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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 Japan's position overall, regionally, and in subject areas based on their Share. Each position links to the corresponding table where Japan is listed.
Position by research output Share
Position by research output Share in subject areas
Research
Japan 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 | 6873 | 3909.03 |
Overall Count and Share for 'Japan' based on the 12-month time frame mentioned above.
Research outputs by subject area
Note: Hover over the donut graph to view the Share for each subject.
Leading research topics
In the Current Index (12-month rolling window), Japan published the most articles in these research topics. Learn more about Nature Research Intelligence Topics.
| Topics | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Organic Chemistry | 424 | 367.55 |
| Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry | 472 | 271.33 |
| Physical Chemistry | 402 | 239.25 |
| Quantum Physics | 439 | 211.05 |
| Clinical Sciences | 327 | 185.42 |
| Particle and High Energy Physics | 333 | 172.60 |
| Astronomical Sciences | 389 | 148.80 |
| Biochemistry and Cell Biology | 192 | 133.45 |
| Oncology and Carcinogenesis | 257 | 102.90 |
Share output for the past 5 years
| Subject area or journal group | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 3,203 | 2,988 | 3,016 | 3,571 | 3,890 |
| Applied sciences | 478 | 402 | 414 | 699 | 738 |
| Health sciences | 412 | 596 | 542 | 579 | 641 |
| Natural sciences | 2,308 | 1,982 | 2,044 | 2,233 | 2,456 |
| Biological sciences | 419 | 416 | 398 | 440 | 463 |
| Chemistry | 1,040 | 860 | 918 | 977 | 1,098 |
| Earth & environmental sciences | 184 | 167 | 147 | 172 | 209 |
| Physical sciences | 666 | 539 | 581 | 645 | 686 |
| Social sciences | 5 | 8 | 15 | 59 | 55 |
| Nature & Science | 49 | 60 | 41 | 54 | 59 |
Country/territory benchmarking
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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 Japan.
Collaboration by percentage of Share
Note: Hover over the graph to view collaboration by percentage of Share.
Top 10 collaborators with Japan by Share
Note: Hover over the bars to view details about each institution's Share.
| Collaborating country/territory | Collaborators' Share | Collaboration Score |
|---|---|---|
| China | 363.25 / 788.17 | 1151.42 |
| United States of America (USA) | 413.36 / 722.68 | 1136.04 |
| Germany | 178.23 / 228.86 | 407.10 |
| United Kingdom (UK) | 147.85 / 161.37 | 309.22 |
| France | 113.40 / 122.20 | 235.60 |
| South Korea | 90.85 / 97.54 | 188.39 |
| Taiwan | 90.94 / 64.83 | 155.76 |
| India | 42.58 / 57.05 | 99.63 |
| Singapore | 31.32 / 38.06 | 69.38 |
| Thailand | 24.97 / 13.21 | 38.18 |
View historical country/territory collaboration
Top 10 institutions from Japan by Share
| Institution | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The University of Tokyo (UTokyo) | 1569 | 529.21 |
| 2. Kyoto University | 941 | 320.72 |
| 3. The University of Osaka (UOsaka) | 614 | 203.78 |
| 4. Tohoku University | 821 | 198.61 |
| 5. Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) | 502 | 154.54 |
| 6. RIKEN | 705 | 153.33 |
| 7. Nagoya University | 536 | 149.87 |
| 8. Kyushu University | 424 | 132.63 |
| 9. Hokkaido University | 397 | 128.12 |
| 10. National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) | 512 | 125.90 |
Job finder
Tenure-Track Faculty Positions for Physician-Scientists
Tohoku University invites applications for Tenure-Track Principal Investigator (PI) positions in medicine and dentistry.
Tohoku University
Japan (JP) View detailsTenure-track Assistant Professors
OIST, an international, interdisciplinary graduate university in Japan operating entirely in English, invites applications for Assistant Professors.
OIST Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
Japan (JP) View detailsICYS Principal Investigator and ICYS Research Fellow, NIMS, Japan
The International Center for Young Scientists (ICYS) of the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) invites outstanding researchers to appl...
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)
Tsukuba, Ibaraki (JP) View detailsPostdoctoral Research Fellow in Solid-State Battery Field
Field or Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Solid-State Battery Field Work Description We conduct research on solid-state batteries utilizin...
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)
Tsukuba, Ibakaki (JP) View detailsProfessor in Quantitative Biosciences at the University of Tokyo
The Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (IQB), The University of Tokyo, invites applications for a full professor position.
Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, The University of Tokyo
Tokyo (JP) View detailsView more job listings on Nature Careers.
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Numerical information only (in the tables above) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.