2019 Research Leaders: Leading government institutions

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 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 1514.51 1695.86 5019
12.0%
2 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 702.72 684.36 4349
-2.6%
3 National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States of America (USA) 380.17 395.29 960
4.0%
4 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 202.45 205.21 1219
1.4%
5 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 186.02 190.38 868
2.3%
6 RIKEN, Japan 153.35 160.73 615
4.8%
7 National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Italy 119.06 135.55 716
13.9%
8 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 135.39 121.85 648
-10.0%
9 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), United States of America (USA) 121.82 120.30 598
-1.2%
10 National Research Council (CNR), Italy 114.32 103.44 510
-9.5%
11 National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), France 97.55 100.41 968
2.9%
12 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), United States of America (USA) 117.67 98.11 358
-16.6%
13 The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France 89.92 94.74 916
5.4%
14 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 89.25 93.99 426
5.3%
15 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom (UK) 99.81 91.81 747
-8.0%
16 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), United States of America (USA) 94.77 90.87 336
-4.1%
17 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), United States of America (USA) 101.18 89.73 254
-11.3%
18 Institute for Basic Science (IBS), South Korea 71.57 88.05 325
23.0%
19 Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), Czech Republic 88.89 87.43 390
-1.6%
20 U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), United States of America (USA) 87.15 83.27 318
-4.5%
21 Academia Sinica, Taiwan 70.44 75.62 360
7.4%
22 People's Liberation Army (PLA), China 61.63 74.43 300
20.8%
23 National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan 73.55 73.25 284
-0.4%
24 Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 81.85 72.41 315
-11.5%
25 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India 96.96 72.01 148
-25.7%
26 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan 62.94 70.14 233
11.4%
27 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland 55.89 69.46 437
24.3%
28 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), United States of America (USA) 67.91 66.39 333
-2.2%
29 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), United States of America (USA) 71.46 64.87 192
-9.2%
30 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) 79.88 64.24 295
-19.6%
31 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), India 49.53 53.25 248
7.5%
32 Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), Poland 55.80 53.17 325
-4.7%
33 European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany 44.55 51.30 222
15.1%
34 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), United States of America (USA) 40.43 50.83 242
25.7%
35 Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland 51.70 46.90 279
-9.3%
36 China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), China 29.45 43.98 180
49.4%
37 National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina 38.13 42.24 270
10.8%
38 Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy 36.97 40.51 144
9.6%
39 Sandia National Laboratories, United States of America (USA) 45.23 40.07 157
-11.4%
40 The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia 39.29 39.24 209
-0.1%
41 National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), France 37.29 37.51 398
0.6%
42 Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Austria 38.23 36.21 295
-5.3%
43 Smithsonian Institution, United States of America (USA) 33.77 35.52 238
5.2%
44 Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), South Korea 40.41 34.99 130
-13.4%
45 Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Hungary 34.14 34.48 307
1.0%
46 National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS), Japan 27.84 34.17 171
22.7%
47 National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy 34.86 32.40 136
-7.1%
48 Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Switzerland 24.41 30.92 95
26.7%
49 Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII), Spain 31.72 29.86 226
-5.9%
50 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), United States of America (USA) 26.69 29.79 155
11.6%
51 NWO-I, the Institutes Organisation of NWO, Netherlands 31.37 29.57 311
-5.7%
52 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, United States of America (USA) 25.79 29.33 350
13.7%
53 National Research Center Kurchatov Institute (NRCKI), Russia 20.84 29.11 343
39.6%
54 China Meteorological Administration (CMA), China 22.96 28.96 105
26.1%
55 French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), France 29.13 28.60 509
-1.8%
56 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States of America (USA) 24.55 27.78 62
13.2%
57 Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), China 14.89 26.09 170
75.3%
58 Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Switzerland 22.01 25.59 88
16.3%
59 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan 21.78 25.59 98
17.5%
60 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), United States of America (USA) 25.67 25.16 76
-2.0%
61 National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Italy 30.02 24.71 62
-17.7%
62 Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), China 26.89 24.10 108
-10.4%
63 High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Japan 19.02 23.66 198
24.4%
64 Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Spain 31.91 23.42 82
-26.6%
65 Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Canada 23.73 23.15 73
-2.4%
66 European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), France 23.27 22.64 130
-2.7%
67 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), United States of America (USA) 19.10 20.78 161
8.8%
68 Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), South Korea 26.73 20.34 58
-23.9%
69 iBRIC+, India 20.42 20.33 50
-0.4%
70 China Earthquake Administration (CEA), China 17.10 19.34 61
13.1%
71 Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), India 17.11 19.25 151
12.5%
72 National Research Council (NRC), Canada 19.92 18.01 82
-9.6%
73 Brazil Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication (MCTIC), Brazil 17.93 17.29 214
-3.6%
74 Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Russia 16.24 16.69 261
2.8%
75 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands 16.13 16.64 122
3.2%
76 Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy 14.61 16.17 155
10.7%
77 National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing (NIBS), China 16.01 16.09 66
0.5%
78 IMDEA Institutes, Spain 12.44 15.90 66
27.8%
79 Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), Japan 13.13 14.99 84
14.2%
80 Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Iran 10.12 14.62 136
44.5%
81 Met Office, United Kingdom (UK) 10.30 14.36 59
39.5%
82 European Southern Observatory (ESO), Germany 10.23 14.04 102
37.2%
83 The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU), Ukraine 10.87 13.13 209
20.8%
84 Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI), India 16.19 12.92 27
-20.2%
85 European Commission (EC), Belgium 7.71 12.70 45
64.8%
86 Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Japan 8.40 11.86 77
41.2%
87 Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), Japan 13.91 11.80 111
-15.2%
88 National Science Foundation (NSF), United States of America (USA) 8.61 11.80 91
36.9%
89 NERC British Antarctic Survey (BAS), United Kingdom (UK) 17.50 11.78 45
-32.7%
90 Jozef Stefan Institute (IJS), Slovenia 14.02 11.77 125
-16.0%
91 NERC National Oceanography Centre (NOC), United Kingdom (UK) 11.53 11.29 72
-2.1%
92 Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), France 8.77 11.08 204
26.4%
93 Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Australia 14.06 10.72 63
-23.7%
94 French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), France 3.73 10.47 77
180.4%
95 New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), United States of America (USA) 4.26 10.33 43
142.6%
96 China Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), China 6.20 9.99 41
61.1%
97 Natural History Museum, United Kingdom (UK) 10.08 9.99 52
-0.9%
98 India Department of Space (DOS), India 13.59 9.97 22
-26.6%
99 National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan 5.44 9.92 43
82.3%
100 Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Finland 3.85 9.77 36
154.0%
Looking for more research output data? Give us feedback on what you are interested in.

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.