2022 Research Leaders: Leading government institutions

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

Table criteria

Position Institution Share 2020 Share 2021 Count 2021 Change in Share 2020–2021
1 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 1841.15 1936.82 6357
5.2%
2 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 682.02 647.16 4396
-5.1%
3 National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States of America (USA) 397.89 406.74 1009
2.2%
4 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 220.94 213.61 1235
-3.3%
5 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States of America (USA) 172.10 173.69 861
0.9%
6 National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Italy 152.63 168.77 811
10.6%
7 RIKEN, Japan 164.34 155.51 658
-5.4%
8 National Research Council (CNR), Italy 104.17 110.43 547
6.0%
9 National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), France 98.08 110.31 1044
12.5%
10 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 117.16 101.72 541
-13.2%
11 National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan 91.91 100.96 397
9.8%
12 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 102.52 97.42 432
-5.0%
13 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), United States of America (USA) 108.98 97.42 559
-10.6%
14 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), United States of America (USA) 100.74 93.11 320
-7.6%
15 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom (UK) 100.28 92.64 732
-7.6%
16 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), United States of America (USA) 100.26 92.27 363
-8.0%
17 Institute for Basic Science (IBS), South Korea 87.07 92.21 348
5.9%
18 Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), Czech Republic 95.10 92.19 469
-3.1%
19 People's Liberation Army (PLA), China 83.44 82.86 456
-0.7%
20 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), United States of America (USA) 91.30 80.75 312
-11.6%
21 Academia Sinica, Taiwan 76.47 76.13 370
-0.4%
22 Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), Poland 74.31 72.68 384
-2.2%
23 The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France 81.76 72.65 843
-11.1%
24 U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), United States of America (USA) 78.66 68.36 280
-13.1%
25 Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 69.46 67.81 313
-2.4%
26 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), United States of America (USA) 73.92 67.77 368
-8.3%
27 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan 76.01 66.85 213
-12.1%
28 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India 53.31 62.45 140
17.1%
29 China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), China 44.28 61.96 252
39.9%
30 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) 75.03 58.30 281
-22.3%
31 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), India 59.66 57.80 200
-3.1%
32 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), United States of America (USA) 74.10 56.14 178
-24.2%
33 Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland 58.31 53.41 261
-8.4%
34 European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany 52.17 50.36 279
-3.5%
35 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland 51.66 48.81 356
-5.5%
36 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), United States of America (USA) 52.45 47.62 188
-9.2%
37 Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), South Korea 42.94 46.03 193
7.2%
38 Sandia National Laboratories, United States of America (USA) 31.80 43.52 144
36.9%
39 China Meteorological Administration (CMA), China 44.42 42.32 156
-4.7%
40 National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina 48.66 41.84 297
-14.0%
41 Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Austria 34.24 41.25 270
20.5%
42 Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), China 38.08 39.87 312
4.7%
43 Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), China 36.79 39.24 175
6.6%
44 Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Hungary 50.46 39.22 285
-22.3%
45 Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Italy 42.60 39.01 181
-8.4%
46 NWO-I, the Institutes Organisation of NWO, Netherlands 32.71 38.76 311
18.5%
47 National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), France 37.57 35.97 429
-4.3%
48 The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia 42.95 32.66 193
-24.0%
49 Smithsonian Institution, United States of America (USA) 32.04 32.46 249
1.3%
50 Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Switzerland 28.32 30.24 88
6.8%
51 National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS), Japan 35.73 30.09 165
-15.8%
52 National Research Center Kurchatov Institute (NRCKI), Russia 23.37 30.07 291
28.7%
53 French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), France 27.07 29.00 544
7.1%
54 Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Switzerland 30.05 28.81 80
-4.1%
55 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, United States of America (USA) 32.84 28.46 364
-13.4%
56 Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII), Spain 36.41 27.60 245
-24.2%
57 National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy 39.60 26.02 149
-34.3%
58 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), United States of America (USA) 23.03 23.57 76
2.3%
59 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States of America (USA) 22.36 23.52 60
5.2%
60 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan 25.29 22.99 87
-9.1%
61 Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Spain 29.63 22.89 77
-22.7%
62 iBRIC+, India 21.31 22.73 57
6.7%
63 Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Canada 22.96 22.55 76
-1.8%
64 High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Japan 29.64 22.17 213
-25.2%
65 Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy 21.17 21.90 185
3.5%
66 Brazil Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication (MCTIC), Brazil 21.37 21.29 152
-0.4%
67 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), United States of America (USA) 19.28 21.22 151
10.0%
68 National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Italy 20.91 21.13 51
1.1%
69 China Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), China 16.05 20.44 102
27.4%
70 India Department of Space (DOS), India 15.57 20.44 53
31.3%
71 China Earthquake Administration (CEA), China 20.29 19.23 73
-5.2%
72 Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI), India 10.76 19.11 34
77.6%
73 National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), India 18.85 18.00 113
-4.5%
74 Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), South Korea 12.91 17.66 56
36.8%
75 Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Russia 16.35 17.37 209
6.2%
76 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands 17.04 17.07 114
0.1%
77 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), United States of America (USA) 15.08 17.00 130
12.7%
78 IMDEA Institutes, Spain 11.46 15.83 61
38.1%
79 Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Iran 18.40 15.77 82
-14.3%
80 Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), Japan 16.86 15.40 88
-8.7%
81 Natural Resources Canada, Canada 12.05 15.01 48
24.6%
82 European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), France 22.98 14.96 98
-34.9%
83 National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing (NIBS), China 18.03 14.74 52
-18.3%
84 National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), Japan 12.56 14.45 42
15.1%
85 Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), India 7.10 14.18 88
99.8%
86 Jozef Stefan Institute (IJS), Slovenia 17.81 13.55 124
-23.9%
87 State Administration for Market Regulation, China 10.09 13.42 43
33.0%
88 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), United States of America (USA) 11.27 13.37 36
18.7%
89 National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC), Taiwan 10.52 13.32 78
26.6%
90 National Research Council (NRC), Canada 14.92 13.29 62
-10.9%
91 Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), China 14.75 13.18 62
-10.7%
92 Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), South Korea 10.51 13.14 50
25.0%
93 Natural History Museum, United Kingdom (UK) 9.01 12.56 67
39.4%
94 Guangdong Academy of Sciences (GDAS), China 9.40 12.30 46
30.9%
95 NERC British Antarctic Survey (BAS), United Kingdom (UK) 11.60 12.06 53
3.9%
96 Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), Japan 13.87 11.66 113
-15.9%
97 French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), France 9.48 11.49 92
21.2%
98 Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Australia 12.69 11.44 85
-9.9%
99 Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), United States of America (USA) 7.60 10.98 58
44.5%
100 Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP), India 8.54 10.69 93
25.2%
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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.


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