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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 South Korea's position overall, regionally, and in subject areas based on their Share. Each position links to the corresponding table where South Korea is listed.
Position by research output Share
Position by research output Share in subject areas
Research
South Korea 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 | 4619 | 2799.38 |
Overall Count and Share for 'South Korea' 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), South Korea published the most articles in these research topics. Learn more about Nature Research Intelligence Topics.
| Topics | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Chemical Engineering | 325 | 233.10 |
| Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry | 332 | 223.36 |
| Physical Chemistry | 303 | 172.30 |
| Nanotechnology | 169 | 131.71 |
| Organic Chemistry | 140 | 118.85 |
| Clinical Sciences | 205 | 109.77 |
| Biomedical Engineering | 133 | 101.55 |
| Electrical Engineering | 132 | 88.39 |
| Oncology and Carcinogenesis | 224 | 84.09 |
Share output for the past 5 years
| Subject area or journal group | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1,592 | 1,647 | 1,672 | 2,579 | 2,827 |
| Applied sciences | 440 | 431 | 457 | 928 | 1,053 |
| Health sciences | 225 | 376 | 398 | 535 | 519 |
| Natural sciences | 924 | 838 | 813 | 1,061 | 1,176 |
| Biological sciences | 119 | 126 | 126 | 167 | 187 |
| Chemistry | 477 | 458 | 419 | 517 | 618 |
| Earth & environmental sciences | 63 | 57 | 50 | 113 | 106 |
| Physical sciences | 264 | 198 | 218 | 264 | 264 |
| Social sciences | 3 | 2 | 4 | 55 | 80 |
| Nature & Science | 16 | 18 | 22 | 16 | 20 |
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 South Korea.
Collaboration by percentage of Share
Note: Hover over the graph to view collaboration by percentage of Share.
Top 10 collaborators with South Korea 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) | 496.67 / 586.63 | 1083.30 |
| China | 230.41 / 493.09 | 723.50 |
| Japan | 97.54 / 90.85 | 188.39 |
| Germany | 76.41 / 83.67 | 160.09 |
| United Kingdom (UK) | 74.52 / 63.15 | 137.68 |
| Vietnam | 7.64 / 5.16 | 12.80 |
| Malaysia | 4.90 / 5.51 | 10.41 |
| Lebanon | 1.27 / 1.11 | 2.38 |
| Andorra | 0.25 / 0.22 | 0.46 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 0.15 / 0.22 | 0.37 |
View historical country/territory collaboration
Top 10 institutions from South Korea by Share
| Institution | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Seoul National University (SNU) | 910 | 337.75 |
| 2. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) | 568 | 260.85 |
| 3. Yonsei University | 651 | 175.03 |
| 4. Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) | 676 | 172.91 |
| 5. Korea University | 612 | 144.44 |
| 6. Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) | 411 | 143.42 |
| 7. Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) | 292 | 115.67 |
| 8. Hanyang University (HYU) | 331 | 99.11 |
| 9. Institute for Basic Science (IBS) | 361 | 79.29 |
| 10. Kyung Hee University (KHU) | 256 | 65.80 |
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