2023 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in biological sciences

The 2023 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022.

Table criteria

Position Institution Share 2021 Share 2022 Count 2022 Change in Adjusted Share* 2021–2022
1 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 648.04 590.98 1689 -1.6% Decrease
2 National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States of America (USA) 385.25 310.28 826 -13.1% Decrease
3 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 311.46 280.12 806 -2.9% Decrease
4 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 271.27 274.41 1001 9.2% Increase
5 Max Planck Society, Germany 312.68 257.45 941 -11.1% Decrease
6 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 200.27 204.08 514 10.0% Increase
7 University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), United States of America (USA) 201.77 178.43 579 -4.6% Decrease
8 University of Pennsylvania (Penn), United States of America (USA) 211.76 178.03 554 -9.3% Decrease
9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 195.03 177.38 903 -1.8% Decrease
10 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 173.14 171.76 533 7.1% Increase
11 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 186.76 166.73 512 -3.7% Decrease
12 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 213.93 163.92 630 -17.3% Decrease
13 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 177.48 161.18 513 -2.0% Decrease
14 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 179.69 159.89 592 -4.0% Decrease
15 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 172.63 158.07 1271 -1.2% Decrease
16 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 162.46 156.75 522 4.1% Increase
17 Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL), United States of America (USA) 174.16 149.00 507 -7.7% Decrease
18 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 144.60 136.76 370 2.1% Increase
19 New York University (NYU), United States of America (USA) 153.08 135.98 350 -4.1% Decrease
20 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 159.47 132.22 378 -10.5% Decrease
21 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 151.68 128.28 475 -8.7% Decrease
22 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 132.99 124.92 361 1.4% Increase
23 The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern Medical Center), United States of America (USA) 150.86 124.44 266 -11.0% Decrease
24 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 146.65 120.54 454 -11.3% Decrease
25 Peking University (PKU), China 123.95 115.98 358 1.0% Increase
26 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 95.96 113.80 294 28.0% Increase
27 Duke University, United States of America (USA) 123.96 113.78 374 -0.9% Decrease
28 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 129.94 111.58 742 -7.3% Decrease
29 Fudan University, China 71.11 107.92 329 63.8% Increase
30 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 97.25 107.05 334 18.8% Increase
31 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 129.08 106.14 472 -11.3% Decrease
32 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 112.26 105.47 291 1.4% Increase
33 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 79.69 98.23 313 33.0% Increase
34 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 110.02 97.02 283 -4.8% Decrease
35 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 83.74 94.98 249 22.4% Increase
36 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 85.76 89.01 527 12.0% Increase
37 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 101.04 88.73 278 -5.2% Decrease
38 Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden 83.35 87.84 396 13.7% Increase
39 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 84.86 86.79 227 10.4% Increase
40 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), United States of America (USA) 89.74 86.21 312 3.7% Increase
41 National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), France 93.08 85.47 852 -0.9% Decrease
42 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 97.36 84.81 215 -6.0% Decrease
43 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 95.80 83.64 382 -5.8% Decrease
44 Vanderbilt University (VU), United States of America (USA) 99.66 83.61 254 -9.5% Decrease
45 McGill University, Canada 76.46 83.14 268 17.4% Increase
46 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), United States of America (USA) 89.30 82.09 308 -0.8% Decrease
47 Tsinghua University, China 79.17 80.75 279 10.1% Increase
48 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 86.95 80.50 335 -0.1% Decrease
49 The Rockefeller University, United States of America (USA) 86.31 79.45 214 -0.6% Decrease
50 University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), United States of America (USA) 86.89 78.74 279 -2.2% Decrease
51 Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS), United States of America (USA) 90.76 77.68 368 -7.6% Decrease
52 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 72.14 75.55 295 13.0% Increase
53 University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland 93.40 75.09 314 -13.2% Decrease
54 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, United States of America (USA) 85.32 72.62 278 -8.1% Decrease
55 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 89.74 67.92 205 -18.3% Decrease
56 Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), United States of America (USA) 91.45 64.63 266 -23.7% Decrease
57 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 88.87 63.01 146 -23.5% Decrease
58 University of Southern California (USC), United States of America (USA) 67.57 62.76 247 0.2% Increase
59 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (RU), United States of America (USA) 49.47 60.38 193 31.7% Increase
60 University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States of America (USA) 85.05 60.02 199 -23.8% Decrease
61 Scripps Research, United States of America (USA) 63.59 59.50 169 1.0% Increase
62 The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada 69.70 59.01 218 -8.6% Decrease
63 The Ohio State University (OSU), United States of America (USA) 57.18 58.86 176 11.1% Increase
64 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 48.32 58.70 159 31.1% Increase
65 Emory University, United States of America (USA) 60.72 57.06 227 1.4% Increase
66 University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (UMass Chan Medical School), United States of America (USA) 61.26 54.43 175 -4.1% Decrease
67 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 67.95 54.10 149 -14.1% Decrease
68 Monash University, Australia 63.40 53.93 225 -8.2% Decrease
69 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 56.72 53.82 134 2.4% Increase
70 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 64.21 53.71 126 -9.7% Decrease
71 Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany 47.41 53.42 267 21.6% Increase
72 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 65.01 53.26 338 -11.6% Decrease
73 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 51.30 52.45 225 10.3% Increase
74 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 73.71 51.96 254 -23.9% Decrease
75 Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), Israel 58.21 51.91 138 -3.7% Decrease
76 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 47.36 51.69 163 17.8% Increase
77 Indiana University (IU), United States of America (USA) 59.77 51.66 168 -6.7% Decrease
78 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 51.76 51.57 153 7.5% Increase
79 Kyoto University, Japan 57.32 50.84 182 -4.3% Decrease
80 People's Liberation Army (PLA), China 49.90 49.98 176 8.1% Increase
81 University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (CU Anschutz), United States of America (USA) 59.97 49.73 167 -10.5% Decrease
82 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 42.06 49.34 152 26.6% Increase
83 The University of Melbourne (UniMelb), Australia 49.98 48.85 281 5.5% Increase
84 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 49.33 48.76 237 6.7% Increase
85 Leibniz Association, Germany 53.66 48.46 355 -2.5% Decrease
86 RIKEN, Japan 53.50 47.45 212 -4.3% Decrease
87 The University of Utah (Utah), United States of America (USA) 52.78 47.44 148 -3.0% Decrease
88 University of Basel (UB), Switzerland 56.87 46.84 185 -11.1% Decrease
89 Boston University (BU), United States of America (USA) 45.52 46.55 221 10.4% Increase
90 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 49.92 45.47 159 -1.7% Decrease
91 The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 56.70 45.26 143 -13.8% Decrease
92 Osaka University, Japan 53.72 44.78 145 -10.0% Decrease
93 Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Healthcare (IRCCS), Italy 46.98 44.67 221 2.6% Increase
94 Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China 34.43 44.66 118 40.0% Increase
95 Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Einstein), United States of America (USA) 51.29 44.57 139 -6.2% Decrease
96 European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany 46.53 44.32 277 2.8% Increase
97 University of Virginia (UVA), United States of America (USA) 52.35 44.09 151 -9.1% Decrease
98 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom (UK) 56.00 44.01 267 -15.2% Decrease
99 University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland 59.66 42.97 189 -22.3% Decrease
100 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 55.06 42.06 184 -17.6% 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.