2017 tables: Institutions - biological sciences

The 2017 tables are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016.

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# Institution Share 2015 Share 2016 Count 2016 Change in Adjusted Share* 2015–2016
1 Max Planck Society, Germany 257.46 280.92 933 12.2%
2 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 107.41 113.31 627 8.5%
3 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 54.53 53.44 253 0.8%
4 Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany 55.94 49.24 206 -9.5%
5 Leibniz Association, Germany 51.47 47.96 276 -4.2%
6 European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany 44.35 42.31 216 -1.9%
7 University of Tübingen (Uni Tübingen), Germany 41.26 38.42 169 -4.2%
8 University of Göttingen, Germany 33.14 36.22 126 12.4%
9 University of Cologne (UoC), Germany 25.46 36.19 133 46.1%
10 University of Freiburg (Uni Freiburg), Germany 46.62 33.46 136 -26.2%
11 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 22.98 32.33 199 44.7%
12 Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin), Germany 28.52 31.43 231 13.3%
13 University of Bonn (Uni Bonn), Germany 32.70 29.90 133 -5.9%
14 Goethe University Frankfurt (GU), Germany 24.52 29.56 99 24.0%
15 Humboldt University of Berlin (HU Berlin), Germany 22.42 26.34 223 20.8%
16 University of Münster (WWU), Germany 22.36 25.67 106 18.0%
17 University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany 23.40 25.53 113 12.2%
18 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 19.50 24.68 97 30.2%
19 TU Dresden, Germany 17.16 17.60 115 5.5%
20 Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), Germany 20.53 16.60 95 -16.8%
21 Hannover Medical School (MHH), Germany 14.57 16.56 74 16.9%
22 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany 22.18 14.55 70 -32.5%
23 Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany 14.99 13.41 60 -8.0%
24 Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Germany 14.90 13.26 53 -8.5%
25 Ulm University, Germany 16.45 13.01 67 -18.7%
26 University of Regensburg (UR), Germany 11.54 12.06 52 7.5%
27 Leipzig University, Germany 12.97 11.85 88 -6.1%
28 University of Kiel (CAU), Germany 12.15 11.76 95 -0.5%
29 Saarland University (Saar-Uni), Germany 9.97 9.99 36 3.0%
30 Philipps University of Marburg (Uni Marburg), Germany 18.63 8.35 47 -53.9%
31 University of Potsdam, Germany 6.40 7.68 36 23.4%
32 RWTH Aachen University (RWTH Aachen), Germany 6.22 7.62 62 26.0%
33 Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU), Germany 8.37 7.50 63 -7.9%
34 Technical University Braunschweig (TU Braunschweig), Germany 4.77 7.08 22 52.8%
35 University of Konstanz, Germany 9.84 6.95 28 -27.4%
36 University of Lübeck, Germany 5.38 6.52 81 24.6%
37 Giessen University (JLU), Germany 5.37 6.43 29 23.0%
38 University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Germany 10.73 6.29 61 -39.7%
39 Bielefeld University, Germany 5.08 5.98 21 21.0%
40 Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Germany 3.85 4.77 49 27.5%
41 Technical University of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt), Germany 2.76 4.76 16 77.4%
42 University of Osnabrück (Uni Osnabrück), Germany 3.81 4.44 15 19.6%
43 Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg (OVGU), Germany 4.84 4.31 28 -8.4%
44 Bayer AG, Germany 0.74 4.02 20 459.3%
45 University of Oldenburg, Germany 3.87 3.78 14 0.6%
46 C. H. Boehringer Sohn AG & Co. KG (Boehringer Ingelheim), Germany 1.34 3.69 9 183.8%
47 University of Bayreuth (UBT), Germany 5.00 3.29 11 -32.2%
48 University of Greifswald, Germany 5.20 3.24 30 -35.8%
49 Institute of Molecular Biology gGmbH (IMB), Germany 4.39 2.95 10 -31.0%
50 University of Kaiserslautern (TU Kaiserslautern), Germany 2.23 2.84 10 30.6%
51 University of Hohenheim, Germany 3.33 2.71 7 -16.2%
52 Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), Germany 0.01 2.57 8 27363.3%
53 University of Stuttgart, Germany 3.20 2.34 10 -24.7%
54 Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), Germany 1.35 2.34 15 78.1%
55 Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Germany 3.14 2.05 19 -33.0%
56 Germany Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), Germany 0.84 2.05 17 150.7%
57 University of Rostock, Germany 1.84 2.02 12 12.8%
58 BASF SE, Germany 0.77 1.72 3 130.8%
59 Merck KGaA, Germany 1.15 1.68 7 50.4%
60 University of Bremen (Uni Bremen), Germany 1.52 1.57 10 6.4%
61 Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience (BCCN), Germany 0.65 1.52 30 139.4%
62 Fraunhofer Society, Germany 0.73 1.49 18 110.4%
63 Georg-Speyer-Haus - Institute for Tumor Biology and Experimental Therapy, Germany 1.18 1.44 10 25.2%
64 Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI), Germany 0.69 1.30 19 92.8%
65 University of Kassel, Germany 1.69 1.27 3 -22.5%
66 German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Germany 0.40 1.12 29 186.4%
67 Center of Advanced European Studies and Research (CAESAR), Germany 3.46 1.05 7 -68.6%
68 Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, Germany 0.58 0.94 12 66.2%
69 University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo), Germany 1.11 0.90 5 -16.2%
70 Siemens AG, Germany 0.03 0.81 10 2843.5%
71 Life & Brain GmbH, Germany 0.48 0.77 11 64.3%
72 The German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Germany 0.85 0.76 16 -7.8%
73 German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Germany 1.56 0.76 52 -50.4%
74 Bavarian Natural History Collections (SNSB), Germany 1.11 0.62 7 -42.4%
75 Constructor University, Germany 2.46 0.62 4 -74.0%
76 German Sport University Cologne (GSU), Germany 0.28 0.61 5 121.9%
77 Miltenyi Biotec GmbH, Germany – 0.60 4 N/A
78 SYGNIS Pharma AG, Germany 0.04 0.60 1 1319.2%
79 Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), Germany 0.44 0.56 12 29.7%
80 Carl Zeiss AG, Germany 0.09 0.55 6 547.8%
81 BioNTech AG, Germany 0.06 0.53 1 880.7%
82 Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus - Senftenberg (BTU), Germany 0.17 0.50 1 208.5%
82 Deutsche Post Foundation, Germany 0.23 0.50 2 127.6%
83 Dietmar Hopp Stiftung gGmbH, Germany 0.45 0.46 5 6.0%
84 TU Dortmund University, Germany 1.06 0.45 4 -56.5%
85 PicoQuant GmbH, Germany – 0.44 1 N/A
86 AiCuris GmbH & Co. KG, Germany 0.08 0.43 1 428.9%
87 University of Hagen, Germany – 0.42 1 N/A
88 Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), Germany 0.36 0.40 3 12.8%
89 Medizinisches Laserzentrum Lübeck GmbH, Germany – 0.39 1 N/A
89 LOEWE Research Initiatives Network, Germany – 0.39 1 N/A
90 Bundeswehr, Germany 0.11 0.38 12 254.6%
91 Thünen Institute, Germany 0.00 0.38 3 10133.6%
92 Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany – 0.38 2 N/A
93 Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da), Germany – 0.33 1 N/A
94 Asklepios Kliniken GmbH, Germany 0.26 0.32 14 27.9%
95 Center for Research on Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at Risk (IDeA), Germany – 0.30 3 N/A
96 Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS), Germany 0.08 0.29 2 259.9%
97 Targenomix, Germany – 0.29 1 N/A
98 Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung Eberswalde (HNE Eberswalde), Germany – 0.28 1 N/A
99 Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H), Germany 0.10 0.27 1 180.5%
100 Natural and Medical Sciences Institute (NMI), Germany – 0.25 3 N/A

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’s publication output in 82 natural-science journals through 2022, in 2023 64 health-science journals were added to the Index. The 146 journals in the Nature Index were selected on reputation by an independent panel of leading scientists in their fields.
  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 available 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 frozen annual tables.

*The change in adjusted Share accounts for the small annual variation in the total number of articles in Nature Index journals. Share values have been adjusted to 2022 levels to calculate the percentage change. For more information on the adjustment, please see the Adjusted metric explainer.


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