2021 Research Leaders: Leading countries/territories in chemistry

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 China 7837.35 7651.53 9326 -2.7% Decrease
2 United States of America (USA) 5209.45 5217.99 7207 -0.1% Decrease
3 Germany 1762.35 1735.13 2782 -1.8% Decrease
4 Japan 1371.30 1444.61 1984 5.0% Increase
5 United Kingdom (UK) 1039.02 1036.97 1828 -0.5% Decrease
6 South Korea 641.96 685.31 983 6.4% Increase
7 France 657.58 633.50 1238 -3.9% Decrease
8 India 547.85 569.68 721 3.7% Increase
9 Spain 464.90 490.04 921 5.1% Increase
10 Canada 461.99 452.85 782 -2.3% Decrease
11 Switzerland 479.51 420.55 767 -12.5% Decrease
12 Australia 389.71 386.92 811 -1.0% Decrease
13 Italy 251.88 299.09 618 18.4% Increase
14 Singapore 290.14 290.24 533 -0.3% Decrease
15 Netherlands 256.85 280.74 535 9.0% Increase
16 Sweden 178.49 191.15 436 6.8% Increase
17 Taiwan 162.24 185.94 339 14.3% Increase
18 Israel 157.70 181.79 273 14.9% Increase
19 Russia 138.38 176.12 362 26.9% Increase
20 Belgium 118.33 132.41 300 11.6% Increase
21 Poland 101.00 113.34 255 11.9% Increase
22 Austria 111.57 110.95 242 -0.8% Decrease
23 Denmark 86.54 95.34 243 9.9% Increase
24 Czech Republic 92.68 85.75 179 -7.7% Decrease
25 Saudi Arabia 66.44 75.61 210 13.5% Increase
26 Finland 53.23 53.00 149 -0.7% Decrease
27 Brazil 49.33 50.60 103 2.3% Increase
28 Ireland 45.75 43.52 96 -5.2% Decrease
29 Hungary 22.26 38.41 82 72.0% Increase
30 Portugal 35.45 37.69 105 6.0% Increase
31 Norway 23.17 30.43 86 30.9% Increase
32 Iran 17.77 27.96 53 56.9% Increase
33 New Zealand 32.20 27.63 59 -14.4% Decrease
34 Greece 28.52 26.76 67 -6.4% Decrease
35 Thailand 19.82 23.60 49 18.7% Increase
36 Turkey 23.08 19.46 55 -15.9% Decrease
37 Argentina 22.11 18.54 49 -16.4% Decrease
38 Mexico 22.65 17.28 45 -23.9% Decrease
39 South Africa 16.24 16.12 45 -1.0% Decrease
40 Slovenia 19.02 15.51 43 -18.7% Decrease
41 Croatia 7.87 10.43 25 32.2% Increase
42 Chile 8.88 8.14 31 -8.6% Decrease
43 Ukraine 7.85 7.67 23 -2.6% Decrease
44 Egypt 5.99 7.12 48 18.4% Increase
45 Slovakia 7.73 6.73 26 -13.1% Decrease
46 Luxembourg 5.27 6.08 15 15.0% Increase
47 Iceland 1.51 5.59 9 269.3% Increase
48 Vietnam 3.20 5.28 18 64.6% Increase
49 United Arab Emirates 10.08 4.91 18 -51.4% Decrease
50 Estonia 8.19 4.28 12 -47.9% 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.