2018 Research Leaders: Leading corporate institutions

The 2018 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017.

Table criteria

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Position Institution Share 2016 Share 2017 Count 2017 Change in Share 2016–2017
1 Roche, Switzerland 43.91 53.08 114
20.9%
2 IBM, United States of America (USA) 42.90 47.71 111
11.2%
3 Novartis, Switzerland 41.28 41.43 128
0.4%
4 Merck & Co, United States of America (USA) 29.74 35.51 73
19.4%
5 AstraZeneca, United Kingdom (UK) 32.19 30.13 130
-6.4%
6 Pfizer, United States of America (USA) 26.66 23.24 70
-12.8%
7 Earth Sciences New Zealand, New Zealand 16.45 21.08 100
28.1%
8 GSK, United Kingdom (UK) 17.92 16.67 68
-7.0%
9 Bristol-Myers Squibb, United States of America (USA) 8.23 16.34 45
98.5%
10 Samsung Group, South Korea 19.37 15.03 65
-22.4%
11 Amgen, United States of America (USA) 19.97 14.68 54
-26.5%
12 Microsoft, United States of America (USA) 11.06 11.60 63
4.9%
13 Johnson & Johnson, United States of America (USA) 7.77 10.64 38
37.0%
14 Dow, United States of America (USA) 8.33 10.55 28
26.6%
15 Lilly, United States of America (USA) 9.79 9.38 32
-4.3%
16 Alphabet, United States of America (USA) 11.58 9.31 29
-19.6%
17 CanSinoBIO, China 6.18 8.83 50
42.9%
18 AbbVie, United States of America (USA) 2.23 8.55 21
283.2%
19 Toyota, Japan 12.79 8.38 19
-34.5%
20 Toshiba, Japan 7.30 7.91 14
8.4%
21 BASF, Germany 11.07 7.88 45
-28.7%
22 ExxonMobil, United States of America (USA) 7.32 7.82 24
6.9%
23 Thermo Fisher Scientific, United States of America (USA) 8.53 7.62 42
-10.7%
24 Bruker, United States of America (USA) 5.14 7.32 40
42.2%
25 NTT, Japan 16.61 7.11 12
-57.2%
26 Biogen, United States of America (USA) 4.54 6.96 20
53.1%
27 BGI, China 5.58 6.54 31
17.2%
28 Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany 10.84 6.37 23
-41.2%
29 SSAI, United States of America (USA) 6.84 5.88 31
-14.0%
30 Novo Nordisk, Denmark 4.36 5.86 15
34.4%
31 Sanofi, France 5.32 5.48 32
3.1%
32 Takeda, Japan 2.69 4.98 19
85.3%
33 NorthWest Research Associates (NWRA), United States of America (USA) 1.74 4.98 24
186.6%
34 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, United States of America (USA) 4.57 4.95 16
8.2%
35 Eisai, Japan 2.27 4.86 10
114.1%
36 Hitachi, Japan 4.56 4.82 26
5.7%
37 Sinochem Holdings, China 3.18 4.67 17
47.0%
38 Chevron, United States of America (USA) 3.29 4.66 26
41.3%
39 GATS, United States of America (USA) 2.22 4.58 13
106.5%
40 Leidos, United States of America (USA) 5.39 4.27 60
-20.7%
41 China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), China 1.44 4.26 34
195.8%
42 Western Digital, United States of America (USA) 5.23 4.20 11
-19.7%
43 UCB, Belgium 1.56 4.16 19
166.7%
44 Thales, France 6.08 4.11 29
-32.5%
45 Jinchuan Group, China 1.74 4.09 21
134.8%
46 Merck Group, Germany 4.17 3.82 17
-8.4%
47 HP, United States of America (USA) 6.66 3.76 7
-43.5%
48 Bayer, Germany 6.90 3.75 26
-45.7%
49 Human Longevity, Inc., United States of America (USA) 0.99 3.74 8
278.2%
50 New England Biolabs, United States of America (USA) 2.90 3.63 8
25.1%
51 Schlumberger Limited, United States of America (USA) 1.69 3.58 11
111.5%
52 Ionis Pharmaceuticals, United States of America (USA) 4.24 3.45 18
-18.7%
53 Nestlé, Switzerland 3.43 3.41 15
-0.5%
54 China National Tobacco Company (CNTC), China 0.43 3.29 15
658.9%
55 Waters, United States of America (USA) 2.18 3.27 12
50.2%
56 Agilent, United States of America (USA) 2.51 3.24 16
29.0%
57 Illumina, United States of America (USA) 2.71 3.21 14
18.4%
58 CeNTech, Germany 3.62 2.95 13
-18.6%
59 Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation (MCHC), Japan 3.68 2.93 20
-20.5%
60 Danaher, United States of America (USA) 1.59 2.89 9
81.2%
61 Shell, United Kingdom (UK) 4.69 2.88 14
-38.5%
62 Solvay S.A., Belgium 1.59 2.86 12
79.4%
63 Airbus SE, Netherlands 0.88 2.83 11
219.8%
64 DSM-Firmenich, Switzerland 3.80 2.82 16
-25.7%
65 China Academy of Sciences Chengdu Organic Chemicals Co., Ltd., China 1.92 2.72 7
42.0%
66 Equinor, Norway 0.43 2.69 6
526.8%
67 HRL Laboratories LLC, United States of America (USA) 5.75 2.63 8
-54.3%
68 KWR Water Research Institute, Netherlands 2.31 2.62 9
13.8%
69 NORCE, Norway 3.22 2.57 46
-20.4%
70 Intel, United States of America (USA) 2.43 2.56 22
5.5%
71 NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., United States of America (USA) 0.64 2.54 3
295.2%
72 Rigaku, Japan 0.92 2.48 14
168.0%
73 Unilever, United Kingdom (UK) 1.86 2.46 18
32.2%
74 Infineon Technologies, Germany 0.06 2.43 5
4,275.0%
75 JEOL, Japan 3.10 2.43 18
-21.8%
76 Jacobs, United States of America (USA) 1.70 2.40 26
41.6%
77 Viridos, Inc., United States of America (USA) 1.40 2.30 3
64.6%
78 Foundation Medicine, Inc., United States of America (USA) 1.04 2.27 4
117.7%
79 South Australian Water Corporation (SA Water), Australia 1.26 2.23 6
77.4%
80 Sony, Japan 1.05 2.21 3
111.1%
81 Northrop Grumman, United States of America (USA) 1.75 2.19 21
25.1%
82 DuPont, United States of America (USA) 6.28 2.18 13
-65.3%
83 Lockheed Martin, United States of America (USA) 1.37 2.16 16
58.3%
84 Haldor Topsøe A/S, Denmark 2.13 2.14 7
0.4%
85 Johnson Matthey (JM), United Kingdom (UK) 2.02 2.12 13
4.6%
86 Philips, Netherlands 0.84 2.05 18
144.8%
87 Aerodyne Research, United States of America (USA) 1.91 2.03 15
6.5%
88 Nokia, Finland 1.22 2.03 11
66.6%
89 FujiFilm Corporation, Japan 0.45 2.02 15
347.0%
90 10x Genomics, United States of America (USA) 1.12 2.01 4
78.7%
91 Soraa Inc., United States of America (USA) 2.00 2.00 2
0.0%
91 Seattle Genetics, Inc., United States of America (USA) 3.03 2.00 2
-33.9%
92 China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), China 1.44 1.97 6
37.1%
93 Shimadzu, Japan 3.17 1.97 11
-37.8%
94 TotalEnergies, France 1.93 1.90 7
-1.7%
95 CSSC, China 1.26 1.89 62
49.7%
96 Panasonic, Japan 1.87 1.77 6
-5.3%
97 SABIC, Saudi Arabia 1.04 1.76 7
69.7%
98 Alnylam, United States of America (USA) 0.55 1.76 4
222.6%
99 Adaptive Biotechnologies LLC, United States of America (USA) 0.32 1.75 8
451.4%
100 Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia 0.68 1.72 9
153.0%
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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 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/territory’s publication output in 82 high-quality natural science publications. The publications were chosen by an independent group of researchers. The list is reviewed periodically and journals may be removed or added.
  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 the data in the above table is published 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 research leaders tables.

Research Leaders tables from previous years are also updated annually to reflect any changes to the database. This means rankings and metrics may differ from the table when first released.


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