2021 tables: Institutions - Nature & Science - academic

The 2021 tables are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020.

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# Institution Share 2019 Share 2020 Count 2020 Change in Adjusted Share* 2019–2020
1 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 14.19 18.01 103 15.2%
2 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 15.36 16.30 104 -3.7%
3 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 20.77 15.10 63 -34.0%
4 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 5.43 11.65 30 94.7%
5 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 2.69 8.50 61 186.5%
6 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 8.64 7.77 56 -18.4%
7 Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg), Germany 4.07 7.58 45 69.1%
8 The University of Manchester (UoM), United Kingdom (UK) 5.43 7.21 29 20.6%
9 Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), Germany 6.39 6.36 30 -9.6%
10 University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark 5.18 6.31 43 10.6%
11 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 2.25 5.96 44 140.3%
12 University of Basel (UB), Switzerland 6.97 5.71 22 -25.7%
13 University of Bern (UniBE), Switzerland 1.76 5.41 30 178.9%
14 Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium 3.28 5.30 37 46.6%
15 University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland 7.22 4.29 39 -46.1%
16 Sorbonne University, France 2.01 4.07 67 83.6%
17 Stockholm University, Sweden 0.46 4.06 32 704.3%
18 Radboud University Nijmegen (RU), Netherlands 1.08 3.95 18 231.0%
19 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 1.54 3.66 10 115.7%
20 University of Göttingen, Germany 3.68 3.64 26 -10.3%
21 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 2.39 3.51 20 33.0%
22 Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany 2.45 3.39 29 25.9%
23 University of Tübingen (Uni Tübingen), Germany 1.31 3.38 21 133.2%
24 Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin), Germany 2.94 3.32 52 2.6%
25 Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden 4.67 3.24 32 -37.0%
26 Goethe University Frankfurt (GU), Germany 1.93 3.17 18 48.9%
27 Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium 0.59 3.02 16 363.0%
28 Humboldt University of Berlin (HU Berlin), Germany 1.27 2.95 45 111.3%
29 University of Groningen (RUG), Netherlands 1.40 2.92 16 90.2%
30 Aarhus University (AU), Denmark 1.17 2.57 26 99.7%
31 Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), Austria 5.54 2.55 4 -58.2%
32 Université PSL, France 1.97 2.51 56 16.0%
33 Uppsala University (UU), Sweden 2.38 2.37 25 -9.7%
34 Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Austria 1.80 2.21 10 11.0%
35 University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK) 3.51 2.06 26 -46.9%
36 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 2.47 2.06 22 -24.5%
37 University of Würzburg (JMU), Germany 3.89 2.05 9 -52.0%
38 University of Southampton (Soton), United Kingdom (UK) 1.93 2.04 24 -4.0%
39 University of Konstanz, Germany 1.14 1.99 5 58.8%
40 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 2.44 1.98 30 -26.3%
41 University of Münster (WWU), Germany 0.84 1.95 9 111.6%
42 The University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (UK) 1.99 1.94 15 -11.6%
43 University of Cologne (UoC), Germany 3.05 1.86 14 -44.7%
44 University of Gothenburg (GU), Sweden 1.11 1.79 16 45.8%
45 University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK) 2.70 1.74 21 -41.6%
46 King's College London (KCL), United Kingdom (UK) 1.75 1.73 25 -10.3%
47 Paris Cité University, France 2.21 1.70 40 -30.3%
48 University of Hamburg (UHH), Germany 1.76 1.69 20 -13.1%
49 Leiden University, Netherlands 2.83 1.65 18 -46.9%
50 University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland 1.75 1.64 13 -14.9%
51 Medical University of Vienna (MUW), Austria 0.86 1.61 15 69.6%
52 Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark 2.06 1.59 18 -29.8%
53 University of Exeter, United Kingdom (UK) 1.73 1.55 21 -18.4%
54 University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain 0.55 1.54 8 153.1%
55 Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), United Kingdom (UK) 0.48 1.52 17 185.9%
56 University of Helsinki, Finland 2.40 1.51 26 -42.8%
57 University of Bayreuth (UBT), Germany 1.92 1.50 2 -29.2%
58 University of Regensburg (UR), Germany 2.84 1.48 4 -52.8%
59 University of Vienna, Austria 0.66 1.47 18 102.5%
60 University of Padova (UNIPD), Italy 1.01 1.45 10 30.9%
61 University of St Andrews, United Kingdom (UK) 0.46 1.44 13 185.9%
62 Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), Netherlands 0.54 1.42 14 139.0%
63 University of Bordeaux, France 0.66 1.40 23 94.4%
64 University of Rostock, Germany 0.33 1.39 5 281.4%
65 University of Lyon, France 2.20 1.39 13 -42.8%
66 University of Paris-Sud (UPSud), France 1.67 1.37 26 -25.6%
67 University of Amsterdam (UvA), Netherlands 1.04 1.35 26 17.3%
68 Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin), Germany 1.26 1.34 14 -3.1%
69 University of Innsbruck (LFU), Austria 1.60 1.29 9 -26.8%
70 University of Montpellier, France 0.64 1.28 23 81.9%
71 University of Hohenheim, Germany 0.08 1.27 2 1401.9%
72 University of Strasbourg, France 2.09 1.27 11 -44.7%
73 Ghent University (UGent), Belgium 1.81 1.26 20 -36.7%
74 University of Birmingham (UB), United Kingdom (UK) 2.06 1.26 17 -44.5%
75 The University of Warwick (Warwick), United Kingdom (UK) 2.32 1.22 10 -52.1%
76 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 5.98 1.22 18 -81.5%
77 Lund University (LU), Sweden 1.77 1.19 21 -39.0%
78 University of Bremen (Uni Bremen), Germany 0.87 1.17 9 21.9%
79 Aalto University, Finland 0.04 1.16 9 2864.1%
80 KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden 0.61 1.15 19 71.9%
81 The University of Nottingham (UoN), United Kingdom (UK) 1.11 1.11 9 -9.0%
82 Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), Germany 0.03 1.11 9 3202.3%
83 Aix-Marseille University (AMU), France 0.90 1.04 17 5.3%
84 RWTH Aachen University (RWTH Aachen), Germany 2.84 1.04 13 -66.9%
85 Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Germany 1.13 1.03 6 -17.5%
86 Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany 0.76 1.02 13 22.8%
87 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 1.24 1.00 17 -26.3%
88 VU Amsterdam, Netherlands 0.25 1.00 18 255.8%
89 University of Bergen (UIB), Norway 0.26 0.99 16 239.5%
90 University of Twente (UTwente), Netherlands 0.00 0.97 1 98002.1%
91 University of Potsdam, Germany 1.62 0.96 16 -46.1%
92 Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Netherlands 0.27 0.95 5 216.4%
93 University of Lisbon (ULISBOA), Portugal 0.39 0.95 15 118.5%
94 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), United Kingdom (UK) 0.16 0.92 8 425.9%
95 University of Dundee, United Kingdom (UK) 0.37 0.86 17 110.9%
96 University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Germany 0.59 0.86 7 32.5%
97 Sapienza University of Rome, Italy 0.93 0.85 10 -17.3%
98 Grenoble Alpes University (UGA), France 0.86 0.84 24 -11.7%
99 Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), Spain 0.48 0.82 10 53.9%
100 National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway), Ireland 0.00 0.81 4 133987.5%

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.


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