2018 Research Leaders: Leading academic institutions in Nature & Science

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

Table criteria

Position Institution Share 2016 Share 2017 Count 2017 Change in Adjusted Share* 2016–2017
1 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 82.77 78.59 235 0.6% Increase
2 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 42.19 50.20 142 26.1% Increase
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 37.75 32.04 162 -10.1% Decrease
4 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 20.99 19.55 65 -1.3% Decrease
5 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 23.26 18.76 79 -14.5% Decrease
6 University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), United States of America (USA) 13.05 18.08 54 46.8% Increase
7 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 21.97 16.81 83 -18.9% Decrease
8 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 19.74 16.47 78 -11.6% Decrease
9 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 7.84 14.77 59 99.6% Increase
10 University of Pennsylvania (Penn), United States of America (USA) 11.30 14.68 41 37.7% Increase
11 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 11.12 14.18 40 35.0% Increase
12 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 15.29 13.80 50 -4.4% Decrease
13 The Rockefeller University, United States of America (USA) 12.65 13.55 28 13.4% Increase
14 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 14.18 12.96 60 -3.2% Decrease
15 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 7.16 12.58 74 86.1% Increase
16 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 12.45 12.46 42 6.0% Increase
17 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 8.59 12.07 42 48.9% Increase
18 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 7.82 12.05 30 63.2% Increase
19 The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern Medical Center), United States of America (USA) 10.98 11.78 19 13.7% Increase
20 New York University (NYU), United States of America (USA) 9.76 11.51 43 24.9% Increase
21 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 9.75 11.32 71 23.0% Increase
22 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 15.09 11.17 71 -21.6% Decrease
23 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 11.41 10.97 54 1.8% Increase
24 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 7.58 10.77 34 50.5% Increase
25 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 9.13 9.88 55 14.7% Increase
26 Tsinghua University, China 10.83 9.88 35 -3.4% Decrease
27 Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL), United States of America (USA) 11.50 8.85 35 -18.5% Decrease
28 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 12.43 8.65 29 -26.3% Decrease
29 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 9.37 7.49 23 -15.3% Decrease
30 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 8.56 7.48 18 -7.5% Decrease
31 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 5.83 7.46 37 35.7% Increase
32 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 3.68 7.21 28 107.8% Increase
33 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 5.64 6.92 43 30.0% Increase
34 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 6.28 6.34 26 7.0% Increase
35 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, United States of America (USA) 0.49 6.12 28 1,211.9% Increase
36 Emory University, United States of America (USA) 4.03 6.08 14 59.8% Increase
37 University of Basel (UB), Switzerland 7.73 5.94 21 -18.6% Decrease
38 Duke University, United States of America (USA) 5.61 5.76 32 8.7% Increase
39 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 4.32 5.71 31 40.1% Increase
40 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 7.35 5.69 38 -17.9% Decrease
41 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), United States of America (USA) 5.27 5.59 38 12.2% Increase
42 Kyoto University, Japan 6.06 5.58 21 -2.4% Decrease
43 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 1.73 5.57 19 240.4% Increase
44 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 8.76 5.38 44 -34.9% Decrease
45 Peking University (PKU), China 4.60 5.19 30 19.7% Increase
46 The University of Utah (Utah), United States of America (USA) 1.97 5.10 21 175.0% Increase
47 University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), United States of America (USA) 1.60 4.59 40 203.2% Increase
48 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (RU), United States of America (USA) 6.04 4.49 34 -21.2% Decrease
49 University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland 3.66 4.16 33 20.4% Increase
50 Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), United States of America (USA) 4.14 3.98 16 1.8% Increase
51 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 3.28 3.97 42 28.3% Increase
52 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 8.61 3.92 33 -51.8% Decrease
53 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 4.39 3.81 25 -8.0% Decrease
54 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 3.87 3.79 14 3.8% Increase
55 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), MSHS, United States of America (USA) 5.71 3.78 21 -29.8% Decrease
56 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 3.58 3.77 14 11.6% Increase
57 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 2.34 3.69 24 66.9% Increase
58 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 7.56 3.65 43 -48.8% Decrease
59 University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States of America (USA) 6.53 3.55 23 -42.5% Decrease
60 The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia 1.66 3.52 30 124.5% Increase
61 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany 0.13 3.47 10 2,624.3% Increase
62 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 5.72 3.46 37 -35.9% Decrease
63 University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK) 1.32 3.28 16 163.2% Increase
64 Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (IIT), Israel 2.96 3.28 9 17.2% Increase
65 Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), Israel 1.38 3.27 18 150.4% Increase
66 Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden 3.65 3.20 23 -6.9% Decrease
67 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 2.35 3.13 19 40.7% Increase
68 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 2.49 2.99 20 27.6% Increase
69 Stockholm University, Sweden 1.32 2.94 32 136.5% Increase
70 Lund University (LU), Sweden 0.78 2.92 14 297.0% Increase
71 Brown University, United States of America (USA) 2.07 2.84 11 45.5% Increase
72 Vanderbilt University (VU), United States of America (USA) 2.13 2.82 35 40.3% Increase
73 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 3.46 2.81 14 -14.1% Decrease
74 Brandeis University, United States of America (USA) 2.38 2.80 5 25.0% Increase
75 University of Cincinnati (UC), United States of America (USA) 1.41 2.80 9 109.5% Increase
76 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 8.83 2.80 18 -66.5% Decrease
77 Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Einstein), United States of America (USA) 5.76 2.79 10 -48.6% Decrease
78 University of Münster (WWU), Germany 1.34 2.79 5 120.9% Increase
79 Nagoya University, Japan 1.96 2.78 11 49.7% Increase
80 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 1.61 2.73 10 78.9% Increase
81 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 0.52 2.72 9 453.4% Increase
82 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 5.44 2.71 10 -47.2% Decrease
83 University of Florida (UF), United States of America (USA) 2.44 2.66 34 15.3% Increase
84 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 5.58 2.62 40 -50.3% Decrease
85 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 2.75 2.60 19 0.0% Increase
86 Uppsala University (UU), Sweden 2.42 2.58 20 13.0% Increase
87 McGill University, Canada 4.59 2.57 27 -40.6% Decrease
88 The Ohio State University (OSU), United States of America (USA) 3.14 2.55 41 -13.9% Decrease
89 Goethe University Frankfurt (GU), Germany 1.31 2.52 6 104.2% Increase
90 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 1.37 2.48 9 92.5% Increase
91 University of Vienna, Austria 1.45 2.47 14 81.4% Increase
92 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 3.96 2.47 12 -33.9% Decrease
93 Australian National University (ANU), Australia 3.77 2.46 20 -31.0% Decrease
94 University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Mānoa), United States of America (USA) 3.10 2.41 30 -17.6% Decrease
95 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 1.62 2.38 23 55.7% Increase
96 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany 2.25 2.37 13 11.7% Increase
97 Oregon State University, United States of America (USA) 0.96 2.37 10 161.1% Increase
98 Boston University (BU), United States of America (USA) 3.84 2.24 38 -38.0% Decrease
99 Arizona State University (ASU), United States of America (USA) 3.57 2.24 17 -33.5% Decrease
100 Boston College (BC), United States of America (USA) 2.83 2.23 3 -16.7% Decrease

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.