2019 Research Leaders: Leading government institutions

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 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 1535.47 1730.52 5010 6.4% Increase
2 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 714.05 696.50 4368 -7.9% Decrease
3 National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States of America (USA) 380.31 397.35 970 -1.4% Decrease
4 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 203.17 204.76 1222 -4.9% Decrease
5 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 186.01 190.38 869 -3.4% Decrease
6 RIKEN, Japan 153.05 160.44 616 -1.0% Decrease
7 National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Italy 119.04 135.63 717 7.6% Increase
8 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 135.39 121.85 648 -15.0% Decrease
9 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), United States of America (USA) 121.87 120.30 598 -6.8% Decrease
10 National Research Council (CNR), Italy 114.37 103.48 512 -14.6% Decrease
11 The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France 95.87 99.49 918 -2.0% Decrease
12 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), United States of America (USA) 117.67 98.11 358 -21.3% Decrease
13 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 89.25 93.99 426 -0.6% Decrease
14 National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), France 93.18 92.95 933 -5.8% Decrease
15 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom (UK) 100.03 92.14 756 -13.0% Decrease
16 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), United States of America (USA) 94.77 90.87 336 -9.5% Decrease
17 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), United States of America (USA) 101.09 89.69 254 -16.2% Decrease
18 Institute for Basic Science (IBS), South Korea 71.57 88.05 325 16.1% Increase
19 Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), Czech Republic 88.90 87.45 393 -7.1% Decrease
20 U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), United States of America (USA) 87.15 83.27 318 -9.8% Decrease
21 Academia Sinica, Taiwan 70.44 75.61 360 1.3% Increase
22 National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan 73.49 73.25 284 -5.9% Decrease
23 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India 96.96 72.01 148 -29.9% Decrease
24 People's Liberation Army (PLA), China 59.07 71.19 224 13.8% Increase
25 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan 63.06 70.14 233 5.0% Increase
26 Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 79.84 70.08 286 -17.1% Decrease
27 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland 55.89 69.50 438 17.4% Increase
28 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), United States of America (USA) 67.91 66.39 333 -7.7% Decrease
29 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), United States of America (USA) 71.46 64.87 192 -14.3% Decrease
30 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) 79.88 64.24 295 -24.1% Decrease
31 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), India 49.53 53.26 249 1.5% Increase
32 Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), Poland 55.76 53.16 325 -10.0% Decrease
33 European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany 45.05 51.87 258 8.7% Increase
34 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), United States of America (USA) 40.43 50.83 243 18.7% Increase
35 Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland 51.70 46.91 280 -14.3% Decrease
36 National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina 38.29 42.24 270 4.1% Increase
37 Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy 37.00 40.51 144 3.4% Increase
38 Sandia National Laboratories, United States of America (USA) 45.23 40.07 157 -16.4% Decrease
39 The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia 39.29 39.24 209 -5.7% Decrease
40 National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), France 37.49 38.07 407 -4.1% Decrease
41 China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), China 24.66 36.80 134 40.9% Increase
42 Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Austria 38.23 36.22 296 -10.6% Decrease
43 Smithsonian Institution, United States of America (USA) 33.77 35.52 238 -0.7% Decrease
44 Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), South Korea 40.41 34.99 130 -18.2% Decrease
45 Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Hungary 34.33 34.59 308 -4.9% Decrease
46 National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS), Japan 27.79 34.17 171 16.1% Increase
47 National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy 34.86 33.26 136 -9.9% Decrease
48 Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Switzerland 24.41 30.92 95 19.6% Increase
49 Institute of Research for Development (IRD), France 30.72 30.45 539 -6.4% Decrease
50 China Meteorological Administration (CMA), China 23.29 29.94 109 21.4% Increase
51 Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII), Spain 31.69 29.83 230 -11.2% Decrease
52 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), United States of America (USA) 26.69 29.79 155 5.4% Increase
53 NWO-I, the Institutes Organisation of NWO, Netherlands 31.37 29.57 311 -11.0% Decrease
54 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, United States of America (USA) 25.85 29.41 362 7.4% Increase
55 National Research Center Kurchatov Institute (NRCKI), Russia 20.84 29.12 344 31.9% Increase
56 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States of America (USA) 24.55 27.78 62 6.8% Increase
57 Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Switzerland 22.01 25.59 88 9.8% Increase
58 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan 21.78 25.59 98 10.9% Increase
59 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), United States of America (USA) 25.67 25.16 76 -7.5% Decrease
60 Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), China 14.89 25.10 169 59.2% Increase
61 National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Italy 30.02 24.71 62 -22.3% Decrease
62 Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), China 26.85 23.91 104 -15.9% Decrease
63 High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Japan 19.02 23.66 198 17.4% Increase
64 Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Canada 23.84 23.15 73 -8.3% Decrease
65 European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), France 23.27 22.64 130 -8.2% Decrease
66 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), United States of America (USA) 19.10 20.81 162 2.9% Increase
67 Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), South Korea 26.73 20.34 58 -28.2% Decrease
68 Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), India 17.11 19.25 152 6.2% Increase
69 China Earthquake Administration (CEA), China 15.89 18.20 49 8.1% Increase
70 National Research Council (NRC), Canada 19.92 18.01 82 -14.7% Decrease
71 Brazil Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication (MCTIC), Brazil 17.93 17.30 215 -8.9% Decrease
72 Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Russia 16.24 16.70 262 -2.9% Decrease
73 National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing (NIBS), China 15.93 16.49 71 -2.3% Decrease
74 Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy 14.61 16.17 155 4.5% Increase
75 IMDEA Institutes, Spain 12.44 15.90 66 20.7% Increase
76 Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), Japan 13.13 14.99 84 7.8% Increase
77 Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Iran 10.12 14.63 137 36.5% Increase
78 Met Office, United Kingdom (UK) 10.30 14.36 59 31.7% Increase
79 European Southern Observatory (ESO), Germany 10.23 14.04 102 29.5% Increase
80 The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU), Ukraine 10.87 13.13 210 14.1% Increase
81 Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI), India 16.19 12.92 27 -24.7% Decrease
82 European Commission (EC), Belgium 7.71 12.70 45 55.6% Increase
83 Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Japan 8.40 11.86 77 33.3% Increase
84 National Science Foundation (NSF), United States of America (USA) 8.61 11.80 91 29.3% Increase
85 Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), Japan 13.90 11.79 111 -19.9% Decrease
86 NERC British Antarctic Survey (BAS), United Kingdom (UK) 17.50 11.78 45 -36.5% Decrease
87 Jozef Stefan Institute (IJS), Slovenia 14.02 11.77 125 -20.7% Decrease
88 NERC National Oceanography Centre (NOC), United Kingdom (UK) 11.53 11.29 72 -7.6% Decrease
89 Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), France 8.77 11.07 204 19.2% Increase
90 Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Australia 14.06 10.72 63 -28.0% Decrease
91 French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), France 3.73 10.47 77 164.7% Increase
92 New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), United States of America (USA) 4.26 10.33 43 129.0% Increase
93 Natural History Museum, United Kingdom (UK) 10.08 9.99 52 -6.5% Decrease
94 India Department of Space (DOS), India 13.59 9.97 22 -30.7% Decrease
95 National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan 5.44 9.92 43 72.1% Increase
96 Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Finland 3.85 9.77 36 139.8% Increase
97 Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Sweden 6.08 9.33 41 44.9% Increase
98 National Physical Laboratory (NPL), United Kingdom (UK) 9.17 9.30 54 -4.3% Decrease
99 National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information (IGN), France 7.62 9.22 108 14.2% Increase
100 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), United States of America (USA) 9.22 9.08 29 -7.1% 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.