2024 Research Leaders: Leading countries/territories in health sciences

The 2024 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023.

Table criteria

Position Country/territory Share 2022 Share 2023 Count 2023 Change in Adjusted Share* 2022–2023
1 United States of America (USA) 5370.00 5019.46 7040 -1.5% Decrease
2 China 1288.99 1400.68 1940 14.6% Increase
3 United Kingdom (UK) 965.72 859.64 2261 -6.2% Decrease
4 Germany 561.14 510.94 1431 -4.0% Decrease
5 Canada 523.85 464.19 1303 -6.6% Decrease
6 France 453.93 404.02 1101 -6.2% Decrease
7 Netherlands 358.16 348.75 978 2.6% Increase
8 Australia 385.36 332.82 939 -9.0% Decrease
9 Japan 330.81 286.88 651 -8.6% Decrease
10 Denmark 212.42 278.20 676 38.1% Increase
11 Italy 260.34 273.25 922 10.6% Increase
12 Spain 239.63 230.80 824 1.5% Increase
13 Sweden 210.49 215.96 671 8.2% Increase
14 South Korea 215.35 205.31 422 0.5% Increase
15 Switzerland 202.63 192.79 711 0.3% Increase
16 Belgium 99.68 116.10 523 22.8% Increase
17 Norway 71.48 83.12 297 22.6% Increase
18 Finland 66.38 72.76 247 15.5% Increase
19 Israel 104.81 71.31 228 -28.3% Decrease
20 Taiwan 70.66 71.11 181 6.1% Increase
21 Brazil 79.42 67.03 278 -11.0% Decrease
22 Austria 72.70 66.60 306 -3.4% Decrease
23 India 67.83 55.09 206 -14.4% Decrease
24 Singapore 81.92 54.88 229 -29.4% Decrease
25 New Zealand 42.15 32.86 138 -17.8% Decrease
26 South Africa 55.68 29.55 161 -44.1% Decrease
27 Poland 15.08 25.23 203 76.3% Increase
28 Ireland 23.93 21.75 174 -4.2% Decrease
29 Turkey 16.47 21.37 117 36.8% Increase
30 Czech Republic 18.02 16.81 127 -1.6% Decrease
31 Greece 15.91 16.51 130 9.4% Increase
32 Uganda 12.68 15.87 61 31.9% Increase
33 Thailand 15.35 15.38 90 5.6% Increase
34 Russia 16.23 14.86 101 -3.5% Decrease
35 Portugal 21.46 13.44 112 -34.0% Decrease
36 Argentina 14.33 13.43 121 -1.2% Decrease
37 Mexico 14.22 12.41 95 -8.0% Decrease
38 Kenya 15.05 11.46 65 -19.7% Decrease
39 Saudi Arabia 9.15 9.50 81 9.5% Increase
40 Chile 10.52 9.37 79 -6.1% Decrease
41 Hungary 12.44 9.34 96 -20.9% Decrease
42 Iran 12.48 8.66 39 -26.8% Decrease
43 Iceland 7.41 8.26 38 17.6% Increase
44 Ghana 4.83 6.91 28 50.8% Increase
45 Nigeria 7.28 6.87 38 -0.5% Decrease
46 Tanzania 7.10 6.73 47 -0.1% Decrease
47 Bangladesh 8.80 6.55 40 -21.5% Decrease
48 Qatar 11.70 6.27 34 -43.5% Decrease
49 Ethiopia 5.46 6.25 31 20.8% Increase
50 Malaysia 5.32 6.14 41 21.6% 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.