2022 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in Earth & environmental sciences

The 2022 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021.

Table criteria

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Position Institution Share 2020 Share 2021 Count 2021 Change in Share 2020–2021
1 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 192.86 201.08 676
4.3%
2 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 101.86 81.17 281
-20.3%
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 57.90 57.93 477
0.1%
4 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 60.39 52.36 158
-13.3%
5 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 54.92 51.73 228
-5.8%
6 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 36.61 49.59 132
35.4%
7 Nanjing University (NJU), China 49.32 49.07 176
-0.5%
8 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 58.82 48.96 174
-16.8%
9 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) 57.18 43.13 205
-24.6%
10 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 44.98 42.89 241
-4.7%
11 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), United States of America (USA) 46.76 39.93 106
-14.6%
12 China Meteorological Administration (CMA), China 41.91 39.69 137
-5.3%
13 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 44.43 39.44 137
-11.2%
14 Peking University (PKU), China 43.46 38.96 174
-10.4%
15 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 54.36 37.68 136
-30.7%
16 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 35.15 35.95 167
2.3%
17 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 35.85 35.95 91
0.3%
18 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 27.92 34.84 118
24.8%
19 National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), United States of America (USA) 37.73 34.19 123
-9.4%
20 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 34.20 33.83 108
-1.1%
21 China University of Geosciences (CUG), China 32.80 33.65 132
2.6%
22 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 34.06 32.78 97
-3.8%
23 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), China 32.01 32.51 149
1.5%
24 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 27.67 30.82 105
11.4%
25 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 25.07 30.18 111
20.4%
26 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 32.09 30.16 92
-6.0%
27 Colorado State University, United States of America (USA) 28.15 29.47 94
4.7%
28 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 30.75 27.87 95
-9.4%
29 China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB), China 26.90 27.82 108
3.4%
30 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 24.69 27.48 160
11.3%
31 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), United States of America (USA) 23.11 27.03 81
17.0%
32 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 22.99 26.91 75
17.1%
33 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 24.78 26.71 93
7.8%
34 Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), China 27.04 26.32 181
-2.7%
35 Max Planck Society, Germany 24.50 25.07 92
2.3%
36 Beijing Normal University (BNU), China 20.86 24.88 98
19.3%
37 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 28.96 23.78 82
-17.9%
38 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 25.20 23.63 78
-6.2%
39 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 22.86 23.09 96
1.0%
40 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 18.86 22.48 71
19.2%
41 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 30.91 22.15 75
-28.3%
42 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 19.40 21.86 54
12.7%
43 University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Mānoa), United States of America (USA) 19.79 21.40 90
8.1%
44 Australian National University (ANU), Australia 24.21 21.11 63
-12.8%
45 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China 15.09 20.89 73
38.4%
46 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 18.91 20.63 72
9.1%
47 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 8.25 20.57 71
149.4%
48 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 19.01 20.47 85
7.7%
49 The University of Arizona (Arizona), United States of America (USA) 29.32 20.33 79
-30.7%
50 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 14.43 20.29 55
40.6%
51 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 21.11 20.24 78
-4.1%
52 Tsinghua University, China 20.15 19.89 89
-1.3%
53 Lanzhou University (LZU), China 19.50 19.40 54
-0.5%
54 Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Canada 14.57 19.39 55
33.1%
55 University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia 23.69 19.30 54
-18.5%
56 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan 18.60 18.95 67
1.9%
57 National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Italy 17.60 18.77 45
6.6%
58 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 19.67 18.75 46
-4.7%
59 University of California, Riverside (UCR), United States of America (USA) 12.13 18.54 56
52.8%
60 Wuhan University (WHU), China 10.89 18.39 39
68.8%
61 University of Oregon (UO), United States of America (USA) 15.17 18.16 37
19.7%
62 Fudan University, China 19.64 17.77 70
-9.5%
63 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 17.30 17.48 56
1.0%
64 China Earthquake Administration (CEA), China 17.69 17.42 56
-1.5%
65 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), United States of America (USA) 23.14 17.36 80
-25.0%
66 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 17.82 17.14 54
-3.8%
67 University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States of America (USA) 15.18 17.05 59
12.3%
68 Tongji University, China 19.15 16.81 55
-12.2%
69 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 23.26 16.71 66
-28.1%
70 McGill University, Canada 14.70 16.46 72
12.0%
71 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 23.25 16.31 57
-29.8%
72 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 17.56 16.30 73
-7.2%
73 Hokkaido University, Japan 10.11 16.30 41
61.2%
74 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 12.73 16.24 49
27.5%
75 Monash University, Australia 16.75 16.22 46
-3.2%
76 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 17.85 16.21 70
-9.2%
77 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 14.77 15.52 69
5.1%
78 Leibniz Association, Germany 14.51 15.38 81
6.0%
79 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 16.96 15.29 52
-9.8%
80 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 13.45 15.26 48
13.4%
81 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 13.20 15.16 56
14.8%
82 Brown University, United States of America (USA) 14.89 15.14 51
1.7%
83 The University of Oklahoma (OU), United States of America (USA) 17.39 14.93 73
-14.1%
84 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (RU), United States of America (USA) 10.12 13.68 60
35.2%
85 Curtin University, Australia 16.88 13.60 45
-19.4%
86 University of Bayreuth (UBT), Germany 12.76 13.46 35
5.4%
87 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 21.95 13.02 54
-40.7%
88 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 11.94 12.91 51
8.2%
89 Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), Israel 13.76 12.84 38
-6.7%
90 Ocean University of China (OUC), China 11.12 12.82 101
15.3%
91 University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), United States of America (USA) 11.14 12.82 44
15.1%
92 French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), France 12.33 12.80 208
3.8%
93 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 14.38 12.64 65
-12.1%
94 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 7.49 12.26 32
63.6%
95 National Taiwan University (NTU), Taiwan 11.38 11.96 38
5.1%
96 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), United States of America (USA) 7.37 11.93 42
61.8%
97 University of Bern (UniBE), Switzerland 11.44 11.85 45
3.6%
98 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 13.70 11.81 47
-13.8%
99 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States of America (USA) 11.31 11.80 29
4.3%
100 University of Tübingen (Uni Tübingen), Germany 13.03 11.78 40
-9.6%
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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.