2020 tables: Institutions - Earth & environmental sciences - academic

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

Table criteria

# Institution Share 2018 Share 2019 Count 2019 Change in Adjusted Share* 2018–2019
1 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 92.00 90.38 237 -4.8%
2 Nanjing University (NJU), China 80.23 81.37 236 -1.7%
3 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 46.36 67.14 204 40.3%
4 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 61.37 66.04 211 4.3%
5 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 61.08 64.59 214 2.5%
6 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 68.76 63.80 274 -10.1%
7 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 49.14 62.92 341 24.1%
8 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 69.62 59.20 293 -17.6%
9 Tongji University, China 49.36 56.46 180 10.9%
10 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 49.41 55.85 134 9.6%
11 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 63.79 55.04 217 -16.4%
12 China University of Geosciences (CUG), China 38.53 52.05 142 30.9%
13 Peking University (PKU), China 60.74 51.49 210 -17.8%
14 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 46.13 49.91 137 4.8%
15 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 52.47 44.84 148 -17.2%
16 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 46.70 43.40 157 -9.9%
17 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 37.37 43.17 161 11.9%
18 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 44.68 43.13 130 -6.4%
19 Tsinghua University, China 42.03 41.76 159 -3.7%
20 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 36.82 41.42 114 9.0%
21 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 46.64 40.67 173 -15.5%
22 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 34.65 40.64 169 13.7%
23 Colorado State University, United States of America (USA) 32.01 39.15 117 18.5%
24 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 43.25 37.93 135 -15.0%
25 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 42.07 37.84 141 -12.8%
26 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 41.17 37.42 106 -11.9%
27 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 35.18 37.17 130 2.4%
28 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 30.07 36.34 92 17.1%
29 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 31.35 35.73 97 10.4%
30 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 31.66 35.26 133 7.9%
31 University of Alberta (U of A), Canada 29.64 34.99 88 14.4%
32 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 49.09 34.54 151 -31.8%
33 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 27.43 34.51 97 21.9%
34 The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia 35.51 34.49 103 -5.9%
35 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 25.55 34.02 88 29.1%
36 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 32.44 33.44 124 -0.1%
37 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 30.41 32.80 134 4.5%
38 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 23.94 32.71 121 32.4%
39 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 33.02 32.24 121 -5.4%
40 Beijing Normal University (BNU), China 38.25 32.20 157 -18.4%
41 The University of Arizona (Arizona), United States of America (USA) 38.15 31.15 114 -20.9%
42 University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia 30.66 30.33 114 -4.1%
43 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 33.69 29.68 184 -14.6%
44 Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), China 31.59 29.45 58 -9.6%
45 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 24.20 29.09 107 16.5%
46 Wuhan University (WHU), China 29.88 28.19 60 -8.6%
47 University of California, Riverside (UCR), United States of America (USA) 13.13 27.60 73 103.7%
48 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 28.34 27.13 101 -7.2%
49 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 20.99 26.45 90 22.1%
50 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 20.82 26.42 85 23.0%
51 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 32.16 26.28 106 -20.8%
52 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 28.83 26.25 106 -11.8%
53 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 13.40 26.09 57 88.7%
54 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 29.21 25.84 106 -14.3%
55 University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Mānoa), United States of America (USA) 26.51 25.66 137 -6.2%
56 University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), United States of America (USA) 27.62 25.61 84 -10.2%
57 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 19.55 24.78 85 22.9%
58 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 14.52 24.72 80 64.9%
59 Australian National University (ANU), Australia 28.44 24.52 106 -16.4%
60 Oregon State University, United States of America (USA) 18.80 23.57 99 21.5%
61 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), China 19.27 23.43 108 17.9%
62 McGill University, Canada 21.56 23.39 99 5.1%
63 Monash University, Australia 18.80 22.82 90 17.7%
64 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 14.24 22.81 84 55.2%
65 Arizona State University (ASU), United States of America (USA) 32.72 22.44 89 -33.5%
66 University of Southern California (USC), United States of America (USA) 20.29 22.42 58 7.1%
67 University of Florida (UF), United States of America (USA) 19.27 22.10 93 11.1%
68 China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB), China 15.45 22.03 56 38.2%
69 Duke University, United States of America (USA) 22.83 21.77 81 -7.6%
70 Nankai University (NKU), China 15.33 21.76 36 37.6%
71 Curtin University, Australia 22.56 21.54 71 -7.5%
72 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 20.60 20.71 98 -2.6%
73 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 19.72 20.49 97 0.7%
74 Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China 13.01 20.33 31 51.4%
75 University of Bergen (UIB), Norway 13.12 20.01 91 47.8%
76 Aarhus University (AU), Denmark 14.11 19.92 77 36.8%
77 Tohoku University, Japan 21.92 19.88 57 -12.1%
78 Brown University, United States of America (USA) 16.19 19.84 63 18.8%
79 The University of Melbourne (UniMelb), Australia 19.82 19.81 71 -3.1%
80 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 21.58 19.16 71 -13.9%
81 Lanzhou University (LZU), China 17.92 19.10 52 3.3%
82 The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada 17.13 18.85 83 6.6%
83 Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Netherlands 20.73 18.83 70 -12.0%
84 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 18.17 18.72 86 -0.2%
85 The University of Oklahoma (OU), United States of America (USA) 15.31 18.33 94 16.1%
86 University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States of America (USA) 32.52 18.13 86 -45.9%
87 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), United States of America (USA) 19.82 17.93 65 -12.3%
88 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 21.52 17.87 61 -19.5%
89 University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK) 13.50 17.82 66 27.9%
90 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia 16.00 17.60 37 6.6%
91 University of Reading, United Kingdom (UK) 10.72 17.49 77 58.2%
92 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 16.34 17.28 76 2.5%
93 The University of Utah (Utah), United States of America (USA) 14.23 17.22 61 17.3%
94 University of Bern (UniBE), Switzerland 15.80 17.20 71 5.5%
95 Boston University (BU), United States of America (USA) 10.10 17.14 58 64.5%
96 The University of Iowa (UI), United States of America (USA) 23.95 17.03 80 -31.1%
97 University of Calgary (U of C), Canada 11.41 17.01 38 44.5%
98 The Ohio State University (OSU), United States of America (USA) 11.63 16.97 63 41.4%
99 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 19.97 16.84 67 -18.3%
100 Stockholm University, Sweden 14.81 16.77 80 9.7%

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 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 82 natural-science journals through 2022, in 2023 64 health-science journals were added to the Index. The 146 journals in the Nature Index were selected on reputation by an independent panel of leading scientists in their fields.
  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 annual tables.

*The change in adjusted Share accounts for the small annual variation in the total number of articles in Nature Index journals. Share values have been adjusted to 2022 levels to calculate the percentage change. For more information on the adjustment, please see the Adjusted metric explainer.