2021 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in chemistry

The 2021 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020.

Table criteria

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Position Institution Share 2019 Share 2020 Count 2020 Change in Share 2019–2020
1 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 581.89 573.37 1651
-1.5%
2 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 198.49 173.85 416
-12.4%
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 185.80 171.21 817
-7.9%
4 Max Planck Society, Germany 151.21 165.11 413
9.2%
5 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 140.36 141.07 671
0.5%
6 Nanjing University (NJU), China 146.62 134.20 262
-8.5%
7 Tsinghua University, China 142.69 124.15 328
-13.0%
8 Sichuan University (SCU), China 128.09 118.33 163
-7.6%
9 Peking University (PKU), China 129.42 113.11 398
-12.6%
10 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 112.26 111.72 221
-0.5%
11 Nankai University (NKU), China 127.32 107.62 251
-15.5%
12 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 114.32 105.27 218
-7.9%
13 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 115.43 104.21 201
-9.7%
14 Jilin University (JLU), China 89.03 103.03 210
15.7%
15 Kyoto University, Japan 119.19 101.58 199
-14.8%
16 Soochow University, China 113.85 100.23 180
-12.0%
17 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 91.41 97.04 229
6.2%
18 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 95.97 96.28 172
0.3%
19 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 79.50 93.07 225
17.1%
20 Xiamen University (XMU), China 87.46 91.87 167
5.0%
21 Fudan University, China 84.31 91.23 193
8.2%
22 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 95.52 89.09 184
-6.7%
23 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 106.86 87.75 184
-17.9%
24 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 83.48 87.07 189
4.3%
25 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 103.77 86.37 154
-16.8%
26 Tianjin University (TJU), China 76.29 86.12 266
12.9%
27 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 76.65 85.38 172
11.4%
28 The University of Osaka (UOsaka), Japan 80.90 84.84 141
4.9%
29 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 90.71 84.35 169
-7.0%
30 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 94.76 83.17 341
-12.2%
31 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 46.69 82.83 193
77.4%
32 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China 58.11 82.43 180
41.8%
33 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 91.27 80.63 146
-11.7%
34 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 92.74 78.26 181
-15.6%
35 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea 53.79 73.86 133
37.3%
36 Wuhan University (WHU), China 82.41 72.97 130
-11.4%
37 Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo), Japan 72.93 71.92 127
-1.4%
38 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 58.93 71.49 124
21.3%
39 East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), China 74.64 68.97 137
-7.6%
40 East China Normal University (ECNU), China 60.83 67.44 138
10.9%
41 Lanzhou University (LZU), China 70.02 64.80 133
-7.5%
42 Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China 66.05 63.72 117
-3.5%
43 Leibniz Association, Germany 62.82 63.58 164
1.2%
44 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 43.86 63.29 108
44.3%
45 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 54.24 61.63 127
13.6%
46 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 58.12 61.09 104
5.1%
47 Zhengzhou University (ZZU), China 46.46 61.03 187
31.3%
48 University of Münster (WWU), Germany 54.78 60.35 87
10.2%
49 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 55.16 59.92 236
8.6%
50 South China University of Technology (SCUT), China 67.37 59.76 141
-11.3%
51 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 55.44 59.55 120
7.4%
52 Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea 32.00 59.36 109
85.5%
53 Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), China 77.69 58.38 112
-24.9%
54 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 53.11 57.26 130
7.8%
55 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 55.19 56.58 96
2.5%
56 Hunan University (HNU), China 58.65 54.21 109
-7.6%
57 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 56.68 54.05 108
-4.6%
58 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 53.32 53.45 119
0.2%
59 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 48.41 53.36 84
10.2%
60 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 69.87 52.75 88
-24.5%
61 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 49.10 52.39 116
6.7%
62 Tohoku University, Japan 48.38 52.25 109
8.0%
63 Nagoya University, Japan 44.89 51.78 98
15.4%
64 University of Göttingen, Germany 49.03 50.67 91
3.3%
65 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 59.31 50.43 98
-15.0%
66 RWTH Aachen University (RWTH Aachen), Germany 57.67 50.22 96
-12.9%
67 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 36.08 49.63 93
37.6%
68 Kyushu University, Japan 48.33 49.32 106
2.0%
69 University of Pennsylvania (Penn), United States of America (USA) 56.05 48.98 89
-12.6%
70 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 54.00 48.69 95
-9.8%
71 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 42.40 48.17 201
13.6%
72 Hokkaido University, Japan 55.65 48.06 106
-13.6%
73 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 40.13 47.09 117
17.4%
74 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 54.16 46.92 88
-13.4%
75 Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), China 51.01 44.65 94
-12.5%
76 Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT), China 43.44 44.64 99
2.8%
77 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 51.13 44.62 78
-12.7%
78 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 47.88 44.58 73
-6.9%
79 The Ohio State University (OSU), United States of America (USA) 41.50 44.21 68
6.5%
80 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 50.30 42.89 74
-14.7%
81 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 55.29 42.53 86
-23.1%
82 University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia 36.38 42.28 113
16.2%
83 Shandong University (SDU), China 48.44 41.77 121
-13.8%
84 Dalian University of Technology (DUT), China 51.97 41.46 93
-20.2%
85 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 43.06 41.46 96
-3.7%
86 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia 36.11 40.19 96
11.3%
87 Scripps Research, United States of America (USA) 35.71 40.07 68
12.2%
88 Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), Germany 36.59 40.04 74
9.4%
89 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 32.92 40.04 121
21.6%
90 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), United States of America (USA) 42.25 39.55 203
-6.4%
91 Shaanxi Normal University (SNNU), China 38.26 39.10 62
2.2%
92 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Spain 40.11 39.09 91
-2.5%
93 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India 47.47 39.02 79
-17.8%
94 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), United States of America (USA) 40.74 38.82 51
-4.7%
95 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany 34.78 38.33 95
10.2%
96 Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), China 44.09 38.27 93
-13.2%
97 Southeast University (SEU), China 31.77 38.21 68
20.3%
98 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 41.64 36.96 75
-11.2%
99 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 18.48 36.01 66
94.9%
100 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 35.94 35.69 72
-0.7%
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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.