2021 Research Leaders: Leading academic institutions

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

Table criteria

Position Institution Share 2019 Share 2020 Count 2020 Change in Adjusted Share* 2019–2020
1 University of Vienna, Austria 86.40 76.22 303 -14.9% Decrease
2 Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Austria 46.19 47.10 206 -1.7% Decrease
3 Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), Austria 22.70 34.76 82 47.7% Increase
4 University of Innsbruck (LFU), Austria 37.23 32.41 147 -16.1% Decrease
5 Medical University of Vienna (MUW), Austria 24.50 19.99 151 -21.3% Decrease
6 Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Austria 22.11 18.40 69 -19.7% Decrease
7 University of Graz (Uni Graz), Austria 14.63 14.95 53 -1.5% Decrease
8 Johannes Kepler University of Linz (JKU), Austria 4.25 12.10 40 174.7% Increase
9 University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria 9.50 10.97 41 11.3% Increase
10 Medical University of Innsbruck (MUI), Austria 6.19 10.31 39 60.5% Increase
11 University of Salzburg, Austria 4.37 8.88 27 96.1% Increase
12 Medical University of Graz (Med Uni Graz), Austria 5.39 4.79 34 -14.5% Decrease
13 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (VUM), Austria 3.73 3.04 22 -21.4% Decrease
14 Central European University (CEU), Austria 2.61 2.30 11 -14.9% Decrease
15 University of Leoben, Austria 1.25 1.43 8 9.8% Increase
16 University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien (UAS Technikum Wien), Austria 0.30 1.22 21 294.2% Increase
17 Paracelsus Medical University (PMU), Austria 0.66 0.83 11 22.0% Increase
18 University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria (UASUA), Austria 0.67 0.52 3 -24.9% Decrease
19 Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences (KL), Austria 0.22 0.48 6 113.4% Increase
20 Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), Austria 0.78 0.24 9 -70.5% Decrease
21 Academy of Fine Arts, Austria 0.00 0.22 1 0.0% Increase
22 Agricultural Research and Education Centre Raumberg-Gumpenstein, Austria 0.00 0.08 1 0.0% Increase
23 Sigmund Freud University (SFU), Austria 0.02 0.03 2 47.2% Increase
24 Danube Private University (DPU), Austria 0.08 0.02 1 -72.8% Decrease
25 FH Campus Wien - University of Applied Sciences, Austria 0.03 0.01 1 -68.9% 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.