2021 tables: Institutions - Earth & environmental sciences - academic

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

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# Institution Share 2019 Share 2020 Count 2020 Change in Adjusted Share* 2019–2020
1 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 90.38 86.30 261 -8.7%
2 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 43.17 43.12 168 -4.5%
3 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 37.84 39.87 149 0.7%
4 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 37.17 31.55 123 -18.9%
5 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 32.24 31.30 124 -7.2%
6 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 32.80 27.92 119 -18.7%
7 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 26.45 27.30 93 -1.4%
8 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 20.49 26.56 129 23.9%
9 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 17.87 26.04 78 39.3%
10 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 27.13 24.04 101 -15.3%
11 Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark 14.97 23.68 70 51.1%
12 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 16.84 22.46 85 27.5%
13 Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Netherlands 18.83 19.93 68 1.2%
14 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 22.81 19.53 88 -18.2%
15 Ghent University (UGent), Belgium 13.39 19.03 49 35.8%
16 University of Bern (UniBE), Switzerland 17.20 18.91 76 5.1%
17 University of Tübingen (Uni Tübingen), Germany 10.71 17.62 47 57.3%
18 Stockholm University, Sweden 16.77 16.72 77 -4.7%
19 Paris Cité University, France 16.49 16.72 115 -3.1%
20 University of Bayreuth (UBT), Germany 16.52 16.17 43 -6.5%
21 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 19.16 16.09 90 -19.8%
22 Aarhus University (AU), Denmark 19.92 15.73 60 -24.5%
23 University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland 12.11 15.37 45 21.4%
24 University of Münster (WWU), Germany 14.12 15.04 43 1.8%
25 University of Bergen (UIB), Norway 20.01 14.89 85 -28.9%
26 University of Bremen (Uni Bremen), Germany 14.30 14.62 68 -2.3%
27 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 24.72 14.54 54 -43.8%
28 Durham University, United Kingdom (UK) 14.62 14.48 67 -5.4%
29 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany 11.28 14.42 56 22.2%
30 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 18.72 14.08 82 -28.1%
31 University of Helsinki, Finland 12.18 13.27 60 4.2%
32 Université PSL, France 16.55 13.25 145 -23.5%
33 University of Reading, United Kingdom (UK) 17.49 12.49 69 -31.8%
34 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 14.02 12.14 43 -17.2%
35 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden 11.54 11.86 46 -1.8%
36 University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK) 17.82 10.53 54 -43.5%
37 Newcastle University, United Kingdom (UK) 10.86 10.43 48 -8.2%
38 Sorbonne University, France 11.13 10.29 158 -11.7%
39 Lancaster University, United Kingdom (UK) 9.86 10.25 45 -0.6%
40 University of Padova (UNIPD), Italy 7.22 9.85 39 30.3%
41 University of Kiel (CAU), Germany 8.19 9.61 45 12.1%
42 University of Lyon, France 10.79 9.38 76 -16.9%
43 University of Vienna, Austria 10.78 8.82 39 -21.8%
44 Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium 6.65 8.72 31 25.4%
45 Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin), Germany 10.72 8.60 47 -23.3%
46 University of Gothenburg (GU), Sweden 5.05 8.57 35 62.1%
47 VU Amsterdam, Netherlands 7.28 8.37 46 9.9%
48 The Open University (OU), United Kingdom (UK) 8.20 8.34 36 -2.9%
49 University of Lorraine (UL), France 5.16 8.01 51 48.3%
50 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 8.98 7.98 23 -15.0%
51 University of Toulouse, France 9.17 7.97 93 -16.9%
52 University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland 5.70 7.70 39 29.0%
53 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 13.16 7.68 31 -44.2%
54 University of St Andrews, United Kingdom (UK) 7.82 7.34 36 -10.3%
55 Charles University (CU), Czech Republic 7.75 7.28 36 -10.2%
56 University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany 7.60 7.18 40 -9.8%
57 University of Potsdam, Germany 12.53 7.15 54 -45.5%
58 University of Leicester, United Kingdom (UK) 5.36 7.11 25 26.8%
59 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 8.92 7.04 25 -24.5%
60 University of Barcelona (UB), Spain 7.27 6.99 41 -8.1%
61 Cardiff University, United Kingdom (UK) 9.72 6.90 30 -32.2%
62 University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK) 6.66 6.88 47 -1.2%
63 The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (UK) 4.32 6.86 30 51.9%
64 Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany 6.49 6.77 22 -0.3%
65 University of Göttingen, Germany 4.23 6.63 37 49.8%
66 Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), Spain 2.15 6.48 19 187.6%
67 University of Birmingham (UB), United Kingdom (UK) 10.74 6.34 27 -43.6%
68 University of East Anglia (UEA), United Kingdom (UK) 3.54 6.26 34 69.0%
69 University of Antwerp (UA), Belgium 6.36 5.96 24 -10.4%
70 Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway 10.48 5.79 25 -47.3%
71 University of Iceland, Iceland 5.54 5.69 21 -1.8%
72 University Clermont Auvergne, France 3.25 5.69 43 67.5%
73 Lund University (LU), Sweden 6.43 5.56 29 -17.3%
74 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany 5.53 5.51 20 -4.9%
75 University of Bologna (UNIBO), Italy 3.57 5.35 16 43.2%
76 University of London - Royal Holloway (RHUL), United Kingdom (UK) 3.37 5.34 25 51.4%
77 University of Cologne (UoC), Germany 5.47 5.27 25 -8.0%
78 University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Norway 6.22 5.23 30 -19.6%
79 University of Plymouth, United Kingdom (UK) 7.26 5.22 27 -31.2%
80 University of Bath, United Kingdom (UK) 1.26 5.22 15 296.4%
81 University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), France 5.24 5.18 89 -5.7%
82 University of Montpellier, France 5.10 5.15 61 -3.4%
83 University of Liège (ULg), Belgium 3.70 5.03 30 30.0%
84 Grenoble Alpes University (UGA), France 7.67 4.92 95 -38.7%
85 Uppsala University (UU), Sweden 4.14 4.74 25 9.4%
86 University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Spain 1.87 4.67 10 138.2%
87 Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Spain 3.07 4.61 36 43.4%
88 Goethe University Frankfurt (GU), Germany 10.23 4.55 30 -57.4%
89 Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Germany 2.89 4.54 16 50.1%
90 Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), Germany 4.18 4.39 12 0.2%
91 Radboud University Nijmegen (RU), Netherlands 1.97 4.36 15 111.8%
92 RWTH Aachen University (RWTH Aachen), Germany 7.66 4.35 18 -45.8%
93 Masaryk University (MU), Czech Republic 2.52 4.35 18 64.5%
94 University of York, United Kingdom (UK) 3.14 4.25 24 29.5%
95 University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom (UK) 2.98 4.24 15 36.0%
96 University of Florence (UNIFI), Italy 2.36 4.21 29 70.6%
97 Sapienza University of Rome, Italy 3.42 4.21 27 17.6%
98 Umeå University (UMU), Sweden 5.33 4.08 17 -26.7%
99 University of Lisbon (ULISBOA), Portugal 6.34 4.02 27 -39.4%
100 University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom (UK) 3.52 4.01 25 8.9%

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 through 2022, in 2023 64 health-science journals were added to the Index. The 146 journals in the Nature Index were 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 2022 levels to calculate the percentage change. For more information on the adjustment, please see the Adjusted metric explainer.


Numerical information only is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.