2022 Research Leaders: Leading corporate institutions

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 F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Switzerland 59.77 45.32 133 -26.2% Decrease
2 AstraZeneca plc, United Kingdom (UK) 27.57 35.24 140 24.4% Increase
3 IBM, United States of America (USA) 30.15 34.82 96 12.4% Increase
4 Alphabet Inc., United States of America (USA) 26.61 32.10 79 17.4% Increase
5 Merck & Co., Inc., United States of America (USA) 32.40 26.20 66 -21.3% Decrease
6 Novartis AG, Switzerland 24.63 21.38 97 -15.5% Decrease
7 Pfizer Inc., United States of America (USA) 17.16 20.25 64 14.8% Increase
8 China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC), China 11.92 19.20 283 56.8% Increase
9 FiberHome Technologies Group, China 9.49 16.45 143 68.7% Increase
10 Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), United States of America (USA) 18.88 15.87 42 -18.3% Decrease
11 Samsung Group, South Korea 15.09 13.77 70 -11.3% Decrease
12 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., United States of America (USA) 9.64 12.61 57 27.3% Increase
13 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., United States of America (USA) 13.98 12.51 32 -12.9% Decrease
14 GSK, United Kingdom (UK) 20.43 12.13 57 -42.3% Decrease
15 Toyota Group, Japan 15.39 11.93 25 -24.6% Decrease
16 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), Japan 12.59 11.78 29 -9.0% Decrease
17 Johnson & Johnson, United States of America (USA) 14.88 11.69 55 -23.5% Decrease
18 Amgen Inc., United States of America (USA) 12.30 11.51 39 -9.0% Decrease
19 Dow, United States of America (USA) 10.26 10.73 46 1.8% Increase
20 Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Japan 3.27 10.68 28 217.5% Increase
21 AbbVie Inc., United States of America (USA) 6.27 10.18 27 58.0% Increase
22 Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil), United States of America (USA) 8.77 10.13 28 12.4% Increase
23 BGI, China 7.57 10.00 51 28.5% Increase
24 Microsoft Corporation, United States of America (USA) 11.18 9.85 56 -14.2% Decrease
25 GNS Science, New Zealand 11.94 9.64 59 -21.4% Decrease
26 Sanofi, France 9.58 8.84 41 -10.3% Decrease
27 Bruker Corporation, United States of America (USA) 10.21 8.30 44 -20.8% Decrease
28 23andMe, Inc., United States of America (USA) 3.06 8.25 16 162.2% Increase
29 Leidos Holdings, Inc., United States of America (USA) 7.63 7.21 85 -8.1% Decrease
30 Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany 5.74 6.68 30 13.2% Increase
31 New England Biolabs, Inc. (NEB), United States of America (USA) 1.51 6.53 11 321.4% Increase
32 Jinchuan Group Co., Ltd., China 2.19 6.48 23 187.5% Increase
33 BASF SE, Germany 8.45 6.46 40 -25.5% Decrease
34 Vir Biotechnology, Inc., United States of America (USA) 3.11 6.17 19 93.0% Increase
35 Waters Corporation, United States of America (USA) 4.75 5.84 12 19.7% Increase
36 China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), China 8.25 5.69 39 -32.9% Decrease
37 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., United States of America (USA) 4.60 5.65 26 19.4% Increase
38 Moderna, Inc., United States of America (USA) 2.86 5.60 14 90.8% Increase
39 Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan 10.38 5.57 28 -47.8% Decrease
40 Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI), United States of America (USA) 3.26 5.35 37 59.7% Increase
41 Novo Nordisk A/S, Denmark 6.88 5.21 27 -26.3% Decrease
42 Bayer AG, Germany 6.31 5.13 26 -20.9% Decrease
43 Eli Lilly and Company, United States of America (USA) 8.38 5.04 32 -41.5% Decrease
44 National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. (NIWA), New Zealand 4.75 5.00 29 2.3% Increase
45 Gilead Sciences, Inc., United States of America (USA) 4.58 4.93 13 4.6% Increase
46 Shanghai Qi Zhi Institute, China 0.55 4.58 27 709.8% Increase
47 Toshiba Corporation, Japan 1.50 4.57 8 196.6% Increase
48 China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China 4.71 4.52 23 -6.7% Decrease
49 Biogen Inc., United States of America (USA) 5.26 4.44 19 -17.8% Decrease
50 KWH Water B.V., Netherlands 2.81 4.34 17 50.3% Increase
51 Intel Corporation, United States of America (USA) 3.41 4.17 20 18.9% Increase
52 General Atomics, United States of America (USA) 2.12 4.11 15 88.8% Increase
53 Thales S.A., France 3.51 4.08 53 13.1% Increase
54 UCB S.A., Belgium 3.43 4.06 16 15.0% Increase
55 Techint Group, Italy 3.22 3.79 25 14.4% Increase
56 Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Saudi Arabia 1.30 3.78 14 182.0% Increase
57 China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina), China 6.67 3.74 20 -45.5% Decrease
58 China National Tobacco Company (CNTC), China 3.09 3.64 12 14.5% Increase
59 Merck KGaA, Germany 1.06 3.59 18 230.1% Increase
60 Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc., Canada 1.65 3.56 4 109.7% Increase
61 Hitachi, Ltd., Japan 8.52 3.24 17 -63.0% Decrease
62 Panasonic Corporation, Japan 2.88 3.11 7 5.0% Increase
63 BioNTech AG, Germany 3.56 3.09 12 -15.7% Decrease
64 Sinopec Corporation, China 1.89 3.08 28 58.8% Increase
65 Eisai Co., Ltd., Japan 0.23 3.04 8 1,189.7% Increase
66 Corning Incorporated, United States of America (USA) 2.04 2.98 8 42.4% Increase
67 LG Corporation, South Korea 2.76 2.95 11 4.0% Increase
68 Shell plc, United Kingdom (UK) 4.14 2.87 12 -32.5% Decrease
69 Bioqual, Inc., United States of America (USA) 1.72 2.85 18 61.1% Increase
70 Norwegian Research Centre AS (NORCE), Norway 4.30 2.67 46 -39.5% Decrease
71 Total S.A., France 4.25 2.60 15 -40.4% Decrease
72 AGC Inc., Japan 0.00 2.57 6 0.0% Increase
73 Center for Nanotechnology GmbH (CeNTech GmbH), Germany 2.70 2.52 13 -9.3% Decrease
74 Hunan Changling Petrochemical Technology Development Co., Ltd., China 0.70 2.50 5 248.5% Increase
75 Danaher Corporation, United States of America (USA) 3.45 2.47 15 -30.2% Decrease
76 Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. (AER), United States of America (USA) 0.83 2.42 11 182.4% Increase
77 RTX, United States of America (USA) 2.33 2.41 24 0.7% Increase
78 EpiCypher, Inc., United States of America (USA) 0.29 2.28 7 658.3% Increase
79 NorthWest Research Associates, Inc. (NWRA), United States of America (USA) 3.06 2.27 27 -27.8% Decrease
80 Unilever, United Kingdom (UK) 2.27 2.24 10 -4.0% Decrease
81 Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia 1.85 2.22 12 16.5% Increase
82 Abbott Laboratories, United States of America (USA) 0.41 2.18 9 413.9% Increase
83 HRL Laboratories LLC, United States of America (USA) 1.85 2.17 4 14.0% Increase
84 TDK Corporation, Japan 0.83 2.13 5 151.4% Increase
85 Adroit Materials, Inc., United States of America (USA) 2.17 2.09 7 -6.3% Decrease
86 Meta Platforms, Inc., United States of America (USA) 2.09 2.07 7 -3.7% Decrease
87 Rigaku Corporation, Japan 2.47 2.07 15 -18.5% Decrease
88 China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), China 2.09 2.03 13 -5.6% Decrease
89 NaMLab gGmbH, Germany 0.00 2.00 5 0.0% Increase
90 Nokia Corporation, Finland 1.48 1.98 11 30.0% Increase
91 Johnson Matthey (JM), United Kingdom (UK) 1.73 1.94 11 8.8% Increase
92 JEOL Ltd., Japan 1.60 1.92 17 17.1% Increase
93 Ford Motor Company, United States of America (USA) 0.50 1.90 5 268.8% Increase
94 Shimadzu Corporation, Japan 3.20 1.89 8 -42.6% Decrease
95 Mitsubishi Group, Japan 3.08 1.86 13 -41.2% Decrease
96 Synfuels China Technology Co., Ltd., China 0.82 1.83 13 117.6% Increase
97 10x Genomics, United States of America (USA) 1.06 1.81 11 66.8% Increase
98 Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany 0.20 1.80 7 786.0% Increase
99 NanoString Technologies, Inc., United States of America (USA) 1.77 1.80 9 -1.0% Decrease
100 Honeywell International, Inc., United States of America (USA) 1.81 1.80 6 -3.5% Decrease

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.