The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries/territories and their scientific output since its introduction in November 2014. Originally released with 64 natural-science journals, the Nature Index expanded to 82 natural-science journals in 2018, then added 64 health-science journals in 2023. Each year, Nature Index ranks the leading institutions (which can be companies, universities, government agencies, research institutes, or NGOs) and countries by the number of
scientific articles and
papers published in leading journals. This ranking can also be categorized by individual fields of research such as
life sciences
This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...
,
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
,
physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
, or
earth sciences
Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...
, with different institutions leading in each. The Nature Index was conceived by
Nature Portfolio. In total, more than 17,000 institutions are listed in the Nature Index.
Methodology
The Nature Index attempts to objectively measure the scientific output of institutions and countries, taking into account differences in quality. Therefore, only articles published in 145 selected high-quality journals are counted. These journals were selected by independent committees. If authors from several institutions and/or countries are involved in a scientific article, it is divided accordingly, assuming that all researchers were equally involved in the article. For example, this "fractional count" (Share) received by each author would be 0.1 for an article with 10 authors. If an author is affiliated with more than one institution, that author's Share is then subdivided equally across their affiliated institutions. The process is similar for countries/territories and regions, though the fact that some institutions have overseas labs makes the process more complicated, with such labs being counted towards their appropriate host countries.
Top institutions
The top 25 institutions with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals according to the Nature Index 2025, which is valid for the calendar year 2024:
Top countries
The countries with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals according to the Nature Index 2024, which is valid for the calendar year 2023.
See also
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List of cities by scientific output
The following article lists the City, cities and metropolitan areas with the greatest scientific output, according to the Nature Index. The Nature Index attempts to objectively measure the scientific output of institutions, cities and countries by ...
*
*
List of sovereign states by research and development spending
Notes
References
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International rankings
2016 introductions