Italy

Time frame: 1 May 2025 - 30 April 2026

Profile

The Nature Index tracks primary research articles from 178 applied, health, natural and social sciences journals, across many different publishers, chosen by an independent group of researchers. The Nature Index provides absolute Count of primary research articles and fractional Share counts of author contribution to articles. The positions in the table below reflect Italy's position overall, regionally, and in subject areas based on their Share. Each position links to the corresponding table where Italy is listed.

Position by research output Share

Global Europe
Overall 11 4

Position by research output Share in subject areas

Global Europe
Applied sciences 11 4
Health sciences 11 5
Natural sciences 10 5
Biological sciences 14 7
Chemistry 13 6
Earth & environmental sciences 10 5
Physical sciences 6 3
Social sciences 7 3

Research

Italy has the following research output in the current window (1 May 2025 - 30 April 2026) of the Nature Index. Click on Count to view a list of articles representing the corresponding Share value.

Overall research output

Count Share
Overall 4967 1914.21

Overall Count and Share for 'Italy' based on the 12-month time frame mentioned above.

View all articles

Research outputs by subject area

Subject Count Share
Biological sciences 437 159.34
Applied sciences 748 372.61
Chemistry 524 239.62
Earth & environmental sciences 352 141.33
Health sciences 1368 410.53
Social sciences 196 97.76
Physical sciences 1342 493.01

Note: Hover over the donut graph to view the Share for each subject.

Leading research topics

In the Current Index (12-month rolling window), Italy published the most articles in these research topics. Learn more about Nature Research Intelligence Topics.

View all topics

Share output for the past 5 years

Subject area or journal group 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Overall 1,181 1,280 1,352 1,890 1,971
Applied sciences 129 103 126 383 390
Health sciences 184 356 373 427 424
Natural sciences 853 808 844 992 1,047
Biological sciences 116 113 110 173 181
Chemistry 205 172 191 193 233
Earth & environmental sciences 83 89 75 132 136
Physical sciences 448 433 468 494 496
Social sciences 15 13 10 88 109
Nature & Science 15 16 15 20 19

Country/territory benchmarking

Nature Strategy Reports
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions 

When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.

  • Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.

  • Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.

  • Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.

Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.

Nature Masterclasses
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.

Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:

  • Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.

  • Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.

  • Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.

Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.

Collaboration

In many cases, the highest quality science comes from collaborating. Nature Index collaborations highlight fruitful collaborations that lead to high quality research around the world. The table and charts below highlight the leading collaborators with Italy.

View country/territory collaboration

Collaboration by percentage of Share

Country/territory Share
USA 28.6%
Germany 17.8%
UK 17.1%
France 13.3%
Spain 11.8%
Austria 3.5%
Poland 3.2%
Czech Republic 2.1%
Greece 1.7%
Slovenia 0.9%

Note: Hover over the graph to view collaboration by percentage of Share.

Top 10 collaborators with Italy by Share

Note: Hover over the bars to view details about each institution's Share.

Collaborating country/territory Collaborators' Share Collaboration Score
United States of America (USA) 348.40 / 610.25 958.65
Germany 279.96 / 317.39 597.35
United Kingdom (UK) 261.96 / 312.25 574.21
France 228.54 / 217.57 446.11
Spain 207.50 / 188.31 395.81
Austria 67.00 / 50.19 117.19
Poland 69.09 / 38.19 107.28
Czech Republic 44.87 / 24.93 69.80
Greece 37.80 / 18.74 56.55
Slovenia 19.94 / 10.54 30.48

View historical country/territory collaboration

Top 10 institutions from Italy by Share

View all institutions from Italy

Job finder

Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Materials

Job Title: Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Materials Locations: Shanghai, Beijing, Milan or Pune - hybrid working model Application Deadline: 17...

Springer Nature Ltd

Shanghai, Beijing, Milan or Pune - hybrid working model View details
Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Materials

Postdoctoral Researcher in Neuro Epigenetics

We are looking for a curious, creative, and driven Postdoctoral Researcher to join the research group of Mathieu Boulard at EMBL Rome to study gene...

European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)

Rome (IT) View details
Postdoctoral Researcher in Neuro Epigenetics

Postdoc in Digital Pathology

Postdoc Researcher in AI & Computational Neuropathology at, applying ML to digital pathology and spatial transcriptomics to study Alzheimer’s disease

Human Technopole

Milan (IT) View details
Postdoc in Digital Pathology

Scientific Director

The Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) invites applications from outstanding scientists for the position of Scientific Director

Fondazione Istituto Italiano di tecnologia

Genoa, Italy (IT) View details
Scientific Director

Research Software Engineer for Translational Biomedical AI

Research Software Engineer for Translational Biomedical AI at Human Technopole, Milan- Italy.

Human Technopole

Milan (IT) View details
Research Software Engineer for Translational Biomedical AI

View more job listings on Nature Careers.

Latest supplements

Nature Index 2026 Nanoscience and nanotechnology

From programmable RNA architectures to next-generation materials for energy and healthcare, researchers are harnessing the unusual properties of the nanoscale to tackle some of society's biggest challenges. This supplement explores the discoveries that are driving the field, the hurdles that remain and the institutions that are leading in nanoscience and nanotechnology research.

Nature Index 2026 Nanoscience and nanotechnology
Access for free

Nature Index 2026 Chemistry

Chemistry research is undergoing a period of transformation, driven by new technologies and mounting environmental pressures. In this supplement, we explore the trends behind China’s extraordinary rise in chemistry output, and why efforts to curb the use of PFASs are accelerating worldwide. We also look at the innovations that could redefine how chemicals are designed, produced and recycled.

Nature Index 2026 Chemistry
Access for free

Numerical information only (in the tables above) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.