2021 tables: Institutions - physical sciences - corporate

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

Table criteria

# Institution Share 2019 Share 2020 Count 2020 Change in Adjusted Share* 2019–2020
1 IBM Corporation, United States of America (USA) 25.55 20.44 54 -25.7%
2 Alphabet Inc., United States of America (USA) 8.77 13.59 32 44.0%
3 Samsung Group, South Korea 5.03 12.20 45 125.3%
4 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), Japan 15.88 10.59 22 -38.0%
5 Microsoft Corporation, United States of America (USA) 7.72 7.83 34 -5.7%
6 FiberHome Technologies Group, China 8.23 7.06 70 -20.2%
7 China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC), China 8.28 6.65 76 -25.4%
8 Toyota Group, Japan 6.17 4.88 16 -26.6%
9 Hitachi, Ltd., Japan 1.98 4.77 20 123.3%
10 China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), China 2.03 4.31 29 97.1%
11 Thales S.A., France 4.39 3.47 40 -26.5%
12 NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories (NHK STRL), Japan 0.50 3.37 5 527.0%
13 Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan 1.86 2.99 7 49.4%
14 Intel Corporation, United States of America (USA) 0.84 2.85 15 216.6%
15 Panasonic Corporation, Japan 1.18 2.84 6 124.1%
16 HP Inc., United States of America (USA) 1.03 2.72 5 146.7%
17 CETHIK Group Corporation, China 2.39 8 N/A
18 LG Corporation, South Korea 1.01 2.36 10 118.1%
19 Adroit Materials, Inc., United States of America (USA) 0.56 2.17 6 263.8%
20 Mitsubishi Group, Japan 0.42 1.98 5 339.0%
21 F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Switzerland 1.43 1.93 4 25.1%
22 General Atomics, United States of America (USA) 2.26 1.87 8 -23.2%
23 HRL Laboratories LLC, United States of America (USA) 1.29 1.85 4 33.5%
24 Raytheon Company, United States of America (USA) 2.03 1.83 16 -15.9%
25 BASF SE, Germany 1.42 1.82 19 18.7%
26 Corning Incorporated, United States of America (USA) 0.47 1.80 5 259.5%
27 C. H. Boehringer Sohn AG & Co. KG (Boehringer Ingelheim), Germany 0.69 1.70 3 128.4%
28 China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), China 2.39 1.66 8 -35.6%
29 Center for Nanotechnology GmbH (CeNTech GmbH), Germany 1.76 1.65 9 -12.7%
30 Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc., Canada 1.78 1.65 3 -13.9%
31 Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Japan 1.10 1.63 8 37.5%
32 4C Air, Inc., United States of America (USA) 1.61 4 N/A
33 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., United States of America (USA) 0.96 1.58 12 53.3%
34 Lockheed Martin Corporation, United States of America (USA) 1.99 1.51 12 -29.4%
35 Toshiba Corporation, Japan 3.85 1.50 4 -63.8%
36 Nokia Corporation, Finland 1.63 1.47 9 -16.2%
37 Bruker Corporation, United States of America (USA) 0.99 1.45 16 36.5%
38 Honeywell International, Inc., United States of America (USA) 0.15 1.45 6 809.6%
39 Western Digital Corporation, United States of America (USA) 1.43 1.43 2 -7.0%
40 Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Israel 1.34 5 N/A
41 ionQ, Inc., United States of America (USA) 1.05 1.34 4 19.3%
42 Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil), United States of America (USA) 1.38 1.33 7 -10.5%
43 Novel Crystal Technology, Inc., Japan 0.51 1.29 2 135.1%
43 Scion, New Zealand 1.29 2 N/A
44 Qorvo, Inc., United States of America (USA) 1.26 3 N/A
45 DowDuPont Inc., United States of America (USA) 0.58 1.22 8 94.4%
46 Universal Display Corporation, United States of America (USA) 1.20 2 N/A
47 Schlumberger Limited, United States of America (USA) 1.18 2 N/A
48 ams-OSRAM AG, Austria 1.13 3 N/A
49 China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO Group), China 0.10 1.13 2 945.7%
50 Euclid TechLabs LLC, United States of America (USA) 0.64 1.07 6 56.8%

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/.
  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 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.