2019 Research Leaders: Leading academic institutions in physical sciences

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

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Position Institution Share 2017 Share 2018 Count 2018 Change in Adjusted Share* 2017–2018
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 214.30 229.56 766 1.3% Increase
2 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 210.58 220.15 603 -1.1% Decrease
3 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 217.65 214.37 628 -6.8% Decrease
4 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 188.27 180.83 623 -9.2% Decrease
5 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 145.04 168.78 471 10.1% Increase
6 Tsinghua University, China 145.34 161.99 758 5.4% Increase
7 Peking University (PKU), China 141.25 147.51 665 -1.2% Decrease
8 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 145.72 141.98 497 -7.8% Decrease
9 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 122.93 136.82 531 5.3% Increase
10 Nanjing University (NJU), China 115.11 127.80 443 5.0% Increase
11 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 104.58 121.95 452 10.3% Increase
12 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 99.80 118.39 299 12.2% Increase
13 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 131.52 118.20 564 -15.0% Decrease
14 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 74.75 117.95 742 49.2% Increase
15 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 113.93 113.27 284 -6.0% Decrease
16 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 116.49 111.51 431 -9.5% Decrease
17 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 103.39 110.40 457 1.0% Increase
18 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 87.54 102.82 325 11.1% Increase
19 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 112.45 98.63 360 -17.0% Decrease
20 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 91.36 97.61 304 1.1% Increase
21 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 79.25 97.60 312 16.5% Increase
22 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 108.53 97.10 361 -15.4% Decrease
23 Fudan University, China 61.46 95.34 261 46.7% Increase
24 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 103.90 93.60 481 -14.8% Decrease
25 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea 89.26 89.64 182 -5.0% Decrease
26 Soochow University, China 75.75 85.93 166 7.3% Increase
27 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 54.78 84.95 370 46.7% Increase
28 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 83.87 83.91 322 -5.4% Decrease
29 Kyoto University, Japan 74.31 83.11 280 5.8% Increase
30 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 76.47 82.50 396 2.0% Increase
31 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 80.94 81.38 351 -4.9% Decrease
32 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 78.02 79.64 315 -3.5% Decrease
33 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 74.77 75.55 279 -4.4% Decrease
34 Tohoku University, Japan 58.85 74.15 267 19.2% Increase
35 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 72.15 73.50 228 -3.7% Decrease
36 Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea 71.26 72.99 287 -3.1% Decrease
37 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 78.27 71.73 263 -13.3% Decrease
38 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 59.40 69.24 282 10.3% Increase
39 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 62.23 68.63 224 4.3% Increase
40 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 56.10 67.77 346 14.3% Increase
41 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 47.36 66.58 267 33.0% Increase
42 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 70.51 65.08 317 -12.7% Decrease
43 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 52.18 64.46 299 16.8% Increase
44 Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China 52.88 63.53 175 13.6% Increase
45 University of Pennsylvania (Penn), United States of America (USA) 64.78 62.58 190 -8.6% Decrease
46 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 64.47 62.40 252 -8.5% Decrease
47 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 58.16 62.36 256 1.4% Increase
48 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 55.36 62.35 202 6.5% Increase
49 Beihang University (BUAA), China 36.34 61.65 270 60.5% Increase
50 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany 58.48 60.30 267 -2.5% Decrease
51 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 54.24 58.72 228 2.4% Increase
52 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 50.67 57.81 305 7.9% Increase
53 Wuhan University (WHU), China 39.49 57.66 167 38.1% Increase
54 Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), China 51.25 56.48 149 4.3% Increase
55 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 42.82 54.85 215 21.2% Increase
56 Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (IIT), Israel 39.42 54.67 168 31.2% Increase
57 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 46.94 53.86 286 8.5% Increase
58 Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), South Korea 45.03 53.67 245 12.7% Increase
59 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 45.65 53.20 227 10.2% Increase
60 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 59.03 52.44 244 -16.0% Decrease
61 Sorbonne University, France 50.84 52.09 549 -3.1% Decrease
62 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 42.04 51.39 133 15.6% Increase
63 Durham University, United Kingdom (UK) 44.80 50.88 122 7.4% Increase
64 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 56.93 49.06 351 -18.5% Decrease
65 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 44.67 48.13 174 1.9% Increase
66 University of Paris-Saclay, France 46.10 47.19 423 -3.2% Decrease
67 Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea 43.55 46.40 136 0.8% Increase
68 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 36.79 46.20 281 18.8% Increase
69 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 32.94 45.39 156 30.3% Increase
70 Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), China 34.66 45.05 98 22.9% Increase
71 Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany 35.67 44.71 275 18.5% Increase
72 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia 47.20 44.35 105 -11.1% Decrease
73 Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany 49.96 44.29 222 -16.1% Decrease
74 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 42.57 44.16 229 -1.9% Decrease
75 The Ohio State University (OSU), United States of America (USA) 37.91 44.10 337 10.0% Increase
76 Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea 42.95 42.78 100 -5.8% Decrease
77 Tel Aviv University (TAU), Israel 41.72 42.54 161 -3.6% Decrease
78 Tianjin University (TJU), China 31.11 42.03 142 27.8% Increase
79 University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany 45.87 41.24 253 -15.0% Decrease
80 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 47.59 40.55 152 -19.4% Decrease
81 University of Amsterdam (UvA), Netherlands 37.35 40.14 300 1.6% Increase
82 Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Japan 43.89 40.05 185 -13.7% Decrease
83 Uppsala University (UU), Sweden 30.71 39.94 203 23.0% Increase
84 Jilin University (JLU), China 36.01 39.82 104 4.6% Increase
85 Osaka University, Japan 37.65 39.80 198 0.0% Increase
86 Nankai University (NKU), China 32.78 39.51 144 14.0% Increase
87 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 39.72 39.45 242 -6.1% Decrease
88 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 32.18 38.85 164 14.2% Increase
89 Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), India 52.47 38.82 193 -30.0% Decrease
90 New York University (NYU), United States of America (USA) 20.78 38.82 156 76.7% Increase
91 TU Dresden, Germany 43.05 38.26 204 -15.9% Decrease
92 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (RU), United States of America (USA) 30.91 38.24 262 17.0% Increase
93 Australian National University (ANU), Australia 28.86 38.03 142 24.6% Increase
94 University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland 29.65 37.56 280 19.8% Increase
95 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 36.32 37.48 278 -2.4% Decrease
96 Shandong University (SDU), China 26.01 37.25 151 35.5% Increase
97 State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY Stony Brook), United States of America (USA) 39.19 36.71 231 -11.4% Decrease
98 North Carolina State University (NCSU), United States of America (USA) 41.59 36.04 106 -18.0% Decrease
99 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 40.72 35.69 187 -17.1% Decrease
100 Monash University, Australia 24.39 35.61 156 38.1% 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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