2021 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in chemistry

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

Table criteria

Region/country

Sector

Subject/journals

Position	Institution	Share 2019	Share 2020	Count 2020	Change in Adjusted Share* 2019–2020
1	Max Planck Society, Germany	223.01	239.71	617	7.2%
2	French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France	233.30	219.91	1116	-6.0%
3	Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany	125.77	130.92	524	3.8%
4	University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK)	116.02	125.07	287	7.5%
5	University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK)	129.69	120.87	261	-7.1%
6	Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland	134.50	120.63	269	-10.6%
7	Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland	138.33	115.26	211	-16.9%
8	Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia	58.04	86.06	219	47.9%
9	Leibniz Association, Germany	88.20	84.49	271	-4.5%
10	The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK)	76.57	78.97	186	2.8%
11	University of Münster (WWU), Germany	64.02	74.95	114	16.7%
12	Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK)	64.71	73.48	218	13.2%
13	Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain	59.16	65.72	300	10.8%
14	University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany	56.06	59.52	104	5.9%
15	Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany	65.46	59.06	151	-10.0%
16	Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany	73.23	58.95	136	-19.7%
17	RWTH Aachen University (RWTH Aachen), Germany	69.40	58.59	135	-15.8%
18	University of Göttingen, Germany	53.82	56.93	113	5.5%
19	University of Groningen (RUG), Netherlands	41.75	50.97	104	21.7%
20	University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany	37.28	49.89	127	33.4%
21	University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK)	54.51	47.88	86	-12.4%
22	Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Spain	51.97	45.71	119	-12.3%
23	Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Netherlands	40.78	43.37	84	6.0%
24	Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany	43.69	43.25	99	-1.3%
25	Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin), Germany	42.54	42.58	148	-0.2%
26	Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium	30.20	41.82	101	38.1%
27	Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), Germany	40.55	41.79	91	2.8%
28	The University of Warwick (Warwick), United Kingdom (UK)	35.98	40.70	94	12.8%
29	Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), Czech Republic	42.31	39.28	109	-7.4%
30	National Research Council (CNR), Italy	33.82	38.99	163	14.9%
31	University of Freiburg (Uni Freiburg), Germany	49.55	38.38	65	-22.8%
32	TU Dresden, Germany	46.09	36.44	118	-21.2%
33	UCL, United Kingdom (UK)	36.35	35.53	138	-2.5%
34	Uppsala University (UU), Sweden	29.58	34.83	96	17.4%
35	University of Regensburg (UR), Germany	43.33	34.81	63	-19.9%
36	Stockholm University, Sweden	21.50	33.48	110	55.3%
37	University of Basel (UB), Switzerland	42.74	33.27	88	-22.4%
38	University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain	29.21	33.23	162	13.4%
39	Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Germany	34.87	31.74	81	-9.2%
40	Leiden University, Netherlands	29.13	31.40	67	7.5%
41	The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK)	33.61	31.26	118	-7.2%
42	University of Strasbourg, France	30.54	30.98	146	1.2%
43	UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom (UK)	26.13	30.95	180	18.1%
44	Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), Poland	29.09	30.33	75	3.9%
45	Philipps University of Marburg (Uni Marburg), Germany	40.22	29.60	53	-26.6%
46	University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland	29.44	29.40	63	-0.4%
47	University of Vienna, Austria	33.53	28.68	83	-14.7%
48	University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland	33.57	28.18	79	-16.3%
49	Ghent University (UGent), Belgium	27.13	27.80	63	2.2%
50	Aarhus University (AU), Denmark	25.25	27.42	59	8.3%
51	Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), Spain	29.63	26.83	101	-9.7%
52	University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK)	22.65	26.28	85	15.7%
53	University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark	25.93	25.68	81	-1.2%
54	Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark	21.82	25.48	82	16.5%
55	Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands	27.14	25.05	67	-8.0%
56	University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK)	23.07	24.92	81	7.7%
57	Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU), Germany	14.76	24.80	75	67.6%
58	University of St Andrews, United Kingdom (UK)	27.94	24.77	86	-11.6%
59	University of Valencia (UV), Spain	31.50	24.63	79	-22.0%
60	Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany	27.18	24.39	83	-10.5%
61	The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France	29.01	24.12	175	-17.1%
62	The University of Nottingham (UoN), United Kingdom (UK)	19.17	24.11	72	25.4%
63	University of Bonn (Uni Bonn), Germany	21.83	24.06	47	9.9%
64	University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Germany	13.97	23.27	56	66.1%
65	University of Konstanz, Germany	26.99	23.21	38	-14.3%
66	Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands	17.35	22.78	62	30.9%
67	Goethe University Frankfurt (GU), Germany	26.30	22.38	53	-15.1%
68	University of Bath, United Kingdom (UK)	19.62	22.36	62	13.6%
69	Chalmers University of Technology (Chalmers), Sweden	22.47	22.18	63	-1.6%
70	The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (UK)	28.86	22.13	66	-23.6%
71	Sorbonne University, France	22.15	22.00	170	-1.0%
72	University of Toulouse, France	19.31	21.94	138	13.3%
73	KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden	24.34	20.54	75	-15.9%
74	University of Paris-Saclay, France	29.26	20.51	125	-30.1%
75	University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK)	17.42	20.36	72	16.6%
76	Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy	19.08	20.19	70	5.5%
77	University of Barcelona (UB), Spain	16.68	20.15	71	20.4%
78	Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland	19.46	20.14	73	3.2%
79	University of York, United Kingdom (UK)	19.39	19.89	76	2.3%
80	Durham University, United Kingdom (UK)	17.68	19.23	45	8.4%
81	University of Stuttgart, Germany	22.01	19.14	56	-13.3%
82	Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Hungary	7.70	18.95	57	145.3%
83	Radboud University Nijmegen (RU), Netherlands	19.30	18.68	57	-3.5%
84	Humboldt University of Berlin (HU Berlin), Germany	16.82	18.33	84	8.7%
85	University of Tübingen (Uni Tübingen), Germany	29.23	18.30	44	-37.6%
86	Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), Germany	12.86	18.16	44	40.8%
87	F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Switzerland	12.27	18.05	32	46.7%
88	University of Florence (UNIFI), Italy	12.05	17.97	61	48.6%
89	National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA), France	17.06	17.88	163	4.5%
90	Linköping University (LiU), Sweden	14.96	17.63	46	17.6%
91	University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Spain	19.72	17.60	57	-11.0%
92	University of Amsterdam (UvA), Netherlands	23.62	17.56	74	-25.9%
93	Charles University (CU), Czech Republic	13.83	17.15	54	23.6%
94	Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Switzerland	20.37	17.02	53	-16.6%
95	University of Kiel (CAU), Germany	14.49	16.97	45	16.8%
96	University of Bayreuth (UBT), Germany	17.52	16.83	42	-4.2%
97	Université PSL, France	18.29	16.38	127	-10.7%
98	Jagiellonian University (UJ), Poland	9.44	16.35	42	72.7%
99	University of Birmingham (UB), United Kingdom (UK)	17.54	16.17	49	-8.1%
100	Cardiff University, United Kingdom (UK)	15.16	16.04	40	5.5%

Each year, the Nature Index publishes tables based on counts of high-quality research outputs in the previous calendar year. Users please note:

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).
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.
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.
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2021 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in chemistry

Table criteria

Footnote