2020 Research Leaders: Leading countries/territories in chemistry

The 2020 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019.

Table criteria

Position Country/territory Share 2018 Share 2019 Count 2019 Change in Adjusted Share* 2018–2019
1 China 6259.61 7837.35 9404 16.8% Increase
2 United States of America (USA) 5409.37 5209.45 7163 -10.2% Decrease
3 Germany 1702.95 1762.35 2748 -3.5% Decrease
4 Japan 1299.88 1371.30 1881 -1.6% Decrease
5 United Kingdom (UK) 1036.82 1039.02 1774 -6.5% Decrease
6 France 677.47 657.58 1223 -9.5% Decrease
7 South Korea 618.03 641.96 937 -3.1% Decrease
8 India 507.15 547.85 686 0.8% Increase
9 Switzerland 423.49 479.51 787 5.6% Increase
10 Spain 469.85 464.90 807 -7.7% Decrease
11 Canada 471.71 461.99 773 -8.7% Decrease
12 Australia 333.41 389.71 777 9.0% Increase
13 Singapore 300.40 290.14 529 -9.9% Decrease
14 Netherlands 281.15 256.85 488 -14.8% Decrease
15 Italy 296.83 251.88 518 -20.9% Decrease
16 Sweden 180.34 178.49 390 -7.7% Decrease
17 Taiwan 180.07 162.24 300 -16.0% Decrease
18 Israel 169.75 157.70 270 -13.4% Decrease
19 Russia 131.12 138.38 306 -1.6% Decrease
20 Belgium 119.89 118.33 264 -7.9% Decrease
21 Austria 100.25 111.57 230 3.8% Increase
22 Poland 82.64 101.00 211 14.0% Increase
23 Czech Republic 68.87 92.68 180 25.5% Increase
24 Denmark 96.72 86.54 207 -16.6% Decrease
25 Saudi Arabia 72.31 66.44 188 -14.3% Decrease
26 Finland 58.92 53.23 142 -15.7% Decrease
27 Brazil 59.85 49.33 114 -23.1% Decrease
28 Ireland 44.83 45.75 92 -4.8% Decrease
29 Portugal 38.15 35.45 105 -13.3% Decrease
30 New Zealand 34.19 32.20 66 -12.1% Decrease
31 Greece 22.66 28.52 62 17.4% Increase
32 Norway 24.61 23.17 58 -12.2% Decrease
33 Turkey 26.16 23.08 58 -17.7% Decrease
34 Mexico 21.92 22.65 45 -3.7% Decrease
35 Hungary 24.36 22.26 60 -14.8% Decrease
36 Argentina 23.43 22.11 48 -12.0% Decrease
37 Thailand 14.61 19.82 51 26.5% Increase
38 Slovenia 17.08 19.02 39 3.8% Increase
39 Iran 23.53 17.77 43 -29.6% Decrease
40 South Africa 20.92 16.24 46 -27.6% Decrease
41 United Arab Emirates 5.53 10.08 19 69.9% Increase
42 Romania 9.05 9.18 29 -5.3% Decrease
43 Chile 4.39 8.88 33 88.8% Increase
44 Estonia 3.81 8.19 21 100.2% Increase
45 Croatia 9.61 7.87 21 -23.6% Decrease
46 Ukraine 6.06 7.85 36 20.9% Increase
47 Slovakia 6.15 7.73 29 17.2% Increase
48 Egypt 4.24 5.99 48 31.8% Increase
49 Luxembourg 5.83 5.27 18 -15.7% Decrease
50 Lithuania 4.80 4.99 11 -3.0% 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.