2021 tables: Institutions - government

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 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 1809.63 1888.73 5792 0.6%
2 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 730.01 712.21 4549 -5.9%
3 National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States of America (USA) 394.26 399.22 1071 -2.4%
4 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 208.56 219.46 1268 1.5%
5 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 161.99 172.11 885 2.4%
6 RIKEN, Japan 124.74 164.41 706 27.1%
7 National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Italy 136.10 152.63 743 8.1%
8 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 139.00 117.25 632 -18.7%
9 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), United States of America (USA) 118.84 108.87 560 -11.7%
10 National Research Council (CNR), Italy 97.20 104.17 521 3.3%
11 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 84.68 101.62 462 15.7%
12 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom (UK) 93.29 100.92 776 4.3%
13 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), United States of America (USA) 93.77 100.74 295 3.6%
14 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), United States of America (USA) 89.41 100.26 377 8.1%
15 Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), Czech Republic 93.57 95.10 438 -2.0%
16 National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), France 91.53 93.04 1144 -2.0%
17 National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan 84.55 91.91 373 4.8%
18 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), United States of America (USA) 96.88 91.30 348 -9.1%
19 The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France 93.36 88.56 943 -8.5%
20 Institute for Basic Science (IBS), South Korea 89.27 85.82 342 -7.3%
21 People's Liberation Army (PLA), China 71.16 81.31 393 10.2%
22 U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), United States of America (USA) 86.04 78.00 308 -12.6%
23 Academia Sinica, Taiwan 69.62 76.47 336 5.9%
24 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan 71.49 75.93 259 2.4%
25 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) 71.91 75.03 332 0.6%
26 Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), Poland 62.35 74.99 375 16.0%
27 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), United States of America (USA) 74.38 74.10 203 -4.0%
28 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), United States of America (USA) 74.87 73.76 357 -5.0%
29 Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 73.40 66.82 260 -12.2%
30 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), India 61.08 59.66 198 -5.8%
31 Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland 52.25 58.31 266 7.6%
32 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India 68.70 53.31 124 -25.2%
33 European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany 47.13 52.86 349 8.1%
34 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), United States of America (USA) 46.91 51.95 204 6.8%
35 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland 53.23 51.66 345 -6.4%
36 Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Hungary 32.83 50.76 310 49.1%
37 National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina 37.97 48.63 319 23.5%
38 China Meteorological Administration (CMA), China 43.61 46.82 147 3.5%
39 The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia 38.11 42.96 246 8.7%
40 Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), South Korea 40.55 42.86 181 1.9%
41 Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy 44.80 42.60 169 -8.3%
42 National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy 30.80 39.60 161 24.0%
43 Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), China 32.06 39.55 299 18.9%
44 National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), France 42.50 38.71 565 -12.2%
45 Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII), Spain 29.53 36.39 306 18.8%
46 Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), China 34.50 35.91 145 0.4%
47 National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS), Japan 33.72 35.74 195 2.2%
48 China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), China 43.53 34.48 124 -23.6%
49 Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Austria 32.35 34.24 256 2.1%
50 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, United States of America (USA) 31.52 32.93 411 0.7%
51 NWO-I, the Institutes Organisation of NWO, Netherlands 28.84 32.71 320 9.3%
52 Smithsonian Institution, United States of America (USA) 38.45 32.04 273 -19.6%
53 Sandia National Laboratories, United States of America (USA) 39.41 31.81 140 -22.2%
54 Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Switzerland 32.75 30.05 104 -11.5%
55 Institute of Research for Development (IRD), France 32.82 29.87 572 -12.3%
56 High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Japan 21.88 29.65 200 30.6%
57 Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Switzerland 30.33 28.32 100 -10.0%
58 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan 26.20 25.29 91 -7.0%
59 National Research Center Kurchatov Institute (NRCKI), Russia 23.65 23.37 263 -4.7%
60 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), United States of America (USA) 25.44 23.03 72 -12.7%
61 Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Canada 22.98 22.98 87 -3.6%
62 European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), France 24.93 22.98 138 -11.1%
63 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States of America (USA) 23.72 22.36 57 -9.1%
64 Brazil Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication (MCTIC), Brazil 18.28 21.37 178 12.8%
65 Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy 16.23 21.17 166 25.8%
66 National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Italy 18.02 20.91 70 11.8%
67 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), United States of America (USA) 22.75 19.28 118 -18.3%
68 National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), India 17.25 18.85 107 5.4%
69 China Earthquake Administration (CEA), China 20.98 18.67 60 -14.2%
70 Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Iran 16.12 18.40 92 10.1%
71 National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing (NIBS), China 12.80 18.02 54 35.8%
72 Jozef Stefan Institute (IJS), Slovenia 12.02 17.81 122 42.8%
73 Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), Japan 14.29 16.86 89 13.8%
74 Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Russia 15.36 16.35 210 2.6%
75 India Department of Space (DOS), India 16.24 15.57 29 -7.6%
76 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), United States of America (USA) 19.53 15.08 133 -25.5%
77 Met Office, United Kingdom (UK) 9.82 15.06 64 47.8%
78 National Research Council (NRC), Canada 11.80 14.96 80 22.3%
79 Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), China 7.56 14.62 79 86.5%
80 Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), Japan 9.79 13.86 130 36.4%
81 Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), South Korea 25.83 12.91 43 -51.8%
82 Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Australia 13.75 12.69 95 -11.0%
83 National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), Japan 11.65 12.54 52 3.8%
84 Natural Resources Canada, Canada 8.19 12.05 53 41.8%
85 NERC British Antarctic Survey (BAS), United Kingdom (UK) 14.87 11.60 55 -24.8%
86 IMDEA Institutes, Spain 14.66 11.46 61 -24.6%
87 European Commission (EC), Belgium 4.75 11.34 47 130.1%
88 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), United States of America (USA) 9.22 11.27 26 17.9%
89 Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), Greece 12.28 11.13 46 -12.6%
90 Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI), India 13.83 10.76 20 -25.0%
91 National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC), Taiwan 9.71 10.52 68 4.5%
92 Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), South Korea 8.07 10.51 38 25.6%
93 Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Japan 8.49 10.24 29 16.3%
94 Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Japan 6.89 10.19 86 42.5%
95 NERC National Oceanography Centre (NOC), United Kingdom (UK) 7.00 10.12 66 39.3%
96 S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences (SNBNCBS), India 6.58 10.04 25 47.0%
97 National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA), France 5.51 9.68 464 69.3%
98 Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI), South Korea 7.80 9.65 55 19.3%
99 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), United States of America (USA) 13.40 9.60 46 -30.9%
100 French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), France 6.32 9.48 77 44.6%

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.