sweden	7.68	7.44	19	-9.5%
55	University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Norway	4.18	7.39	31	65.2%
56	University of Vienna, Austria	7.16	7.31	37	-4.8%
57	Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden	7.70	7.26	30	-12.0%
58	University of Iceland, Iceland	8.10	7.23	28	-16.7%
59	University of Granada (UGR), Spain	4.11	7.18	16	63.0%
60	Université de La Réunion, France	11.48	6.96	80	-43.4%
61	Newcastle University, United Kingdom (UK)	9.21	6.91	54	-30.0%
62	University of Cologne (UoC), Germany	6.80	6.88	24	-5.6%
63	Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany	6.11	6.84	23	4.5%
64	University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland	6.01	6.70	24	4.1%
65	University of Strasbourg, France	2.54	6.63	36	143.9%
66	University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland	5.63	6.53	24	8.1%
67	University of Naples Federico II (UNINA), Italy	5.02	6.51	13	21.0%
68	Gustave Eiffel University, France	5.68	6.41	63	5.3%
69	KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden	5.97	6.39	61	-0.1%
70	Cardiff University, United Kingdom (UK)	3.91	6.38	28	52.3%
71	The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (UK)	4.66	6.37	38	27.6%
72	University Clermont Auvergne (UCA), France	6.17	6.26	54	-5.3%
73	Uppsala University (UU), Sweden	6.31	6.11	33	-9.6%
74	RWTH Aachen University (RWTH Aachen), Germany	2.15	6.10	20	165.3%
75	University of Birmingham (UB), United Kingdom (UK)	6.68	6.07	23	-15.2%
76	Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway	5.29	5.89	17	3.8%
77	University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), France	6.22	5.85	78	-12.2%
78	University of Toulouse, France	6.46	5.80	103	-16.1%
79	University of Leicester, United Kingdom (UK)	4.54	5.61	24	15.4%
80	Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Germany	4.56	5.57	17	14.0%
81	University of Antwerp (UA), Belgium	3.70	5.48	16	38.3%
82	Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain	4.36	5.28	11	13.1%
83	University of London - Royal Holloway (RHUL), United Kingdom (UK)	6.51	5.20	19	-25.5%
84	University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany	5.32	5.14	24	-9.8%
85	University of Bonn (Uni Bonn), Germany	6.44	5.05	16	-26.9%
86	University of East Anglia (UEA), United Kingdom (UK)	6.54	5.04	28	-28.0%
87	University of Göttingen, Germany	7.31	5.01	17	-36.0%
88	University of Bath, United Kingdom (UK)	3.54	5.00	13	32.1%
89	University of Galway, Ireland	0.88	4.98	12	426.3%
90	University of Kiel (CAU), Germany	6.89	4.82	31	-34.6%
91	Bangor University, United Kingdom (UK)	3.49	4.81	14	28.6%
92	University of Savoy (USMB), France	5.84	4.77	61	-23.7%
93	University of Liège (ULg), Belgium	3.46	4.77	20	28.6%
94	University of Twente (UTwente), Netherlands	1.75	4.65	8	147.7%
95	University of St Andrews, United Kingdom (UK)	3.03	4.64	25	43.0%
96	University of Roma Tre, Italy	4.18	4.60	12	2.8%
97	Cranfield University, United Kingdom (UK)	2.48	4.57	18	71.8%
98	University of Montpellier, France	2.76	4.56	53	53.9%
99	Aix-Marseille University (AMU), France	3.08	4.54	52	37.5%
100	University of Plymouth, United Kingdom (UK)	4.18	4.50	17	0.4%

Each year, the Nature Index publishes tables based on counts of high-quality research outputs in the previous calendar year. Users please note:

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).
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.
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2017 Research Leaders: Leading academic institutions in Earth & environmental sciences

Table criteria

Footnote