2022 Research Leaders: Leading institutions in physical 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 243.51 279.74 1067
14.9%
2 Max Planck Society, Germany 194.53 192.58 822
-1.0%
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 161.93 158.16 1204
-2.3%
4 National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Italy 143.30 155.67 748
8.6%
5 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 143.52 143.98 699
0.3%
6 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 132.45 134.58 480
1.6%
7 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 92.23 117.28 443
27.2%
8 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 101.71 101.95 412
0.2%
9 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 91.34 100.50 495
10.0%
10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 96.76 94.97 441
-1.8%
11 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 73.60 93.83 577
27.5%
12 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 93.86 83.01 327
-11.6%
13 Peking University (PKU), China 76.68 80.92 422
5.5%
14 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 70.60 80.69 350
14.3%
15 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 67.60 71.42 397
5.7%
16 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 83.44 70.92 271
-15.0%
17 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 78.40 70.46 297
-10.1%
18 Nanjing University (NJU), China 56.33 69.30 296
23.0%
19 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 84.70 69.28 352
-18.2%
20 Tsinghua University, China 66.46 69.26 373
4.2%
21 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 63.93 66.81 512
4.5%
22 Kyoto University, Japan 57.89 65.20 227
12.6%
23 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 73.04 64.37 202
-11.9%
24 University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), United States of America (USA) 58.65 60.56 191
3.3%
25 University of Maryland (UMD), United States of America (USA) 54.46 60.14 331
10.4%
26 Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), India 36.42 54.40 166
49.4%
27 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 55.49 51.97 228
-6.3%
28 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 56.75 51.58 272
-9.1%
29 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland 50.16 48.23 347
-3.8%
30 Durham University, United Kingdom (UK) 42.34 47.91 162
13.1%
31 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 39.51 47.03 309
19.0%
32 The University of Chicago (UChicago), United States of America (USA) 58.07 46.67 257
-19.6%
33 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 49.10 46.21 170
-5.9%
34 RIKEN, Japan 55.61 45.88 232
-17.5%
35 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 44.64 45.84 234
2.7%
36 Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel 43.47 44.59 141
2.6%
37 Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China 33.36 42.70 219
28.0%
38 University of Paris-Saclay, France 40.74 42.28 424
3.8%
39 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 34.05 41.45 167
21.7%
40 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 46.20 41.35 190
-10.5%
41 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 42.49 40.87 198
-3.8%
42 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 30.42 40.56 174
33.4%
43 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea 25.37 40.30 99
58.9%
44 Tohoku University, Japan 38.78 38.72 188
-0.2%
45 Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI), Canada 42.57 38.68 110
-9.1%
46 State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY Stony Brook), United States of America (USA) 31.76 37.74 228
18.8%
47 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 47.30 37.70 238
-20.3%
48 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 47.55 37.48 163
-21.2%
49 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 48.14 37.32 228
-22.5%
50 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), United States of America (USA) 42.36 36.58 145
-13.6%
51 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 33.12 35.94 192
8.5%
52 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 27.91 35.73 137
28.0%
53 Lanzhou University (LZU), China 18.12 34.09 78
88.2%
54 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 29.93 33.48 226
11.9%
55 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), India 31.80 33.35 137
4.9%
56 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 31.78 33.13 89
4.2%
57 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 26.03 33.13 148
27.3%
58 Beihang University (BUAA), China 29.77 32.25 192
8.3%
59 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 28.12 32.13 134
14.3%
60 Institute for Basic Science (IBS), South Korea 19.36 31.15 100
60.9%
61 Sorbonne University, France 37.79 31.00 413
-18.0%
62 Uppsala University (UU), Sweden 37.68 30.90 167
-18.0%
63 The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France 26.75 30.64 388
14.5%
64 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 35.00 30.40 194
-13.1%
65 University of Lisbon (ULISBOA), Portugal 22.53 30.15 146
33.8%
66 National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan 22.07 30.09 126
36.4%
67 Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany 34.77 30.07 187
-13.5%
68 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 37.97 29.94 177
-21.2%
69 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 35.04 29.61 162
-15.5%
70 Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), United Kingdom (UK) 24.16 29.54 124
22.3%
71 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 30.21 29.53 145
-2.3%
72 Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China 24.27 29.46 62
21.4%
73 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China 36.57 29.29 96
-19.9%
74 RWTH Aachen University (RWTH Aachen), Germany 19.18 29.29 188
52.7%
75 Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), United States of America (USA) 25.96 29.02 82
11.8%
76 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 24.56 29.02 194
18.1%
77 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 25.76 28.89 130
12.2%
78 National Research Council (CNR), Italy 26.21 28.63 155
9.2%
79 Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany 22.82 28.47 197
24.8%
80 Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea 21.83 28.45 141
30.4%
81 University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany 25.82 28.34 208
9.7%
82 Fudan University, China 32.72 27.74 182
-15.2%
83 Nagoya University, Japan 34.43 27.52 145
-20.1%
84 The University of Arizona (Arizona), United States of America (USA) 31.15 27.01 188
-13.3%
85 Leibniz Association, Germany 26.85 26.95 216
0.4%
86 The University of Osaka (UOsaka), Japan 23.52 26.73 148
13.6%
87 King's College London (KCL), United Kingdom (UK) 23.60 26.35 118
11.6%
88 Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India 14.64 26.21 85
79.1%
89 Michigan State University (MSU), United States of America (USA) 11.46 26.15 221
128.2%
90 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), United States of America (USA) 27.42 26.15 178
-4.6%
91 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 26.38 26.08 213
-1.1%
92 University of Bonn (Uni Bonn), Germany 18.65 25.91 183
38.9%
93 University of Valencia (UV), Spain 21.93 25.72 215
17.3%
94 Beijing Normal University (BNU), China 27.93 25.62 70
-8.3%
95 Purdue University, United States of America (USA) 29.83 25.55 118
-14.4%
96 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 25.68 25.52 186
-0.6%
97 The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada 20.57 25.46 146
23.8%
98 Northwestern University (NU), United States of America (USA) 29.44 25.40 117
-13.7%
99 University of Waterloo, Canada 16.33 25.13 72
53.9%
100 Brown University, United States of America (USA) 18.62 25.10 99
34.8%
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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.