Nature Index

The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries/territories and their scientific output since its introduction in November, 2014.^[1] Originally released with 64 natural-science journals, the Nature Index expanded to 82 natural-science journals in 2018, then added 64 health-science journals in 2023. Each year, Nature Index ranks the leading institutions (which can be companies, universities, government agencies, research institutes, or NGOs) and countries by the number of scientific articles and papers published in leading journals. This ranking can also be categorized by individual fields of research such as life sciences, chemistry, physics, or earth sciences, with different institutions leading in each. The Nature Index was conceived by Nature Portfolio. In total, more than 17,000 institutions are listed in the Nature Index.

Methodology[edit]

The Nature Index attempts to objectively measure the scientific output of institutions and countries, taking into account differences in quality. Therefore, only articles published in 145 selected high-quality journals are counted. These journals were selected by independent committees. If authors from several institutions and/or countries are involved in a scientific article, it is divided accordingly, assuming that all researchers were equally involved in the article. For example, this "fractional count" (Share) received by each author would be 0.1 for an article with 10 authors. If an author is affiliated with more than one institution, that author's Share is then subdivided equally across their affiliated institutions. The process is similar for countries/territories and regions, though the fact that some institutions have overseas labs makes the process more complicated, with such labs being counted towards their appropriate host countries.^[2]^[3]

Top institutions[edit]

The top 25 institutions with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals according to the Nature Index 2023, which is valid for the calendar year 2022:^[4]

Rank	Institution	Country	Total share
1	Chinese Academy of Sciences	China	2.065%
2	Harvard University	United States	1.162%
3	Max Planck Society	Germany	0.686%
4	French National Centre for Scientific Research	France	0.622%
5	University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences	China	0.590%
6	Stanford University	United States	0.587%
7	University of Science and Technology of China	China	0.567%
8	Nanjing University	China	0.562%
9	Peking University	China	0.557%
10	Tsinghua University	China	0.524%
11	Helmholtz Association	Germany	0.512%
12	Zhejiang University	China	0.476%
13	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	0.473%
14	National Institutes of Health	United States	0.442%
15	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China	0.435%
16	Sun Yat-sen University	China	0.435%
17	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	0.428%
18	Fudan University	China	0.426%
19	University of Oxford	United Kingdom	0.420%
20	University of Tokyo	Japan	0.394%
21	Yale University	United States	0.381%
22	University of Pennsylvania	United States	0.372%
23	University of Michigan	United States	0.366%
24	University of Toronto	Canada	0.361%
25	ETH Zurich	Switzerland	0.352%

Top countries[edit]

The countries with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals according to the Nature Index 2024, which is valid for the calendar year 2023.^[5]^{[dubious – discuss]}

Rank	Country or Territory	Count	Share	Population	Count per million people	Share per ten million people
1	China	27736	23171.84	1,409,670,000	20	164
2	United States	29165	20292.72	335,893,238	87	604
3	Germany	9347	4318.69	84,607,016	110	510
4	United Kingdom	8880	3701.99	67,596,281	131	548
5	Japan	5161	2956.75	124,000,000	42	238
6	France	5453	2243.92	68,394,000	80	328
7	Canada	4239	1702.32	40,769,890	104	418
8	South Korea	2776	1630.99	51,293,934	54	318
9	India	2334	1494.27	1,400,744,000	2	11
10	Switzerland	3695	1393.3	8,960,817	412	1555
11	Italy	3653	1313.44	58,972,268	62	223
12	Australia	3518	1263.44	26,821,557	131	471
13	Spain	3651	1247.25	48,592,909	75	257
14	Netherlands	3231	1153.45	17,967,505	180	642
15	Sweden	2391	769.37	10,549,287	227	729
16	Denmark	1933	652.4	5,961,249	324	1094
17	Israel	1448	611.49	9,880,000	147	619
18	Singapore	1424	542.59	5,917,600	241	917
19	Belgium	1576	471.74	11,820,117	133	399
20	Taiwan	1150	423.67	23,420,442	49	181
21	Austria	1391	401.22	9,159,993	152	438
22	Russia	915	379.67	146,150,789	6	26
23	Poland	1257	331.74	37,620,000	33	88
24	Brazil	1102	293.88	203,080,756	5	14
25	Finland	947	276.88	5,574,011	170	497
26	Norway	1002	259.01	5,550,203	181	467
27	Czech Republic	875	207.08	10,900,555	80	190
28	Portugal	644	137.06	10,467,366	62	131
29	New Zealand	496	135.65	5,305,600	93	256
30	Saudi Arabia	456	132.74	32,175,224	14	41
31	Ireland	632	123.38	5,281,600	120	234
32	Iran	285	115.77	84,055,000	3	14
33	Chile	618	115.7	19,960,889	31	58
34	South Africa	603	104.67	62,027,503	10	17
35	Turkey	581	103.93	85,372,377	7	12
36	Hungary	496	94.55	9,584,000	52	99
37	Argentina	441	85.51	46,654,581	9	18
38	Mexico	438	85.22	129,625,968	3	7
39	Greece	536	82.79	10,413,982	51	79
40	Thailand	368	62.36	66,090,475	6	9
41	Slovenia	289	48.81	2,123,103	136	230
42	Pakistan	276	40.28	241,499,431	1	2
43	United Arab Emirates	270	37.76	9,282,410	29	41
44	Vietnam	115	36.21	100,300,000	1	4
45	Croatia	211	34.13	3,855,641	55	89
46	Estonia	215	33.58	1,366,491	157	246
47	Ukraine	274	30.35	36,700,000	7	8
48	Romania	342	29.58	19,051,562	18	16
49	Iceland	113	29.53	383,726	294	770
50	Luxembourg	90	29.49	672,020	134	439
51	Colombia	345	24.2	52,695,952	7	5
52	Malaysia	183	21.02	33,379,500	5	6
53	Kenya	120	19.95	51,526,000	2	4
54	Uganda	80	19.4	45,562,000	2	4
55	Cyprus	154	18.58	918,100	168	202
56	Slovakia	214	17.24	5,424,687	39	32
57	Egypt	205	17.16	104,462,545	2	2
58	Lithuania	135	15.63	2,886,515	47	54
59	Indonesia	112	14.14	279,118,866	0	1
60	Peru	136	13.17	33,725,844	4	4
61	Qatar	92	12.76	2,656,032	35	48
62	Bulgaria	197	12.75	6,447,710	31	20
63	Ecuador	114	12.55	16,938,986	7	7
64	Latvia	100	10.72	1,872,500	53	57
65	Ethiopia	61	10.4	107,334,000	1	1
66	Bangladesh	73	10.24	169,828,911	0	1
67	Serbia	219	9.98	6,641,197	33	15
68	Morocco	148	9.19	37,022,000	4	2
69	Tanzania	76	9.15	61,741,120	1	1
70	Nigeria	60	8.9	223,800,000	0	0
71	Ghana	43	8.11	30,832,019	1	3
72	Uzbekistan	48	6.97	36,963,262	1	2
73	Uruguay	34	6.81	3,444,263	10	20
74	Lebanon	41	6.15	5,490,000	7	11
75	Panama	41	6.02	4,064,780	10	15
76	Malawi	35	5.93	21,507,723	2	3
77	Oman	22	5.75	5,113,071	4	11
78	Kazakhstan	35	5.43	20,075,271	2	3
79	Costa Rica	38	4.92	5,262,225	7	9
80	Georgia	190	4.83	3,736,400	51	13
81	Philippines	135	4.44	112,892,781	1	0
82	Burkina Faso	25	4.41	22,752,315	1	2
83	Zambia	32	4.36	19,610,769	2	2
84	Armenia	116	4.33	2,993,800	39	14
85	Rwanda	19	4.29	13,246,394	1	3
86	Mozambique	30	4.11	32,419,747	1	1
87	Jordan	21	4.1	11,516,000	2	4
88	Nepal	40	3.99	29,164,578	1	1
89	Zimbabwe	29	3.75	15,178,979	2	2
90	Congo	28	3.51	95,370,000	0	0
91	Mali	15	3.44	22,395,489	1	2
92	Malta	31	3.31	519,562	60	64
93	Macedonia	26	3.03	1,832,696	14	17
94	Gambia	21	2.93	2,417,471	9	12
95	Cuba	49	2.83	11,089,511	4	3
96	Belarus	17	2.73	9,200,617	2	3
97	Tunisia	17	2.73	11,850,232	1	2
98	Azerbaijan	135	2.72	10,151,517	13	3
99	Mongolia	77	2.57	3,457,548	22	7
100	Myanmar	16	2.48	55,770,232	0	0
101	Madagascar	17	2.4	26,923,353	1	1
102	Cameroon	27	2.35	28,088,845	1	1
103	Sri Lanka	84	2.22	22,037,000	4	1
104	North Korea	4	2.22	25,660,000	0	1
105	Senegal	13	2.22	18,275,743	1	1
106	Botswana	15	1.9	2,410,338	6	8
107	French Polynesia	12	1.86	279,890	43	66
108	Cambodia	8	1.79	17,091,464	0	1
109	Benin	17	1.78	12,606,998	1	1
110	Ivory Coast	19	1.69	29,389,150	1	1
111	Monaco	12	1.63	38,367	313	425
112	International	18	1.57	8,104,267,000	0	0
113	Nicaragua	8	1.4	6,733,763	1	2
114	Algeria	7	1.38	45,400,000	0	0
115	Liberia	8	1.34	5,248,621	2	3
116	Guatemala	19	1.26	17,602,431	1	1
117	Namibia	11	1.25	3,022,401	4	4
118	Venezuela	20	1.24	28,302,000	1	0
119	Kuwait	75	1.23	4,670,713	16	3
120	Greenland	10	1.16	56,865	176	204
121	Bolivia	17	1.12	12,006,031	1	1
122	Vanuatu	3	1.05	301,295	10	35
123	Haiti	11	1	11,743,017	1	1
124	Syria	1	1	22,923,000	0	0
125	Iraq	12	0.99	43,324,000	0	0
126	Sierra Leone	6	0.79	8,494,260	1	1
127	Paraguay	9	0.78	6,109,644	1	1
128	Niger	5	0.76	25,369,415	0	0
129	Mauritius	10	0.66	1,261,041	8	5
130	Laos	9	0.64	7,443,000	1	1
131	Guinea-Bissau	1	0.58	1,781,308	1	3
132	Togo	6	0.51	8,095,498	1	1
133	Lesotho	5	0.51	2,306,000	2	2
134	Kyrgyzstan	6	0.48	7,100,000	1	1
135	Tajikistan	4	0.47	10,077,600	0	0
136	Angola	5	0.44	34,094,077	0	0
137	Jamaica	7	0.41	2,825,544	2	1
138	Palestinian territories	50	0.41	5,483,450	9	1
139	Kosovo	3	0.39	1,762,220	2	2
140	South Sudan	1	0.36	14,746,494	0	0
141	Bahamas	4	0.36	397,360	10	9
142	Sudan	7	0.35	41,984,500	0	0
143	Dominican Republic	9	0.34	10,760,028	1	0
144	Somalia	2	0.34	18,143,379	0	0
145	Seychelles	10	0.32	100,447	100	32
146	Moldova	8	0.32	2,512,758	3	1
147	Guinea	3	0.3	13,261,638	0	0
148	Bahrain	6	0.29	1,577,059	4	2
149	Fiji	6	0.29	893,468	7	3
150	Eritrea	2	0.29	3,748,902	1	1
151	Yemen	4	0.29	31,888,698	0	0
152	Reunion	5	0.28	885,700^[6]	6	3
153	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	3	0.24	110,872	27	22
154	Andorra	5	0.24	85,101	59	28
155	Antigua and Barbuda	3	0.23	100,772	30	23
156	Brunei	7	0.23	445,400	16	5
157	Maldives	3	0.2	515,132	6	4
158	Papua New Guinea	6	0.18	11,781,559	1	0
159	East Timor	3	0.17	1,354,662	2	1
160	Trinidad and Tobago	7	0.17	1,367,510	5	1
161	Cape Verde	6	0.15	491,233	12	3
162	Afghanistan	1	0.14	34,262,840	0	0
163	Montenegro	60	0.14	616,695	97	2
164	Honduras	34	0.12	9,745,149	3	0
165	Albania	7	0.12	2,761,785	3	0
166	El Salvador	5	0.11	6,884,888	1	0
167	Liechtenstein	4	0.1	40,023	100	25
168	Martinique	1	0.1	349,925^[6]	3	3
169	Vatican City State (Holy See)	5	0.09	764	6545	1178
170	Swaziland	2	0.09	1,223,362	2	1
171	Guadeloupe	2	0.09	378,561^[6]	5	2
172	Bosnia and Herzegovina	7	0.09	3,277,082	2	0
173	Palau	2	0.08	16,733	120	48
174	Tonga	2	0.07	100,179	20	7
175	Guyana	7	0.07	743,699	9	1
176	Libya	2	0.07	6,931,061	0	0
177	Samoa	7	0.06	205,557	34	3
178	Bhutan	3	0.06	770,276	4	1
179	Faroe Islands	2	0.05	54,547	37	9
180	Grenada	2	0.05	112,579	18	4
181	Comoros	1	0.05	758,316	1	1
182	Burundi	2	0.02	12,837,740	0	0
183	Barbados	5	0.02	267,800	19	1
184	Suriname	3	0.02	616,500	5	0
185	Saint Lucia	1	0.01	47,195	21	2
185	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	0.01	178,696	6	1
186	Gabon	2	0.01	2,233,272	1	0
187	Kiribati	1	0.01	120,740	8	1
188	Netherlands Antilles	1	0	337,617 (as of January 2019)^[7]^{[failed verification]}	3	0
189	Dominica	1	0	67,408	15	0
190	Solomon Islands	2	0	734,887	3	0
191	Cook Islands	1	0	15,040	66	0
192	San Marino	1	0	33,916	29	0
193	Belize	1	0	397,483	3	0
193	Turkmenistan	1	0	7,057,841	0	0