2021 Research Leaders: Leading countries/territories

The 2021 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020.

Table criteria

Position Country/territory Share 2019 Share 2020 Count 2020 Change in Adjusted Share* 2019–2020
1 United States of America (USA) 20177.09 20626.94 29170 -1.4% Decrease
2 China 13580.02 14259.82 19095 1.2% Increase
3 Germany 4557.93 4754.15 9322 0.6% Increase
4 United Kingdom (UK) 3781.13 3884.06 8227 -1.0% Decrease
5 Japan 3030.64 3271.63 5291 4.1% Increase
6 France 2251.52 2224.11 5114 -4.8% Decrease
7 Canada 1604.99 1624.29 3591 -2.4% Decrease
8 South Korea 1436.40 1517.47 2536 1.9% Increase
9 Switzerland 1490.99 1443.96 3305 -6.6% Decrease
10 Australia 1263.99 1313.59 3156 0.2% Increase
11 Spain 1167.98 1239.02 2961 2.3% Increase
12 Italy 1036.14 1133.35 2896 5.5% Increase
13 India 1039.67 1035.63 1653 -4.0% Decrease
14 Netherlands 931.46 969.34 2536 0.3% Increase
15 Sweden 626.42 700.11 1927 7.8% Increase
16 Israel 609.68 644.60 1288 1.9% Increase
17 Singapore 607.62 635.09 1293 0.8% Increase
18 Russia 468.24 534.07 1455 10.0% Increase
19 Belgium 413.06 432.54 1290 1.0% Increase
20 Taiwan 372.75 420.66 1032 8.8% Increase
21 Denmark 389.06 408.20 1262 1.2% Increase
22 Austria 368.50 378.44 1147 -1.0% Decrease
23 Brazil 279.98 308.17 887 6.1% Increase
24 Poland 250.08 271.15 917 4.5% Increase
25 Czech Republic 230.07 222.37 729 -6.8% Decrease
26 Norway 229.72 215.26 799 -9.7% Decrease
27 Finland 218.59 212.02 729 -6.5% Decrease
28 Portugal 144.82 151.01 568 0.5% Increase
29 Saudi Arabia 135.62 138.43 436 -1.6% Decrease
30 Ireland 116.92 136.25 492 12.3% Increase
31 New Zealand 131.64 133.50 438 -2.2% Decrease
32 Chile 119.68 131.99 461 6.3% Increase
33 Argentina 94.34 115.33 359 17.9% Increase
34 Hungary 81.15 106.46 407 26.5% Increase
35 Mexico 94.65 106.37 407 8.4% Increase
36 Iran 112.21 105.24 266 -9.6% Decrease
37 Greece 86.18 89.01 386 -0.4% Decrease
38 South Africa 83.36 85.02 395 -1.7% Decrease
39 Turkey 64.56 71.51 359 6.8% Increase
40 Slovenia 46.54 49.67 199 2.9% Increase
41 Thailand 49.00 49.34 224 -2.9% Decrease
42 Croatia 20.93 31.04 190 43.0% Increase
43 Iceland 25.21 28.76 98 10.0% Increase
44 United Arab Emirates 21.20 27.10 123 23.3% Increase
45 Vietnam 16.35 26.17 104 54.3% Increase
46 Estonia 25.87 23.63 187 -11.9% Decrease
47 Ukraine 23.24 22.73 219 -5.7% Decrease
48 Romania 24.19 21.03 209 -16.2% Decrease
49 Colombia 27.49 21.00 233 -26.4% Decrease
50 Luxembourg 21.34 20.55 63 -7.2% 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.