2020 Research Leaders: Leading NPO/NGO institutions

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

Table criteria

Position Institution Share 2018 Share 2019 Count 2019 Change in Adjusted Share* 2018–2019
1 Max Planck Society, Germany 777.30 767.61 2582 -4.4% Decrease
2 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 505.37 489.94 2224 -6.2% Decrease
3 Leibniz Association, Germany 200.00 201.01 880 -2.7% Decrease
4 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 196.70 197.30 879 -2.9% Decrease
5 Scripps Research, United States of America (USA) 140.59 119.60 283 -17.7% Decrease
6 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Spain 112.77 104.17 375 -10.6% Decrease
7 The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 55.64 51.50 147 -10.4% Decrease
8 HHMI Janelia Research Campus, United States of America (USA) 37.43 46.31 105 19.7% Increase
9 Salk Institute for Biological Studies (Salk), United States of America (USA) 40.92 43.09 148 1.9% Increase
10 National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), United States of America (USA) 47.59 42.95 147 -12.7% Decrease
11 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), United States of America (USA) 33.08 42.68 195 24.8% Increase
12 Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI), Canada 43.18 41.72 130 -6.5% Decrease
13 Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), India 40.15 40.64 74 -2.0% Decrease
14 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), United States of America (USA) 41.71 39.77 155 -7.7% Decrease
15 Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), United States of America (USA) 42.67 37.07 210 -15.9% Decrease
16 Wellcome Sanger Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 37.51 36.66 199 -5.4% Decrease
17 Pasteur Institute, France 38.33 33.65 225 -15.0% Decrease
18 Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Belgium 27.45 24.12 156 -15.0% Decrease
19 Fraunhofer Society, Germany 21.04 22.73 136 4.5% Increase
20 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), United States of America (USA) 31.74 20.74 69 -36.8% Decrease
21 Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Spain 19.64 20.56 306 1.3% Increase
22 Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), United States of America (USA) 15.79 19.56 96 19.9% Increase
23 Curie Institute, France 15.53 19.32 157 20.4% Increase
24 Vienna Biocenter (VBC), Austria 22.04 19.04 96 -16.4% Decrease
25 Simons Foundation, United States of America (USA) 10.68 18.97 106 71.8% Increase
26 John Innes Centre (JIC), United Kingdom (UK) 17.07 18.77 50 6.4% Increase
27 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands 16.65 17.79 120 3.4% Increase
28 The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), United States of America (USA) 10.70 15.20 62 37.5% Increase
29 Stowers Institute for Medical Research, United States of America (USA) 14.84 14.83 27 -3.3% Decrease
30 Oncode Institute, Netherlands 8.88 14.82 90 61.5% Increase
31 Cluster of Excellence - Munich Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CiPS-M), LMU, Germany 19.29 14.13 70 -29.1% Decrease
32 La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), United States of America (USA) 10.99 13.35 59 17.6% Increase
33 Ames Laboratory, United States of America (USA) 19.24 12.81 51 -35.6% Decrease
34 Ludwig Cancer Research, United States of America (USA) 10.97 12.79 132 12.8% Increase
35 Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), France 14.28 12.69 73 -14.0% Decrease
36 Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), United States of America (USA) 13.93 12.20 76 -15.3% Decrease
37 Rudjer Boskovic Institute (RBI), Croatia 13.29 12.01 125 -12.5% Decrease
38 The Wistar Institute, United States of America (USA) 9.82 12.00 52 18.2% Increase
39 Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR), China 11.57 11.98 44 0.1% Increase
40 Gladstone Institutes, United States of America (USA) 14.72 11.94 50 -21.5% Decrease
41 California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), United States of America (USA) 13.85 11.92 87 -16.7% Decrease
42 Van Andel Research Institute (VAI), United States of America (USA) 16.61 11.13 29 -35.2% Decrease
43 Champalimaud Foundation, Portugal 11.26 10.89 29 -6.4% Decrease
44 Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Netherlands 7.49 10.44 46 34.9% Increase
45 Allen Institute, United States of America (USA) 11.01 10.40 29 -8.6% Decrease
46 Institute of Microbial Chemistry (IMC), Japan 6.17 9.88 15 54.8% Increase
47 QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Australia 8.24 9.87 68 16.0% Increase
48 Babraham Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 7.64 9.82 36 24.4% Increase
49 Cluster of Excellence - Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (CFAED), TU Dresden, Germany 8.01 9.71 54 17.3% Increase
50 Cancer Research UK (CRUK), United Kingdom (UK) 13.30 9.69 123 -29.5% Decrease
51 National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia, Slovenia 8.71 9.34 21 3.8% Increase
52 International Solvay Institutes, Belgium 11.76 9.04 38 -25.7% Decrease
53 CIC nanoGUNE Consolider, Spain 9.02 8.87 27 -4.9% Decrease
54 Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (CZ Biohub), United States of America (USA) 6.42 8.59 102 29.6% Increase
55 Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), Australia 17.20 8.52 79 -52.1% Decrease
56 Institute of Molecular Biology gGmbH (IMB), Germany 8.35 8.34 25 -3.3% Decrease
57 Elettra - Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Italy 8.92 7.71 40 -16.3% Decrease
58 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria 4.41 7.54 55 65.3% Increase
59 Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia 9.50 7.44 50 -24.2% Decrease
60 Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM), Canada 7.98 7.05 21 -14.5% Decrease
61 Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC), Belgium 11.20 7.03 38 -39.3% Decrease
62 Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), UChicago, United States of America (USA) 3.13 6.94 28 115.0% Increase
63 Gulbenkian Science Institute (IGC), Portugal 8.50 6.88 14 -21.7% Decrease
64 American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), United States of America (USA) 8.57 6.58 48 -25.7% Decrease
65 Cluster of Excellence - Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), UoC, Germany 4.85 6.36 46 26.9% Increase
66 Telethon Foundation, Italy 3.08 6.22 33 95.2% Increase
67 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Finland 2.73 6.14 88 117.5% Increase
68 Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Spain 6.12 5.96 26 -5.7% Decrease
69 Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Canada 5.39 5.66 82 1.8% Increase
70 TUM Cluster of Excellence - Origin and Structure of the Universe (Excellence Cluster Universe), Germany 3.87 5.48 47 36.9% Increase
71 Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Luxembourg 4.52 5.42 22 16.0% Increase
72 Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), International 3.67 5.42 40 42.9% Increase
73 National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology (INSTM), Italy 8.90 5.40 40 -41.3% Decrease
74 Center for Scientific Studies (CECs), Chile 4.23 5.36 16 22.8% Increase
75 Cluster of Excellence - Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), LMU, Germany 4.00 5.19 40 25.6% Increase
76 Universities Space Research Association (USRA), United States of America (USA) 3.85 5.11 88 28.5% Increase
77 Italian Foundation for Cancer Research (FIRC), Italy 7.22 4.99 25 -33.1% Decrease
78 Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Australia 3.32 4.96 36 44.4% Increase
79 Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), United States of America (USA) 2.18 4.80 22 112.6% Increase
80 World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland 1.74 4.76 40 165.2% Increase
81 Cluster of Excellence - Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI), UHH, Germany 5.46 4.63 30 -17.9% Decrease
82 Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, United States of America (USA) 3.31 4.59 21 34.4% Increase
83 Santa Fe Institute (SFI), United States of America (USA) 6.20 4.53 35 -29.3% Decrease
84 Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), Canada 4.29 4.49 40 1.3% Increase
85 Centre for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials (CIC biomaGUNE), Spain 5.25 4.45 22 -18.0% Decrease
86 Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities, Germany 2.33 4.38 47 81.6% Increase
87 National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics (NICPB), Estonia 2.39 4.35 95 76.0% Increase
88 Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), United States of America (USA) 4.28 4.25 18 -3.8% Decrease
89 Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), Portugal 8.33 4.16 18 -51.6% Decrease
90 J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), United States of America (USA) 3.42 4.12 23 16.6% Increase
91 New York Genome Center (NYGC), United States of America (USA) 5.75 4.01 35 -32.4% Decrease
92 Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD), United States of America (USA) 3.15 3.96 19 21.7% Increase
93 Cluster of Excellence - Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), Uni Tübingen, Germany 8.53 3.92 18 -55.5% Decrease
94 Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom (UK) 3.65 3.92 15 4.1% Increase
95 National Graduate School of Engineering and Research Center (ENSICAEN), France 3.08 3.90 42 22.5% Increase
96 International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), Portugal 5.32 3.89 19 -29.2% Decrease
97 National Center for Theoretical Sciences (NCTS), MOST, Taiwan 5.31 3.73 28 -32.1% Decrease
98 CIC Energigune, Spain 1.86 3.69 11 91.7% Increase
99 Canadian Light Source Inc., Canada 4.97 3.65 25 -29.0% Decrease
100 Center of Advanced European Studies and Research (CAESAR), Germany 2.88 3.64 20 22.4% 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.