2020 tables: Institutions - life sciences

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 Max Planck Society, Germany 293.08 291.73 1,074 -1.0%
2 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 172.03 211.94 662 22.6%
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 170.31 182.89 1,339 6.8%
4 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 194.73 168.84 593 -13.8%
5 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 121.13 126.00 464 3.5%
6 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 110.28 102.27 683 -7.8%
7 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 87.31 87.95 306 0.2%
8 University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland 80.69 80.54 352 -0.7%
9 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 77.71 80.23 306 2.7%
10 National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), France 80.65 79.76 844 -1.6%
11 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 78.23 76.40 307 -2.9%
12 Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden 70.21 74.92 373 6.1%
13 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 61.88 73.11 298 17.5%
14 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 83.84 69.58 316 -17.4%
15 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 52.68 62.19 360 17.4%
16 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom (UK) 52.30 57.68 273 9.7%
17 Leibniz Association, Germany 54.26 54.29 320 -0.5%
18 University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland 47.47 51.79 168 8.5%
19 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 43.54 50.67 154 15.7%
20 The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 52.18 48.51 138 -7.5%
21 Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium 43.43 47.89 165 9.7%
22 Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany 49.74 47.28 239 -5.5%
23 University of Basel (UB), Switzerland 40.22 46.92 197 16.1%
24 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 45.16 44.94 246 -1.0%
25 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 44.77 44.75 127 -0.6%
26 European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany 47.77 43.62 265 -9.2%
27 University of Freiburg (Uni Freiburg), Germany 37.39 42.61 178 13.3%
28 King's College London (KCL), United Kingdom (UK) 49.17 42.44 228 -14.2%
29 Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Healthcare (IRCCS), Italy 37.07 41.51 206 11.4%
30 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 39.65 41.07 164 3.0%
31 University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK) 35.88 40.81 150 13.1%
32 University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany 31.56 37.64 157 18.6%
33 University of Tübingen (Uni Tübingen), Germany 49.94 36.41 166 -27.5%
34 Wellcome Sanger Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 37.43 36.36 195 -3.4%
35 F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Switzerland 44.10 36.19 125 -18.4%
36 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 31.90 34.80 151 8.5%
37 University of Groningen (RUG), Netherlands 29.43 34.44 163 16.4%
38 University of Helsinki, Finland 30.20 34.01 196 12.0%
39 Sorbonne University, France 28.52 33.71 363 17.6%
40 Radboud University Nijmegen (RU), Netherlands 30.58 33.55 187 9.1%
41 Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin), Germany 26.94 33.39 292 23.3%
42 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 29.19 33.37 176 13.7%
43 Pasteur Institute, France 35.86 32.78 212 -9.1%
44 University of Cologne (UoC), Germany 26.28 32.70 149 23.8%
45 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 32.42 32.16 213 -1.3%
46 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 30.74 31.81 121 2.9%
47 The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (UK) 27.49 31.25 93 13.1%
48 University of Amsterdam (UvA), Netherlands 30.49 30.90 227 0.8%
49 Novartis International AG, Switzerland 27.30 30.84 123 12.4%
50 Uppsala University (UU), Sweden 36.97 30.55 198 -17.8%
51 Leiden University, Netherlands 23.84 30.52 182 27.3%
52 Newcastle University, United Kingdom (UK) 28.37 30.48 113 6.8%
53 University of Paris, France 30.27 29.79 330 -2.1%
54 University of Göttingen, Germany 38.88 29.62 151 -24.2%
55 Goethe University Frankfurt (GU), Germany 27.56 28.03 127 1.1%
56 University of Bonn (Uni Bonn), Germany 22.08 27.76 151 25.1%
57 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 20.85 27.69 115 32.1%
58 National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), France 22.53 27.63 296 22.0%
59 Aarhus University (AU), Denmark 34.84 27.53 153 -21.4%
60 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Spain 29.96 27.31 105 -9.3%
61 Lund University (LU), Sweden 29.25 26.51 135 -9.8%
62 Stockholm University, Sweden 30.26 26.34 172 -13.4%
63 Humboldt University of Berlin (HU Berlin), Germany 29.36 26.15 275 -11.4%
64 University of Bern (UniBE), Switzerland 27.29 24.41 111 -11.0%
65 Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), Czech Republic 21.08 23.89 115 12.7%
66 VU Amsterdam, Netherlands 18.81 23.79 167 25.8%
67 University of Gothenburg (GU), Sweden 21.47 23.75 98 10.0%
68 University of Birmingham (UB), United Kingdom (UK) 26.51 23.59 97 -11.5%
69 Ghent University (UGent), Belgium 23.80 23.33 132 -2.5%
70 Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Belgium 25.31 23.05 147 -9.4%
71 Aix-Marseille University (AMU), France 20.57 23.00 174 11.2%
72 Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), Netherlands 24.70 22.77 158 -8.3%
73 University of Montpellier, France 22.99 22.20 230 -4.0%
74 University of Vienna, Austria 17.09 21.53 112 25.3%
75 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 20.01 20.41 87 1.4%
76 Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), Netherlands 15.12 20.20 82 32.9%
77 University of Dundee, United Kingdom (UK) 26.32 20.17 64 -23.8%
78 Medical University of Vienna (MUW), Austria 16.78 20.03 131 18.7%
79 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany 23.74 19.95 69 -16.4%
80 Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Netherlands 19.54 19.90 103 1.3%
81 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 15.31 19.63 115 27.6%
82 Cardiff University, United Kingdom (UK) 16.06 19.55 99 21.1%
83 Université PSL, France 18.26 19.29 240 5.1%
84 University of Lyon, France 18.30 18.44 125 0.2%
85 Vienna Biocenter (VBC), Austria 21.85 18.39 92 -16.3%
86 TU Dresden, Germany 23.71 18.35 139 -23.0%
87 University of Barcelona (UB), Spain 15.36 18.33 160 18.7%
88 University of Toulouse, France 15.12 18.02 144 18.5%
89 Curie Institute, France 13.70 17.89 138 29.9%
90 Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), United Kingdom (UK) 22.32 17.63 99 -21.5%
91 John Innes Centre (JIC), United Kingdom (UK) 15.66 17.59 46 11.7%
92 University of Münster (WWU), Germany 25.30 17.54 92 -31.0%
93 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands 15.72 17.23 112 9.0%
94 National Research Council (CNR), Italy 13.49 16.93 120 24.8%
95 University of Paris-Sud (UPSud), France 13.24 16.40 215 23.1%
96 Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark 15.31 16.34 84 6.2%
97 University of Strasbourg, France 12.42 15.87 112 27.1%
98 University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK) 14.24 15.80 101 10.4%
99 The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France 17.81 15.60 210 -12.9%
100 University of York, United Kingdom (UK) 16.57 15.35 59 -7.8%

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, 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 2021 levels to calculate the percentage change. For more information on the adjustment, please see the Adjusted metric explainer.


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