2020 tables: Institutions - physical sciences - academic

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

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# Institution Share 2018 Share 2019 Count 2019 Change in Adjusted Share* 2018–2019
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 229.40 245.53 748 5.5%
2 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 220.19 213.90 572 -4.2%
3 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 180.66 202.27 643 10.4%
4 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 214.35 200.20 614 -7.9%
5 Tsinghua University, China 161.99 184.09 729 12.0%
6 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 136.85 167.53 586 20.7%
7 Peking University (PKU), China 147.51 150.91 650 0.9%
8 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 168.78 150.66 410 -12.0%
9 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 141.98 146.67 498 1.8%
10 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 117.95 130.81 853 9.3%
11 Nanjing University (NJU), China 127.80 128.27 439 -1.1%
12 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 118.39 126.18 322 5.1%
13 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 118.17 122.88 543 2.5%
14 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 111.51 120.97 466 6.9%
15 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 110.32 113.00 410 1.0%
16 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 121.79 112.08 375 -9.3%
17 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 102.82 104.38 292 0.1%
18 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 98.63 103.94 377 3.9%
19 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 97.10 102.43 367 4.0%
20 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 69.24 96.94 330 38.0%
21 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 93.45 96.94 420 2.3%
22 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 81.22 95.37 353 15.8%
23 Fudan University, China 95.34 95.29 286 -1.5%
24 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 97.61 95.08 272 -4.0%
25 Soochow University, China 85.93 94.38 213 8.3%
26 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 113.27 91.99 259 -19.9%
27 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 97.60 90.76 296 -8.3%
28 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea 89.64 89.20 206 -1.9%
29 Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China 63.53 86.80 225 34.7%
30 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 83.74 86.20 275 1.5%
31 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 82.54 85.89 389 2.6%
32 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 84.95 84.10 362 -2.4%
33 Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea 72.99 74.53 276 0.7%
34 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 75.38 73.80 242 -3.5%
35 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 71.73 73.43 249 0.9%
36 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 73.50 71.61 230 -4.0%
37 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 64.91 71.13 294 8.0%
38 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 68.63 70.42 207 1.1%
39 University of Pennsylvania (Penn), United States of America (USA) 62.58 69.25 213 9.1%
40 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 64.29 65.76 247 0.8%
41 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 79.46 65.36 273 -18.9%
42 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 62.40 65.03 270 2.7%
43 Kyoto University, Japan 83.11 64.98 250 -22.9%
44 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 45.39 64.38 207 39.8%
45 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 67.62 63.08 275 -8.0%
46 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 62.32 61.81 206 -2.2%
47 Wuhan University (WHU), China 57.66 61.18 202 4.6%
48 Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), China 56.48 60.10 146 4.9%
49 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 58.72 58.57 254 -1.7%
50 Tianjin University (TJU), China 42.03 57.77 168 35.5%
51 Tohoku University, Japan 73.98 57.68 228 -23.1%
52 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany 60.30 57.42 238 -6.1%
53 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 57.64 56.64 253 -3.1%
54 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 62.38 56.32 212 -11.0%
55 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 37.31 54.52 250 44.0%
56 Beihang University (BUAA), China 61.65 54.29 283 -13.2%
57 Sorbonne University, France 52.11 53.54 540 1.3%
58 Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea 42.78 53.38 144 23.0%
59 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 52.44 52.71 219 -0.9%
60 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 44.20 52.42 260 16.9%
61 Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (IIT), Israel 54.67 51.94 169 -6.3%
62 Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), South Korea 53.67 51.87 212 -4.7%
63 Durham University, United Kingdom (UK) 50.88 51.61 147 0.0%
64 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 66.58 50.46 249 -25.3%
65 Jilin University (JLU), China 39.82 49.92 121 23.6%
66 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 48.91 49.74 261 0.3%
67 The Ohio State University (OSU), United States of America (USA) 43.94 48.97 277 9.9%
68 Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany 44.71 48.88 254 7.8%
69 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia 44.35 47.52 111 5.6%
70 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 48.13 47.06 181 -3.6%
71 Nankai University (NKU), China 39.22 46.83 166 17.7%
72 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 53.69 46.55 224 -14.5%
73 Yonsei University, South Korea 34.63 45.92 150 30.7%
74 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 53.20 45.66 210 -15.4%
75 Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), India 38.82 45.20 173 14.8%
76 Osaka University, Japan 39.80 44.89 184 11.2%
77 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China 30.43 44.60 149 44.5%
78 Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), China 45.05 44.04 97 -3.6%
79 TU Dresden, Germany 38.26 43.36 205 11.7%
80 South China University of Technology (SCUT), China 35.25 43.19 96 20.8%
81 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 39.47 43.04 238 7.5%
82 Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea 46.40 42.06 125 -10.6%
83 Tel Aviv University (TAU), Israel 42.57 41.99 159 -2.8%
84 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 40.55 41.53 161 1.0%
85 Australian National University (ANU), Australia 38.03 41.29 158 7.0%
86 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 54.85 41.25 179 -25.9%
87 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 51.39 41.23 94 -20.9%
88 Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), Israel 34.02 40.86 94 18.4%
89 Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany 44.33 40.49 208 -10.0%
90 Sichuan University (SCU), China 30.42 40.45 103 31.1%
91 North Carolina State University (NCSU), United States of America (USA) 36.04 39.47 114 8.0%
92 Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Japan 40.08 39.38 174 -3.1%
93 University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States of America (USA) 34.97 39.16 190 10.4%
94 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 38.85 38.79 166 -1.6%
95 University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany 41.24 38.79 226 -7.3%
96 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 35.69 38.54 184 6.5%
97 Arizona State University (ASU), United States of America (USA) 30.39 38.17 142 23.8%
98 New York University (NYU), United States of America (USA) 38.82 38.14 153 -3.1%
99 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 27.15 37.77 198 37.1%
100 University of Amsterdam (UvA), Netherlands 40.14 37.72 289 -7.4%

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/.

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.


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