2018 tables: Institutions - physical sciences - academic

The 2018 tables are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017.

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# Institution Share 2016 Share 2017 Count 2017 Change in Adjusted Share* 2016–2017
1 University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa 2.24 4.84 12 113.3%
2 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits University), South Africa 4.74 4.01 97 -16.5%
3 University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa 4.66 3.11 97 -34.0%
4 Durban University of Technology (DUT), South Africa 0.25 2.72 7 976.1%
5 North-West University (NWU), South Africa 0.26 1.62 7 522.0%
6 University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Benin 0.89 1.19 4 32.0%
7 British University in Egypt (BUE), Egypt 0.01 0.76 40 9889.1%
8 University of Johannesburg (UJ), South Africa 1.33 0.71 73 -47.7%
9 University of Monastir (UM), Tunisia 0.01 0.64 5 6128.1%
10 University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa 1.69 0.63 5 -62.9%
11 University of Yaounde I (UYI), Cameroon – 0.63 2 N/A
12 University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa 0.07 0.50 2 602.8%
12 University of Khartoum, Sudan – 0.50 1 N/A
13 Ain Shams University, Egypt 0.01 0.49 41 5973.1%
14 Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa 0.72 0.45 3 -39.0%
15 Cadi Ayyad University (UCA), Morocco 2.76 0.42 67 -85.1%
16 University Ferhat Abbas of Setif (UFAS), Algeria – 0.38 1 N/A
17 University of Science, Technique and Technologies of Bamako (USTTB), Mali – 0.33 1 N/A
18 African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), South Africa 0.22 0.31 3 42.0%
19 American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt – 0.27 2 N/A
20 Cairo University (CU), Egypt 0.18 0.26 17 47.5%
21 Abdou Moumouni University (UAM), Niger – 0.25 1 N/A
21 Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University (USMBA), Morocco – 0.25 1 N/A
22 Mohammed V University, Morocco 0.18 0.18 70 -0.6%
23 University of Tripoli (UT), Libya – 0.17 1 N/A
23 Abdelmalek Essaâdi University (UAE), Morocco 1.23 0.17 1 -86.6%
24 Université Mohammed Premier (UMP), Morocco 0.24 0.14 70 -44.6%
25 Mansoura University, Egypt – 0.13 2 N/A
26 University of Swaziland (UNISWA), Swaziland 0.17 0.13 1 -25.9%
26 University of Sciences, Arts and Technology of Natitingou (USATN), Benin – 0.13 1 N/A
26 University of Cape Verde (UniCV), Cape Verde – 0.13 1 N/A
27 Rhodes University (RU), South Africa 0.34 0.08 8 -76.7%
28 Damietta University, Egypt – 0.08 2 N/A
29 Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia – 0.07 1 N/A
29 Al-Azhar University, Egypt – 0.07 1 N/A
30 University Hassan II Casablanca (UHII), Morocco 0.13 0.07 64 -50.5%
31 Tanta University, Egypt 0.05 0.06 1 23.5%
31 Université d'Agriculture de Kétou (UNA), Benin – 0.06 1 N/A
31 University of Porto-Novo (UPN), Benin – 0.06 1 N/A
31 University of Ghana, Ghana – 0.06 1 N/A
32 Beni-Suef University (BSU), Egypt 0.04 0.05 1 20.5%
33 Alexandria University, Egypt 0.33 0.04 1 -88.6%
33 École Normale Supérieure de Bamako (ENSUP), Mali – 0.04 1 N/A
34 University of Nigeria (UNN), Nigeria – 0.03 1 N/A
35 University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa 0.02 0.03 3 1.0%
36 University of Namibia (UNAM), Namibia 0.03 0.02 2 -45.9%
37 Fayoum University (FU), Egypt 0.07 0.00 22 -94.4%
38 Helwan University (HU), Egypt 0.04 0.00 21 -91.0%
39 Suez University, Egypt 0.00 0.00 9 -5.0%
40 University Ibn Tofaïl (UIT), Morocco 0.20 0.00 1 -99.5%

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/.

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.


Numerical information only is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.