2019 Research Leaders: Leading academic institutions in Earth & environmental sciences

The 2019 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018.

Table criteria

Position Institution Share 2017 Share 2018 Count 2018 Change in Adjusted Share* 2017–2018
1 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 80.74 92.00 255 4.1% Increase
2 Nanjing University (NJU), China 58.80 80.20 232 24.6% Increase
3 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 66.29 69.63 304 -4.1% Decrease
4 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 80.86 68.77 287 -22.3% Decrease
5 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 56.10 63.79 233 3.9% Increase
6 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 58.88 61.38 196 -4.8% Decrease
7 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 46.58 61.08 207 19.8% Increase
8 Peking University (PKU), China 45.10 60.74 239 23.0% Increase
9 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 50.77 52.48 151 -5.6% Decrease
10 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 35.25 49.41 103 28.0% Increase
11 Tongji University, China 30.58 49.36 155 47.4% Increase
12 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 38.46 49.14 263 16.7% Increase
13 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 34.98 49.10 161 28.2% Increase
14 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 46.06 46.71 153 -7.4% Decrease
15 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 50.24 46.64 186 -15.2% Decrease
16 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 52.19 46.37 159 -18.8% Decrease
17 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 44.95 46.13 124 -6.3% Decrease
18 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 35.67 44.68 137 14.4% Increase
19 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 45.45 43.25 139 -13.1% Decrease
20 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 25.95 42.07 154 48.1% Increase
21 Tsinghua University, China 35.64 42.03 155 7.7% Increase
22 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 33.62 41.17 108 11.8% Increase
23 China University of Geosciences (CUG), China 32.15 38.53 107 9.5% Increase
24 Beijing Normal University (BNU), China 25.53 38.25 152 36.9% Increase
25 The University of Arizona (Arizona), United States of America (USA) 32.34 38.16 135 7.8% Increase
26 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 31.65 37.37 140 7.9% Increase
27 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 40.19 36.83 121 -16.3% Decrease
28 The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia 24.26 35.51 91 33.7% Increase
29 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 37.79 35.18 119 -15.0% Decrease
30 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 38.31 34.66 142 -17.4% Decrease
31 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 25.78 33.70 170 19.4% Increase
32 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 31.13 33.11 114 -2.9% Decrease
33 Arizona State University (ASU), United States of America (USA) 31.89 32.72 111 -6.3% Decrease
34 University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States of America (USA) 23.64 32.52 103 25.6% Increase
35 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 30.82 32.44 140 -3.9% Decrease
36 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 33.66 32.16 101 -12.7% Decrease
37 Colorado State University, United States of America (USA) 32.43 32.01 102 -9.8% Decrease
38 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 41.98 31.67 125 -31.1% Decrease
39 Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), China 23.17 31.59 60 24.5% Increase
40 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 25.03 31.36 90 14.5% Increase
41 University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia 31.77 30.66 99 -11.8% Decrease
42 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 25.30 30.41 125 9.8% Increase
43 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 22.03 30.07 58 24.7% Increase
44 Wuhan University (WHU), China 18.35 29.88 62 48.8% Increase
45 University of Alberta (U of A), Canada 28.66 29.64 75 -5.5% Decrease
46 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 17.87 29.21 89 49.3% Increase
47 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 26.97 28.84 101 -2.3% Decrease
48 Australian National University (ANU), Australia 28.06 28.44 106 -7.4% Decrease
49 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 30.07 28.34 105 -13.9% Decrease
50 University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), United States of America (USA) 16.45 27.63 97 53.5% Increase
51 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 15.31 27.43 85 63.6% Increase
52 University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Mānoa), United States of America (USA) 24.52 26.52 129 -1.2% Decrease
53 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 24.83 25.55 62 -6.0% Decrease
54 University of Bremen (Uni Bremen), Germany 18.46 24.84 87 22.9% Increase
55 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 37.85 24.20 98 -41.6% Decrease
56 The University of Iowa (UI), United States of America (USA) 18.44 23.95 86 18.6% Increase
57 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 38.26 23.94 105 -42.8% Decrease
58 Duke University, United States of America (USA) 20.98 22.83 82 -0.6% Decrease
59 Curtin University, Australia 15.65 22.56 71 31.7% Increase
60 Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL), United States of America (USA) 19.17 22.08 61 5.2% Increase
61 Tohoku University, Japan 19.19 21.92 71 4.3% Increase
62 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 17.48 21.58 83 12.8% Increase
63 McGill University, Canada 18.47 21.56 80 6.6% Increase
64 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 16.78 21.52 57 17.2% Increase
65 Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark 29.09 21.36 62 -32.9% Decrease
66 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 14.13 21.22 48 37.2% Increase
67 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 22.63 20.99 81 -15.3% Decrease
68 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 21.93 20.82 78 -13.3% Decrease
69 Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Netherlands 20.18 20.73 56 -6.1% Decrease
70 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 20.14 20.61 111 -6.5% Decrease
71 University of Southern California (USC), United States of America (USA) 10.21 20.29 55 81.4% Increase
72 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 14.97 19.97 78 21.9% Increase
73 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), United States of America (USA) 25.59 19.82 64 -29.2% Decrease
74 The University of Melbourne (UniMelb), Australia 13.86 19.82 72 30.6% Increase
75 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 14.91 19.72 86 20.8% Increase
76 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 23.67 19.55 69 -24.5% Decrease
77 University of Florida (UF), United States of America (USA) 23.86 19.28 81 -26.2% Decrease
78 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), China 16.57 19.23 85 6.0% Increase
79 Oregon State University, United States of America (USA) 23.22 18.80 81 -26.0% Decrease
80 Monash University, Australia 14.28 18.80 82 20.3% Increase
81 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 16.05 18.70 69 6.4% Increase
82 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 17.08 18.17 94 -2.8% Decrease
83 University of Münster (WWU), Germany 8.15 18.02 41 102.0% Increase
84 Lanzhou University (LZU), China 14.13 17.92 30 15.8% Increase
85 Hokkaido University, Japan 22.02 17.55 50 -27.2% Decrease
86 The University of New Mexico (UNM), United States of America (USA) 9.86 17.33 50 60.6% Increase
87 The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada 14.76 17.13 67 6.0% Increase
88 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 21.93 17.06 70 -29.0% Decrease
89 Ghent University (UGent), Belgium 14.32 16.61 42 5.9% Increase
90 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 22.73 16.35 78 -34.3% Decrease
91 Brown University, United States of America (USA) 20.30 16.19 56 -27.2% Decrease
92 Nagoya University, Japan 10.44 16.11 63 40.9% Increase
93 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia 10.74 16.00 34 36.1% Increase
94 University of Bern (UniBE), Switzerland 13.81 15.80 56 4.5% Increase
95 University of Helsinki, Finland 11.38 15.63 50 25.5% Increase
96 Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), Israel 11.85 15.59 44 20.2% Increase
97 China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB), China 7.95 15.45 46 77.6% Increase
98 Nankai University (NKU), China 8.95 15.33 29 56.5% Increase
99 The University of Oklahoma (OU), United States of America (USA) 12.05 15.31 78 16.1% Increase
100 University of Oregon (UO), United States of America (USA) 11.87 15.10 38 16.2% 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.