2022 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in Earth & environmental sciences

The 2022 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021.

Table criteria

Position Institution Share 2020 Share 2021 Count 2021 Change in Adjusted Share* 2020–2021
1 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 329.02 329.88 1061 3.9% Increase
2 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 144.27 124.10 432 -10.8% Decrease
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 90.66 87.33 732 -0.1% Decrease
4 Nanjing University (NJU), China 86.79 84.50 263 0.9% Increase
5 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 86.30 79.03 247 -5.1% Decrease
6 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 84.94 75.83 363 -7.5% Decrease
7 Peking University (PKU), China 68.40 71.12 290 7.8% Increase
8 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 73.08 68.35 258 -3.1% Decrease
9 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 68.64 66.88 377 1.0% Increase
10 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 47.80 62.46 187 35.5% Increase
11 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 48.69 57.37 184 22.2% Increase
12 Tsinghua University, China 50.03 56.86 189 17.8% Increase
13 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 52.49 56.81 174 12.2% Increase
14 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 58.20 56.06 173 -0.1% Decrease
15 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 53.13 55.74 210 8.8% Increase
16 Tongji University, China 65.10 55.51 169 -11.6% Decrease
17 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), United States of America (USA) 69.42 54.38 163 -18.8% Decrease
18 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) 71.33 54.16 254 -21.3% Decrease
19 China University of Geosciences (CUG), China 59.92 54.14 145 -6.3% Decrease
20 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 55.89 53.91 154 0.0% Increase
21 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 55.25 53.64 209 0.7% Increase
22 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 51.54 52.10 241 4.8% Increase
23 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 63.33 48.02 181 -21.4% Decrease
24 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 48.31 46.52 161 -0.2% Decrease
25 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 38.05 45.95 105 25.2% Increase
26 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 45.79 45.41 166 2.8% Increase
27 China Meteorological Administration (CMA), China 46.81 44.66 164 -1.1% Decrease
28 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 45.53 43.76 135 -0.4% Decrease
29 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 45.46 43.38 123 -1.1% Decrease
30 National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), United States of America (USA) 45.64 43.36 160 -1.5% Decrease
31 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 46.23 42.01 152 -5.8% Decrease
32 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 43.12 42.01 161 1.0% Increase
33 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 39.51 41.75 154 9.5% Increase
34 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), United States of America (USA) 34.33 40.96 122 23.7% Increase
35 The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia 46.58 40.69 100 -9.4% Decrease
36 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 24.52 39.03 125 65.0% Increase
37 Colorado State University, United States of America (USA) 35.71 38.24 127 11.0% Increase
38 Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), China 35.24 37.66 243 10.8% Increase
39 Beijing Normal University (BNU), China 39.77 37.52 158 -2.2% Decrease
40 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 42.67 37.23 118 -9.6% Decrease
41 University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia 43.28 37.07 98 -11.2% Decrease
42 Wuhan University (WHU), China 26.56 36.99 73 44.3% Increase
43 Max Planck Society, Germany 32.89 35.56 165 12.1% Increase
44 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 28.53 35.48 107 28.9% Increase
45 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 25.39 34.80 116 42.1% Increase
46 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), China 32.41 34.27 167 9.6% Increase
47 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China 25.12 34.07 112 40.6% Increase
48 University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Mānoa), United States of America (USA) 27.79 33.02 134 23.2% Increase
49 Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), China 34.34 32.40 72 -2.2% Decrease
50 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 42.40 32.33 110 -20.9% Decrease
51 University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States of America (USA) 27.22 31.21 108 18.9% Increase
52 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 33.55 31.19 115 -3.6% Decrease
53 The University of Arizona (Arizona), United States of America (USA) 36.48 30.93 128 -12.1% Decrease
54 Leibniz Association, Germany 23.84 30.32 165 31.8% Increase
55 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 31.30 29.96 98 -0.8% Decrease
56 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), United States of America (USA) 31.30 29.65 120 -1.8% Decrease
57 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 39.87 29.59 118 -23.1% Decrease
58 China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB), China 19.46 29.52 72 57.3% Increase
59 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 31.25 29.44 97 -2.3% Decrease
60 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 27.92 29.23 126 8.5% Increase
61 Fudan University, China 27.12 28.69 99 9.7% Increase
62 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 19.04 28.63 87 55.9% Increase
63 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 31.55 28.01 113 -8.0% Decrease
64 McGill University, Canada 20.97 26.46 105 30.8% Increase
65 Australian National University (ANU), Australia 28.37 26.26 90 -4.0% Decrease
66 Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Switzerland 23.67 25.75 74 12.8% Increase
67 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 17.61 25.63 80 50.9% Increase
68 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 36.77 25.44 118 -28.3% Decrease
69 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 21.05 25.15 97 23.8% Increase
70 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 21.20 25.08 81 22.6% Increase
71 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 31.25 24.99 139 -17.1% Decrease
72 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 24.04 24.22 98 4.5% Increase
73 Tianjin University (TJU), China 19.16 23.82 168 28.9% Increase
74 Arizona State University (ASU), United States of America (USA) 40.74 23.25 92 -40.9% Decrease
75 Nankai University (NKU), China 20.65 23.12 40 16.0% Increase
76 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 28.17 22.97 105 -15.5% Decrease
77 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 26.69 22.92 120 -11.0% Decrease
78 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 26.56 22.83 101 -10.9% Decrease
79 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), United States of America (USA) 14.46 22.69 76 62.7% Increase
80 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States of America (USA) 22.33 22.69 55 5.3% Increase
81 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 27.26 22.53 78 -14.3% Decrease
82 The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada 19.62 22.00 90 16.2% Increase
83 Lanzhou University (LZU), China 20.06 21.83 65 12.8% Increase
84 Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Canada 22.42 21.27 68 -1.7% Decrease
85 Hokkaido University, Japan 18.97 21.12 57 15.4% Increase
86 Institute of Research for Development (IRD), France 21.45 21.08 347 1.9% Increase
87 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan 20.11 21.05 77 8.5% Increase
88 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (RU), United States of America (USA) 15.40 21.03 93 41.6% Increase
89 National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Italy 20.54 21.03 49 6.1% Increase
90 Monash University, Australia 24.86 20.96 72 -12.6% Decrease
91 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 16.09 20.60 90 32.7% Increase
92 Ocean University of China (OUC), China 19.59 20.23 131 7.0% Increase
93 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 29.20 20.12 55 -28.5% Decrease
94 University of Bayreuth (UBT), Germany 16.17 20.10 51 28.9% Increase
95 Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark 23.68 20.08 64 -12.1% Decrease
96 Brown University, United States of America (USA) 25.05 19.86 77 -17.8% Decrease
97 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 25.06 19.86 65 -17.8% Decrease
98 The University of Hong Kong (HKU), China 15.08 19.73 81 35.6% Increase
99 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 23.00 19.39 98 -12.6% Decrease
100 University of Oregon (UO), United States of America (USA) 16.19 19.34 46 23.8% Increase

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.