2019 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in biological sciences

The 2019 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018.

Table criteria

Position Institution Share 2017 Share 2018 Count 2018 Change in Share 2017–2018
1 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 261.25 248.28 664
-5.0%
2 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 180.96 203.12 585
12.2%
3 Max Planck Society, Germany 186.06 183.96 540
-1.1%
4 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 148.49 143.49 332
-3.4%
5 National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States of America (USA) 122.92 126.92 310
3.3%
6 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 112.10 111.02 729
-1.0%
7 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 93.14 98.07 298
5.3%
8 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 85.77 94.76 282
10.5%
9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 84.56 90.62 353
7.2%
10 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 90.69 89.55 266
-1.3%
11 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 70.46 89.27 197
26.7%
12 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 66.24 85.06 226
28.4%
13 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 66.75 82.44 205
23.5%
14 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 74.86 81.19 221
8.5%
15 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 81.63 76.61 183
-6.1%
16 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 81.20 76.55 221
-5.7%
17 University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), United States of America (USA) 77.64 76.36 195
-1.7%
18 Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL), United States of America (USA) 69.38 72.60 169
4.6%
19 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 62.31 70.90 207
13.8%
20 University of Pennsylvania (Penn), United States of America (USA) 67.52 69.25 187
2.6%
21 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 74.66 68.81 335
-7.8%
22 Duke University, United States of America (USA) 56.12 66.24 176
18.0%
23 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 68.18 64.70 190
-5.1%
24 Peking University (PKU), China 58.75 63.87 202
8.7%
25 University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States of America (USA) 45.29 61.48 157
35.8%
26 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 42.49 59.78 117
40.7%
27 New York University (NYU), United States of America (USA) 48.41 58.75 141
21.4%
28 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 72.30 58.57 177
-19.0%
29 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 60.36 57.89 150
-4.1%
30 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 50.62 56.96 120
12.5%
31 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 68.28 56.85 125
-16.7%
32 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 45.78 56.04 149
22.4%
33 Scripps Research, United States of America (USA) 37.47 53.15 102
41.8%
34 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 58.67 52.28 153
-10.9%
35 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), United States of America (USA) 54.24 51.22 147
-5.6%
36 Tsinghua University, China 52.13 50.23 170
-3.6%
37 The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia 36.91 49.44 134
33.9%
38 The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern Medical Center), United States of America (USA) 55.20 49.12 89
-11.0%
39 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 46.93 48.97 173
4.4%
40 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 38.51 46.25 107
20.1%
41 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 45.25 45.61 143
0.8%
42 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 29.07 45.54 120
56.7%
43 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 44.09 44.35 139
0.6%
44 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 32.09 44.14 152
37.6%
45 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 49.88 43.50 94
-12.8%
46 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 48.96 43.14 195
-11.9%
47 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 37.87 42.44 86
12.1%
48 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 41.20 41.32 165
0.3%
49 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 31.95 41.31 114
29.3%
50 University of Southern California (USC), United States of America (USA) 33.68 41.31 108
22.6%
51 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 32.39 39.87 253
23.1%
52 The Rockefeller University, United States of America (USA) 45.46 38.96 98
-14.3%
53 McGill University, Canada 35.11 38.43 112
9.5%
54 The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada 29.36 38.20 104
30.1%
55 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 37.96 37.84 63
-0.3%
56 RIKEN, Japan 39.20 37.37 127
-4.7%
57 National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), France 34.30 36.87 349
7.5%
58 Vanderbilt University (VU), United States of America (USA) 46.23 36.51 102
-21.0%
59 University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland 44.34 34.12 127
-23.1%
60 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 32.54 33.43 107
2.7%
61 Fudan University, China 32.20 33.37 97
3.6%
62 The University of Georgia (UGA), United States of America (USA) 26.74 33.11 76
23.8%
63 Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), United States of America (USA) 34.91 32.98 119
-5.5%
64 The University of Osaka (UOsaka), Japan 20.31 32.07 85
57.9%
65 University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), United States of America (USA) 30.97 31.55 87
1.9%
66 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 30.13 31.48 65
4.5%
67 Leibniz Association, Germany 31.69 30.99 167
-2.2%
68 Kyoto University, Japan 39.97 30.93 89
-22.6%
69 Nanjing University (NJU), China 35.30 29.83 64
-15.5%
70 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 16.77 29.63 110
76.7%
71 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 32.07 29.39 115
-8.4%
72 Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden 20.07 29.35 139
46.2%
73 Emory University, United States of America (USA) 28.69 29.31 79
2.2%
74 European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany 26.94 29.21 118
8.4%
75 University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (UMass Chan Medical School), United States of America (USA) 26.77 28.94 92
8.1%
76 Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS), United States of America (USA) 19.46 28.93 109
48.6%
77 Michigan State University (MSU), United States of America (USA) 26.03 28.39 78
9.1%
78 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (RU), United States of America (USA) 31.93 28.36 83
-11.2%
79 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom (UK) 33.26 27.81 116
-16.4%
80 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 17.92 27.67 92
54.4%
81 The Ohio State University (OSU), United States of America (USA) 28.20 27.41 84
-2.8%
82 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 32.87 26.41 80
-19.6%
83 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 26.55 25.95 70
-2.2%
84 The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 33.11 25.64 64
-22.6%
85 The University of Utah (Utah), United States of America (USA) 39.58 25.42 79
-35.8%
86 Indiana University (IU), United States of America (USA) 25.76 25.34 75
-1.6%
87 Monash University, Australia 14.35 24.59 81
71.3%
88 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 24.29 24.36 78
0.3%
89 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), United States of America (USA) 31.87 24.32 81
-23.7%
90 Hunan University (HNU), China 21.46 24.28 33
13.2%
91 University of Groningen (RUG), Netherlands 16.36 24.27 80
48.4%
92 Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), Israel 30.42 24.22 59
-20.4%
93 University of California, Riverside (UCR), United States of America (USA) 25.24 24.02 56
-4.8%
94 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 26.39 23.72 75
-10.1%
95 Arizona State University (ASU), United States of America (USA) 18.19 23.45 54
29.0%
96 University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland 21.96 23.24 80
5.8%
97 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 18.47 22.87 89
23.8%
98 Uppsala University (UU), Sweden 25.20 22.48 100
-10.8%
99 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 17.29 22.18 70
28.3%
100 China Agricultural University (CAU), China 13.63 22.07 50
61.9%
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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.


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