2020 tables: Institutions - biological sciences

The 2020 tables are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019.

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# Institution Share 2018 Share 2019 Count 2019 Change in Adjusted Share* 2018–2019
1 Max Planck Society, Germany 292.94 291.42 1071 -1.1%
2 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 172.49 212.68 664 22.6%
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 171.91 184.27 1354 6.6%
4 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 194.73 168.84 593 -13.8%
5 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 121.10 125.96 462 3.5%
6 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 110.28 102.49 685 -7.6%
7 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 87.31 87.95 306 0.2%
8 University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland 80.69 80.54 352 -0.7%
9 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 77.71 80.24 307 2.7%
10 National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), France 80.53 79.34 848 -2.0%
11 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 78.23 76.40 307 -2.9%
12 Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden 70.21 74.92 373 6.1%
13 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 61.95 73.20 299 17.5%
14 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 84.39 70.39 318 -17.0%
15 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 53.25 63.79 369 19.2%
16 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), United Kingdom (UK) 52.27 57.61 270 9.6%
17 Leibniz Association, Germany 54.26 54.29 320 -0.5%
18 University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland 47.47 51.79 168 8.5%
19 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 43.54 50.67 154 15.7%
20 The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 52.18 48.51 138 -7.5%
21 Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium 43.43 47.89 165 9.7%
22 Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany 49.74 47.28 240 -5.4%
23 University of Basel (UB), Switzerland 40.22 46.92 197 16.1%
24 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 45.16 44.94 246 -1.0%
25 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 44.77 44.75 127 -0.6%
26 European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany 47.77 43.62 266 -9.2%
27 University of Freiburg (Uni Freiburg), Germany 37.39 42.62 179 13.4%
28 King's College London (KCL), United Kingdom (UK) 49.15 42.37 226 -14.3%
29 Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Healthcare (IRCCS), Italy 37.18 41.59 207 11.2%
30 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 39.65 41.07 164 3.0%
31 University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK) 35.88 40.82 151 13.2%
32 University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany 31.56 37.64 157 18.6%
33 Université PSL, France 31.96 37.19 345 15.7%
34 University of Tübingen (Uni Tübingen), Germany 49.94 36.43 167 -27.4%
35 Wellcome Sanger Institute, United Kingdom (UK) 37.43 36.36 195 -3.4%
36 F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Switzerland 44.10 36.19 125 -18.4%
37 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 31.90 34.80 151 8.5%
38 University of Groningen (RUG), Netherlands 29.43 34.44 163 16.4%
39 University of Helsinki, Finland 30.20 34.07 198 12.2%
40 Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin), Germany 26.94 33.71 293 24.5%
41 Radboud University Nijmegen (RU), Netherlands 30.58 33.55 187 9.1%
42 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 29.19 33.37 176 13.7%
43 Sorbonne University, France 28.18 33.19 363 17.1%
44 Pasteur Institute, France 36.02 32.73 212 -9.6%
45 University of Cologne (UoC), Germany 26.28 32.72 150 23.8%
46 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 32.49 32.24 213 -1.3%
47 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 30.74 31.81 121 2.9%
48 University of Amsterdam (UvA), Netherlands 30.70 31.51 227 2.1%
49 The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (UK) 27.49 31.25 93 13.1%
50 Novartis International AG, Switzerland 27.30 30.84 123 12.4%
51 Uppsala University (UU), Sweden 36.97 30.55 198 -17.8%
52 Leiden University, Netherlands 23.84 30.52 182 27.3%
53 Newcastle University, United Kingdom (UK) 28.37 30.47 113 6.8%
54 University of Göttingen, Germany 38.88 29.63 152 -24.2%
55 Paris Cité University, France 29.65 29.62 336 -0.6%
56 National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), France 23.68 28.27 298 18.7%
57 Goethe University Frankfurt (GU), Germany 27.56 28.04 128 1.2%
58 University of Bonn (Uni Bonn), Germany 22.08 27.78 152 25.2%
59 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 20.85 27.69 116 32.1%
60 Aarhus University (AU), Denmark 34.84 27.53 153 -21.4%
61 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Spain 29.96 27.35 106 -9.2%
62 Lund University (LU), Sweden 29.25 26.51 135 -9.8%
63 Humboldt University of Berlin (HU Berlin), Germany 29.36 26.48 276 -10.3%
64 Stockholm University, Sweden 30.26 26.34 172 -13.4%
65 University of Bern (UniBE), Switzerland 27.29 24.42 112 -11.0%
66 VU Amsterdam, Netherlands 19.02 24.40 167 27.6%
67 Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), Czech Republic 21.08 23.89 115 12.7%
68 University of Gothenburg (GU), Sweden 21.47 23.75 98 10.0%
69 University of Birmingham (UB), United Kingdom (UK) 26.46 23.59 97 -11.3%
70 Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII), Spain 23.45 23.36 179 -0.9%
71 Ghent University (UGent), Belgium 23.80 23.33 132 -2.5%
72 Aix-Marseille University (AMU), France 20.59 23.14 175 11.8%
73 Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Belgium 25.31 23.05 148 -9.4%
74 Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), Netherlands 24.70 22.77 158 -8.3%
75 University of Montpellier, France 23.17 22.34 230 -4.1%
76 University of Vienna, Austria 17.09 21.53 112 25.3%
77 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 20.01 20.41 87 1.4%
78 Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), Netherlands 15.12 20.20 82 32.9%
79 University of Dundee, United Kingdom (UK) 26.32 20.17 64 -23.8%
80 Medical University of Vienna (MUW), Austria 16.78 20.03 131 18.7%
81 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany 23.74 19.95 69 -16.4%
82 Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Netherlands 19.54 19.90 103 1.3%
83 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 15.31 19.63 115 27.5%
84 Cardiff University, United Kingdom (UK) 16.06 19.55 99 21.1%
85 University of Lyon, France 18.30 18.44 125 0.2%
86 Vienna Biocenter (VBC), Austria 21.85 18.39 92 -16.3%
87 TU Dresden, Germany 23.71 18.35 139 -23.0%
88 University of Barcelona (UB), Spain 15.36 18.33 160 18.7%
89 Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), United Kingdom (UK) 22.32 17.63 99 -21.5%
90 John Innes Centre (JIC), United Kingdom (UK) 15.66 17.59 46 11.7%
91 University of Münster (WWU), Germany 25.30 17.55 93 -31.0%
92 University of Toulouse, France 13.78 17.31 142 25.0%
93 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands 15.72 17.23 112 9.0%
94 National Research Council (CNR), Italy 13.49 16.94 121 24.9%
95 University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK) 14.22 16.40 103 14.7%
96 University of Paris-Sud (UPSud), France 13.23 16.38 215 23.1%
97 Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark 15.31 16.34 84 6.2%
98 University of Strasbourg, France 12.42 15.87 112 27.1%
99 University of York, United Kingdom (UK) 16.57 15.75 60 -5.4%
100 The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France 17.81 15.60 210 -12.9%

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.


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