2021 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in physical sciences

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 233.36 243.51 976
4.3%
2 Max Planck Society, Germany 205.00 194.53 803
-5.1%
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 163.19 161.93 1193
-0.8%
4 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 120.86 143.52 643
18.7%
5 National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Italy 129.57 143.30 696
10.6%
6 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 136.38 132.45 480
-2.9%
7 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 95.55 101.71 394
6.4%
8 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 102.10 96.76 430
-5.2%
9 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 88.70 93.86 369
5.8%
10 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 86.84 92.23 369
6.2%
11 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 87.87 91.34 475
3.9%
12 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 69.18 84.70 395
22.4%
13 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 77.08 83.44 290
8.3%
14 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 75.52 78.40 345
3.8%
15 Peking University (PKU), China 57.61 76.68 389
33.1%
16 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 65.39 73.60 496
12.6%
17 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 78.11 73.04 238
-6.5%
18 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 66.16 70.60 305
6.7%
19 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 55.40 67.60 401
22.0%
20 Tsinghua University, China 57.76 66.46 375
15.1%
21 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 56.37 63.93 542
13.4%
22 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 56.72 58.65 194
3.4%
23 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 42.97 58.07 265
35.2%
24 Kyoto University, Japan 44.47 57.89 182
30.2%
25 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 51.04 56.75 302
11.2%
26 Nanjing University (NJU), China 52.37 56.33 250
7.6%
27 RIKEN, Japan 39.56 55.61 252
40.6%
28 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 59.89 55.49 256
-7.4%
29 University of Maryland (UMD), United States of America (USA) 59.33 54.46 367
-8.2%
30 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland 51.97 50.16 339
-3.5%
31 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 42.42 49.10 183
15.7%
32 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 53.65 48.14 298
-10.3%
33 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 37.86 47.55 151
25.6%
34 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 60.88 47.30 290
-22.3%
35 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 39.47 46.20 193
17.1%
36 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 44.21 44.64 225
1.0%
37 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 49.95 43.47 144
-13.0%
38 Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI), Canada 40.61 42.57 115
4.8%
39 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 41.46 42.49 206
2.5%
40 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), United States of America (USA) 41.80 42.36 162
1.3%
41 Durham University, United Kingdom (UK) 45.08 42.34 134
-6.1%
42 University of Paris-Saclay, France 42.00 40.74 394
-3.0%
43 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 35.78 39.51 292
10.4%
44 Tohoku University, Japan 36.00 38.78 207
7.7%
45 National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy 29.71 38.15 152
28.4%
46 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 34.52 37.97 201
10.0%
47 Sorbonne University, France 38.10 37.79 425
-0.8%
48 Uppsala University (UU), Sweden 28.86 37.68 152
30.5%
49 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China 15.49 36.57 102
136.0%
50 Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), India 38.67 36.42 158
-5.8%
51 Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (IIT), Israel 25.45 35.58 107
39.8%
52 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 27.19 35.04 177
28.9%
53 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 34.89 35.00 250
0.3%
54 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 46.17 34.84 236
-24.5%
55 Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany 31.79 34.77 188
9.4%
56 Nagoya University, Japan 20.97 34.43 140
64.2%
57 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 27.62 34.05 161
23.3%
58 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 32.71 33.36 174
2.0%
59 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 30.31 33.12 194
9.2%
60 Fudan University, China 31.28 32.72 140
4.6%
61 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), India 30.11 31.80 129
5.6%
62 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 27.71 31.78 92
14.7%
63 State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY Stony Brook), United States of America (USA) 25.76 31.76 223
23.3%
64 The University of Arizona (Arizona), United States of America (USA) 23.86 31.15 218
30.6%
65 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 27.89 30.42 126
9.0%
66 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 32.80 30.21 146
-7.9%
67 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 20.25 29.93 246
47.8%
68 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 21.31 29.83 129
40.0%
69 Beihang University (BUAA), China 31.61 29.77 192
-5.8%
70 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 26.93 29.44 134
9.3%
71 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 18.83 28.93 132
53.6%
72 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 24.57 28.12 87
14.5%
73 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 26.32 27.99 238
6.3%
74 Beijing Normal University (BNU), China 21.68 27.93 81
28.8%
75 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 32.26 27.91 120
-13.5%
76 Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), Spain 27.93 27.69 216
-0.9%
77 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), United States of America (USA) 29.80 27.42 165
-8.0%
78 University of Barcelona (UB), Spain 24.74 27.04 145
9.3%
79 Leibniz Association, Germany 25.83 26.85 211
4.0%
80 The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France 28.12 26.75 360
-4.8%
81 Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), Poland 19.54 26.47 206
35.5%
82 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 23.29 26.38 239
13.3%
83 Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo), Japan 26.09 26.36 143
1.0%
84 Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium 21.47 26.26 78
22.3%
85 National Research Council (CNR), Italy 25.98 26.21 149
0.9%
86 The Ohio State University (OSU), United States of America (USA) 27.23 26.13 256
-4.0%
87 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 28.75 26.03 117
-9.4%
88 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 23.15 26.02 217
12.4%
89 Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), United States of America (USA) 20.91 25.96 71
24.1%
90 University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany 28.88 25.82 174
-10.6%
91 University of Amsterdam (UvA), Netherlands 27.51 25.81 253
-6.2%
92 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 29.77 25.76 138
-13.5%
93 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), United States of America (USA) 30.15 25.73 148
-14.6%
94 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 22.56 25.68 161
13.8%
95 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea 33.54 25.37 67
-24.4%
96 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 15.25 24.84 57
62.9%
97 Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), Russia 18.55 24.63 222
32.8%
98 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 30.59 24.56 164
-19.7%
99 National Taiwan University (NTU), Taiwan 15.71 24.34 131
54.9%
100 Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China 22.48 24.27 60
8.0%
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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.