2018 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in chemistry

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

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Position Institution Share 2016 Share 2017 Count 2017 Change in Adjusted Share* 2016–2017
1 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 813.86 785.38 1777 -9.9% Decrease
2 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 231.24 238.97 1079 -3.5% Decrease
3 Max Planck Society, Germany 209.80 209.08 496 -7.0% Decrease
4 Kyoto University, Japan 139.87 172.54 282 15.2% Increase
5 Peking University (PKU), China 180.00 170.42 488 -11.6% Decrease
6 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 150.16 167.16 335 3.9% Increase
7 Tsinghua University, China 138.44 164.09 374 10.7% Increase
8 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 147.04 162.37 302 3.1% Increase
9 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 134.41 159.89 304 11.1% Increase
10 Nanjing University (NJU), China 157.77 157.39 274 -6.9% Decrease
11 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 165.85 152.72 315 -14.0% Decrease
12 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 124.31 148.46 331 11.5% Increase
13 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 133.73 134.16 268 -6.3% Decrease
14 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 125.23 134.11 265 0.0% Increase
15 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 83.58 134.02 647 49.7% Increase
16 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 115.04 133.27 246 8.2% Increase
17 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 154.16 131.03 253 -20.6% Decrease
18 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 114.54 130.69 428 6.5% Increase
19 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 119.57 128.01 251 0.0% Increase
20 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 125.57 126.82 243 -5.7% Decrease
21 Nankai University (NKU), China 111.73 118.67 326 -0.8% Decrease
22 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 109.99 116.64 237 -1.0% Decrease
23 Osaka University, Japan 84.40 114.11 210 26.2% Increase
24 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 118.38 111.88 192 -11.8% Decrease
25 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 88.78 105.44 197 10.9% Increase
26 Soochow University, China 89.70 105.30 173 9.6% Increase
27 Fudan University, China 82.71 101.53 209 14.6% Increase
28 Xiamen University (XMU), China 93.55 98.51 161 -1.7% Decrease
29 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 86.95 94.05 156 1.0% Increase
30 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 78.49 93.72 150 11.5% Increase
31 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 78.40 93.10 170 10.9% Increase
32 Sichuan University (SCU), China 78.24 92.53 142 10.4% Increase
33 Wuhan University (WHU), China 76.60 92.25 150 12.4% Increase
34 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 119.55 91.85 189 -28.3% Decrease
35 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 58.60 90.43 162 44.1% Increase
36 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 117.07 87.05 187 -30.6% Decrease
37 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 91.55 86.73 141 -11.5% Decrease
38 Leibniz Association, Germany 80.74 86.02 212 -0.5% Decrease
39 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 85.34 85.15 136 -6.8% Decrease
40 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 77.80 82.80 318 -0.6% Decrease
41 Scripps Research, United States of America (USA) 80.25 80.27 129 -6.6% Decrease
42 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 64.23 78.81 131 14.6% Increase
43 South China University of Technology (SCUT), China 60.26 77.46 131 20.0% Increase
44 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 78.74 77.43 163 -8.2% Decrease
45 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), United States of America (USA) 71.82 76.38 130 -0.7% Decrease
46 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 98.57 76.15 126 -27.9% Decrease
47 East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), China 78.22 75.04 125 -10.4% Decrease
48 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 50.51 74.49 159 37.7% Increase
49 Jilin University (JLU), China 63.58 73.13 147 7.4% Increase
50 University of Münster (WWU), Germany 55.04 73.07 108 23.9% Increase
51 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India 84.70 72.08 120 -20.5% Decrease
52 Lanzhou University (LZU), China 71.01 71.56 114 -5.9% Decrease
53 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 69.24 70.29 159 -5.2% Decrease
54 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 67.88 70.00 137 -3.7% Decrease
55 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 69.50 69.80 137 -6.2% Decrease
56 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 55.33 69.51 136 17.3% Increase
57 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 63.98 69.43 151 1.3% Increase
58 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 64.25 69.41 151 0.9% Increase
59 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 60.32 68.23 137 5.6% Increase
60 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 55.27 67.20 163 13.5% Increase
61 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea 67.16 66.35 129 -7.8% Decrease
62 Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Japan 88.05 66.07 125 -29.9% Decrease
63 University of Pennsylvania (Penn), United States of America (USA) 80.47 65.68 104 -23.8% Decrease
64 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 51.77 65.51 98 18.2% Increase
65 Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea 63.03 65.51 123 -3.0% Decrease
66 Hunan University (HNU), China 65.92 64.48 109 -8.7% Decrease
67 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 66.12 64.39 138 -9.1% Decrease
68 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia 58.38 63.52 124 1.6% Increase
69 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 67.96 63.23 167 -13.1% Decrease
70 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), United States of America (USA) 55.59 62.85 273 5.6% Increase
71 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 50.55 62.26 98 15.0% Increase
72 East China Normal University (ECNU), China 56.22 61.22 106 1.7% Increase
73 Hokkaido University, Japan 59.93 61.12 130 -4.8% Decrease
74 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 61.79 61.09 104 -7.7% Decrease
75 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 59.66 60.76 110 -4.9% Decrease
76 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), United States of America (USA) 51.42 60.43 117 9.7% Increase
77 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), United States of America (USA) 46.21 60.04 182 21.3% Increase
78 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 60.32 59.71 127 -7.6% Decrease
79 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 45.20 59.46 100 22.8% Increase
80 University of Göttingen, Germany 45.85 59.29 108 20.7% Increase
81 University of Groningen (RUG), Netherlands 49.21 58.86 105 11.7% Increase
82 Nagoya University, Japan 53.96 58.44 116 1.1% Increase
83 RWTH Aachen University (RWTH Aachen), Germany 54.43 57.69 124 -1.0% Decrease
84 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 52.58 56.05 129 -0.5% Decrease
85 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 54.26 55.41 150 -4.7% Decrease
86 The University of Utah (Utah), United States of America (USA) 38.25 54.33 88 32.6% Increase
87 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Spain 57.70 52.77 114 -14.6% Decrease
88 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 66.07 52.52 208 -25.8% Decrease
89 Tohoku University, Japan 60.53 52.26 118 -19.4% Decrease
90 Southwest University (SWU), China 36.83 51.51 59 30.6% Increase
91 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 42.90 50.43 134 9.7% Increase
92 Shandong Normal University (SDNU), China 34.01 49.85 72 36.9% Increase
93 Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea 48.33 49.36 102 -4.6% Decrease
94 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 42.37 49.32 85 8.7% Increase
95 Kyushu University, Japan 55.95 49.24 110 -17.8% Decrease
96 Tianjin University (TJU), China 46.06 49.15 261 -0.4% Decrease
97 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China 21.88 48.24 112 105.9% Increase
98 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany 41.20 48.01 97 8.8% Increase
99 Southeast University (SEU), China 39.19 47.46 73 13.1% Increase
100 Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea 39.71 47.38 90 11.4% 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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