2018 Research Leaders: Leading countries/territories in Nature & Science

The 2018 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017.

Table criteria

Position Country/territory Share 2016 Share 2017 Count 2017 Change in Adjusted Share* 2016–2017
1 United States of America (USA) 787.32 769.62 1064 3.6% Increase
2 United Kingdom (UK) 134.08 117.53 326 -7.1% Decrease
3 Germany 143.62 110.56 300 -18.4% Decrease
4 China 63.60 74.84 187 24.7% Increase
5 Switzerland 45.65 47.65 129 10.6% Increase
6 Japan 56.26 47.13 116 -11.2% Decrease
7 France 62.57 42.71 147 -27.7% Decrease
8 Canada 37.63 30.66 120 -13.7% Decrease
9 Australia 34.48 25.29 104 -22.3% Decrease
10 Netherlands 22.14 23.91 91 14.4% Increase
11 Spain 20.92 23.12 86 17.1% Increase
12 Israel 14.80 21.35 67 52.8% Increase
13 Austria 16.86 17.21 54 8.2% Increase
14 Italy 11.59 16.79 85 53.5% Increase
15 Sweden 13.07 15.48 72 25.5% Increase
16 Denmark 13.21 12.01 66 -3.6% Decrease
17 Singapore 7.70 9.65 33 32.8% Increase
18 South Korea 10.02 7.57 43 -20.0% Decrease
19 Belgium 11.99 7.31 49 -35.4% Decrease
20 Norway 3.51 6.43 25 94.0% Increase
21 Russia 5.08 4.67 38 -2.6% Decrease
22 Brazil 6.75 4.08 28 -36.0% Decrease
23 New Zealand 2.28 3.32 14 54.4% Increase
24 India 1.00 2.89 18 207.4% Increase
25 Czech Republic 2.21 2.87 19 37.9% Increase
26 Portugal 3.32 2.62 22 -16.5% Decrease
27 Poland 3.19 2.27 19 -24.9% Decrease
28 Ireland 4.01 2.25 16 -40.5% Decrease
29 Saudi Arabia 2.19 2.15 16 4.1% Increase
30 Chile 1.58 2.07 17 38.2% Increase
31 Taiwan 2.01 2.01 18 6.0% Increase
32 South Africa 1.72 1.80 21 11.2% Increase
33 Mexico 0.79 1.72 20 128.8% Increase
34 Argentina 2.22 1.67 16 -20.4% Decrease
35 Finland 4.79 1.60 19 -64.5% Decrease
36 Iceland 1.31 1.28 8 3.1% Increase
37 Kenya 0.33 1.11 5 250.4% Increase
38 Lithuania 0.00 1.07 3 0.0% Increase
39 Hungary 2.31 1.04 13 -52.4% Decrease
40 Thailand 0.14 0.93 4 616.5% Increase
41 Indonesia 1.44 0.58 4 -57.4% Decrease
42 Pakistan 0.04 0.52 3 1,233.3% Increase
43 Nicaragua 0.00 0.50 1 0.0% Increase
44 Turkey 0.85 0.47 8 -41.7% Decrease
45 Seychelles 0.03 0.43 1 1,443.7% Increase
46 Greece 0.46 0.43 7 -1.2% Decrease
47 Croatia 0.21 0.37 6 86.1% Increase
48 Slovenia 0.01 0.36 3 3,254.1% Increase
49 Egypt 0.12 0.33 7 187.0% Increase
50 Tanzania 0.12 0.33 5 180.4% 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.