2019 Research Leaders: Leading NPO/NGO 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 Max Planck Society, Germany 748.00 777.30 2528 -1.9% Decrease
2 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 514.88 505.37 2264 -7.3% Decrease
3 Leibniz Association, Germany 186.77 200.00 848 1.1% Increase
4 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 176.80 196.70 884 5.0% Increase
5 Scripps Research, United States of America (USA) 148.17 140.59 284 -10.4% Decrease
6 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Spain 107.99 112.77 396 -1.4% Decrease
7 The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 62.19 55.64 163 -15.5% Decrease
8 National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), United States of America (USA) 46.80 47.59 149 -4.0% Decrease
9 Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI), Canada 50.72 43.18 131 -19.6% Decrease
10 Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), United States of America (USA) 46.97 42.67 230 -14.2% Decrease
11 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), United States of America (USA) 29.90 41.71 149 31.7% Increase
12 Salk Institute for Biological Studies (Salk), United States of America (USA) 37.87 40.92 117 2.0% Increase
13 Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), India 31.81 40.15 80 19.1% Increase
14 Pasteur Institute, France 37.96 38.33 223 -4.7% Decrease
15 Wellcome Sanger Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 32.31 37.51 203 9.6% Increase
16 HHMI Janelia Research Campus, United States of America (USA) 36.95 37.43 106 -4.4% Decrease
17 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), United States of America (USA) 31.08 33.08 163 0.5% Increase
18 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), United States of America (USA) 24.49 31.74 80 22.4% Increase
19 Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Belgium 22.91 27.45 155 13.1% Increase
20 Vienna Biocenter (VBC), Austria 21.98 22.04 84 -5.3% Decrease
21 Fraunhofer Society, Germany 13.97 21.04 121 42.2% Increase
22 Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Spain 19.80 19.64 284 -6.4% Decrease
23 Cluster of Excellence - Munich Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CiPS-M), LMU, Germany 18.61 19.29 82 -2.1% Decrease
24 Ames Laboratory, United States of America (USA) 17.70 19.24 71 2.6% Increase
25 Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), Australia 15.10 17.20 86 7.5% Increase
26 John Innes Centre (JIC), United Kingdom (UK) 19.07 17.07 54 -15.5% Decrease
27 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands 16.13 16.65 125 -2.6% Decrease
28 Van Andel Research Institute (VAI), United States of America (USA) 8.42 16.61 53 86.2% Increase
29 Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), United States of America (USA) 24.15 15.79 74 -38.3% Decrease
30 Curie Institute, France 13.97 15.53 112 5.0% Increase
31 Stowers Institute for Medical Research, United States of America (USA) 18.45 14.84 27 -24.1% Decrease
32 Gladstone Institutes, United States of America (USA) 8.50 14.72 59 63.6% Increase
33 Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), France 10.36 14.28 79 30.2% Increase
34 Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), United States of America (USA) 16.17 13.93 90 -18.7% Decrease
35 California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), United States of America (USA) 13.88 13.85 72 -5.9% Decrease
36 Cancer Research UK (CRUK), United Kingdom (UK) 11.23 13.30 115 11.8% Increase
37 Rudjer Boskovic Institute (RBI), Croatia 14.74 13.29 155 -14.9% Decrease
38 International Solvay Institutes, Belgium 10.00 11.76 50 11.1% Increase
39 Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR), China 8.85 11.57 44 23.4% Increase
40 Champalimaud Foundation, Portugal 7.50 11.26 27 41.8% Increase
41 Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC), Belgium 11.99 11.20 34 -11.8% Decrease
42 Allen Institute, United States of America (USA) 7.65 11.01 26 35.9% Increase
43 La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), United States of America (USA) 9.88 10.99 46 5.0% Increase
44 Ludwig Cancer Research, United States of America (USA) 10.28 10.97 109 0.7% Increase
45 The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), United States of America (USA) 6.23 10.70 46 62.1% Increase
46 Simons Foundation, United States of America (USA) 2.35 10.68 78 329.8% Increase
47 The Wistar Institute, United States of America (USA) 10.67 9.82 38 -13.1% Decrease
48 Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia 7.00 9.50 51 28.2% Increase
49 CIC nanoGUNE Consolider, Spain 15.63 9.02 25 -45.5% Decrease
50 Elettra - Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Italy 8.92 8.92 42 -5.6% Decrease
51 National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology (INSTM), Italy 8.89 8.90 62 -5.5% Decrease
52 Oncode Institute, Netherlands 0.00 8.88 92 0.0% Increase
53 National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia, Slovenia 6.96 8.71 21 18.1% Increase
54 American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), United States of America (USA) 7.44 8.57 42 8.8% Increase
55 Cluster of Excellence - Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), Uni Tübingen, Germany 6.52 8.53 31 23.5% Increase
56 Gulbenkian Science Institute (IGC), Portugal 6.88 8.50 22 16.6% Increase
57 Institute of Molecular Biology gGmbH (IMB), Germany 5.85 8.35 28 34.8% Increase
58 Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), Portugal 5.02 8.33 29 56.7% Increase
59 QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Australia 7.90 8.24 77 -1.5% Decrease
60 Cluster of Excellence - Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (CFAED), TU Dresden, Germany 10.09 8.01 44 -25.0% Decrease
61 Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM), Canada 6.17 7.98 26 22.2% Increase
62 Babraham Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 9.27 7.64 28 -22.1% Decrease
63 Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Netherlands 5.23 7.49 45 35.2% Increase
64 Italian Foundation for Cancer Research (FIRC), Italy 7.46 7.22 42 -8.6% Decrease
65 Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (CZ Biohub), United States of America (USA) 2.06 6.42 79 193.9% Increase
66 Santa Fe Institute (SFI), United States of America (USA) 6.67 6.20 32 -12.2% Decrease
67 Institute of Microbial Chemistry (IMC), Japan 10.05 6.17 10 -42.0% Decrease
68 Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), United States of America (USA) 4.31 6.16 20 35.1% Increase
69 Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Spain 6.61 6.12 27 -12.6% Decrease
70 National Health Research Institutes (NHRI), Taiwan 5.78 5.89 25 -3.8% Decrease
71 New York Genome Center (NYGC), United States of America (USA) 5.50 5.75 43 -1.3% Decrease
72 Planetary Science Institute (PSI), United States of America (USA) 6.40 5.56 33 -18.0% Decrease
73 Cluster of Excellence - Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI), UHH, Germany 5.90 5.46 35 -12.8% Decrease
74 Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Canada 6.27 5.39 67 -18.9% Decrease
75 Wetsus Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Netherlands 4.23 5.33 15 19.0% Increase
76 International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), Portugal 2.72 5.32 23 84.8% Increase
77 National Center for Theoretical Sciences (NCTS), MOST, Taiwan 3.83 5.31 34 30.8% Increase
78 Centre for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials (CIC biomaGUNE), Spain 5.62 5.25 28 -11.8% Decrease
79 Canadian Light Source Inc., Canada 3.38 4.97 33 38.9% Increase
80 High Pressure Collaborative Access Team (HPCAT), United States of America (USA) 7.32 4.95 22 -36.1% Decrease
81 Cluster of Excellence - Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), UoC, Germany 7.26 4.85 37 -37.0% Decrease
82 Bose Institute, India 2.49 4.77 25 80.7% Increase
83 Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), United States of America (USA) 2.45 4.59 52 76.5% Increase
84 Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Luxembourg 6.63 4.52 20 -35.6% Decrease
85 International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Italy 4.24 4.51 12 0.6% Increase
86 Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), South Korea 2.59 4.44 12 61.5% Increase
87 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria 3.65 4.41 28 14.3% Increase
88 Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), Canada 3.17 4.29 26 27.8% Increase
89 Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), United States of America (USA) 8.94 4.28 10 -54.8% Decrease
90 Field Museum of Natural History, United States of America (USA) 2.29 4.26 31 75.7% Increase
91 Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), India 2.30 4.25 19 74.2% Increase
92 Center for Scientific Studies (CECs), Chile 4.16 4.23 10 -4.0% Decrease
93 Russian Quantum Center (RQC), Russia 3.06 4.11 26 26.8% Increase
94 Fondazione Piemontese per la Ricerca sul Cancro Onlus (FPRC), Italy 1.33 4.05 11 186.5% Increase
95 SRI International, United States of America (USA) 4.38 4.02 30 -13.2% Decrease
96 Cluster of Excellence - Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), LMU, Germany 4.38 4.00 29 -13.7% Decrease
97 Ligue Contre Le Cancer, France 4.33 3.96 34 -13.7% Decrease
98 Raman Research Institute (RRI), India 4.54 3.92 8 -18.6% Decrease
99 European X-ray Free-Electron Laser Facility GmbH (XFEL), Germany 1.35 3.91 37 173.9% Increase
100 Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC), Norway 2.46 3.90 42 50.0% 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.