2020 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in Earth & environmental sciences

The 2020 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019.

Table criteria

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Position Institution Share 2018 Share 2019 Count 2019 Change in Share 2018–2019
1 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 155.91 177.29 572
13.7%
2 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 99.34 87.84 301
-11.6%
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 67.20 61.58 524
-8.4%
4 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 57.12 60.90 284
6.6%
5 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 68.92 57.84 155
-16.1%
6 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 44.83 56.87 182
26.9%
7 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) 46.78 55.78 223
19.2%
8 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), United States of America (USA) 42.09 52.50 134
24.7%
9 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 50.99 47.87 199
-6.1%
10 Nanjing University (NJU), China 44.75 44.94 142
0.4%
11 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 48.90 42.94 149
-12.2%
12 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 23.81 42.38 128
78.0%
13 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 30.36 41.38 214
36.3%
14 National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), United States of America (USA) 38.10 38.18 124
0.2%
15 China Meteorological Administration (CMA), China 25.18 37.65 115
49.5%
16 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 36.37 37.03 97
1.8%
17 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 39.11 35.94 190
-8.1%
18 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 27.98 33.98 113
21.5%
19 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 18.43 33.32 121
80.7%
20 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 29.98 32.32 120
7.8%
21 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 31.51 32.17 100
2.1%
22 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 37.82 32.16 106
-15.0%
23 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 33.54 31.67 105
-5.6%
24 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 32.76 31.30 110
-4.5%
25 China University of Geosciences (CUG), China 22.64 31.20 134
37.8%
26 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 30.32 31.12 148
2.7%
27 Colorado State University, United States of America (USA) 22.24 29.38 90
32.1%
28 Max Planck Society, Germany 22.97 26.77 102
16.5%
29 China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB), China 20.30 26.70 113
31.6%
30 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), United States of America (USA) 25.55 26.34 93
3.1%
31 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 28.98 26.24 94
-9.5%
32 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 23.78 26.14 90
9.9%
33 Peking University (PKU), China 30.11 25.64 115
-14.8%
34 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 16.19 25.12 66
55.2%
35 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 24.71 23.75 98
-3.9%
36 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), China 16.72 23.57 95
41.0%
37 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 23.56 22.04 86
-6.5%
38 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 17.67 21.19 65
19.9%
39 Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), China 21.77 21.06 132
-3.2%
40 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 16.87 20.96 84
24.2%
41 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 18.00 20.74 78
15.2%
42 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 16.98 20.21 58
19.0%
43 The University of Arizona (Arizona), United States of America (USA) 24.58 20.20 74
-17.8%
44 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 22.90 20.08 82
-12.3%
45 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 16.56 19.99 67
20.7%
46 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 13.22 19.93 60
50.7%
47 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 15.70 19.87 48
26.6%
48 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 26.79 19.80 80
-26.1%
49 Tsinghua University, China 18.43 19.78 78
7.3%
50 Beijing Normal University (BNU), China 27.85 19.69 88
-29.3%
51 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), United States of America (USA) 26.68 19.45 66
-27.1%
52 Oregon State University, United States of America (USA) 14.74 19.30 76
30.9%
53 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 16.14 18.96 73
17.4%
54 China Earthquake Administration (CEA), China 17.85 18.80 50
5.3%
55 Australian National University (ANU), Australia 22.70 18.66 82
-17.8%
56 University of Alberta (U of A), Canada 12.64 18.50 55
46.4%
57 Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Canada 17.91 18.45 49
3.0%
58 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 16.00 18.26 78
14.1%
59 Leibniz Association, Germany 22.86 18.18 76
-20.5%
60 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan 19.92 17.70 60
-11.2%
61 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 15.59 17.60 67
12.9%
62 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 18.99 17.53 74
-7.7%
63 University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia 14.28 17.33 68
21.4%
64 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 28.05 17.22 97
-38.6%
65 Monash University, Australia 14.49 17.14 61
18.3%
66 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 8.10 17.06 51
110.5%
67 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 12.64 16.93 69
33.9%
68 University of Maryland (UMD), United States of America (USA) 19.78 16.88 108
-14.7%
69 McGill University, Canada 17.19 16.70 67
-2.9%
70 National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Italy 21.05 16.37 53
-22.2%
71 Curtin University, Australia 14.08 16.16 50
14.8%
72 The University of Melbourne (UniMelb), Australia 14.33 15.77 59
10.1%
73 Tohoku University, Japan 13.51 15.74 41
16.5%
74 Kyoto University, Japan 9.98 15.65 42
56.8%
75 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 12.66 15.49 48
22.3%
76 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 11.26 15.47 55
37.4%
77 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 28.04 15.40 57
-45.1%
78 University of Southern California (USC), United States of America (USA) 13.68 15.33 41
12.1%
79 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 13.83 15.28 57
10.5%
80 Earth Sciences New Zealand, New Zealand 14.45 15.26 70
5.6%
81 University of Florida (UF), United States of America (USA) 11.63 15.22 68
30.8%
82 University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Mānoa), United States of America (USA) 15.79 15.21 95
-3.6%
83 The University of Oklahoma (OU), United States of America (USA) 11.99 15.18 75
26.6%
84 University of Reading, United Kingdom (UK) 10.08 15.02 63
49.0%
85 Wuhan University (WHU), China 14.15 14.88 33
5.2%
86 Lanzhou University (LZU), China 14.45 14.61 40
1.1%
87 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 11.54 14.39 52
24.6%
88 French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), France 13.48 14.27 240
5.8%
89 University of California, Riverside (UCR), United States of America (USA) 9.61 14.21 44
47.9%
90 Tongji University, China 15.32 14.07 58
-8.2%
91 Stockholm University, Sweden 13.19 14.06 60
6.6%
92 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 12.40 14.05 65
13.3%
93 The University of Utah (Utah), United States of America (USA) 14.16 14.03 49
-0.9%
94 University of Bergen (UIB), Norway 8.25 13.97 66
69.4%
95 University of Oregon (UO), United States of America (USA) 12.07 13.51 39
11.9%
96 The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia 12.42 13.37 51
7.7%
97 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 11.13 13.20 52
18.6%
98 University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), United States of America (USA) 15.74 13.17 48
-16.3%
99 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 9.43 13.03 51
38.3%
100 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), United States of America (USA) 9.04 12.51 49
38.3%
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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.