2021 tables: Institutions - Earth & environmental sciences

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 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China 295.92 325.53 1,039 6.4%
2 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 119.54 141.61 465 14.5%
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 101.79 99.79 753 -5.2%
4 Nanjing University (NJU), China 81.37 86.09 264 2.3%
5 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 90.38 84.99 258 -9.1%
6 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 99.23 84.81 423 -17.4%
7 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 63.80 72.23 282 9.5%
8 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) 68.12 71.29 313 1.2%
9 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 62.79 68.44 378 5.4%
10 Peking University (PKU), China 51.36 68.17 274 28.3%
11 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), United States of America (USA) 72.96 67.92 185 -10.0%
12 Tongji University, China 56.46 65.10 217 11.5%
13 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 64.59 62.97 220 -5.7%
14 China University of Geosciences (CUG), China 52.05 58.33 163 8.4%
15 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 67.07 58.20 181 -16.1%
16 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 54.93 55.49 144 -2.3%
17 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 66.04 55.24 204 -19.1%
18 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 55.04 52.55 210 -7.7%
19 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 34.51 52.03 158 45.8%
20 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 59.12 51.54 259 -15.7%
21 Tsinghua University, China 41.63 50.01 183 16.2%
22 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 43.40 47.47 154 5.8%
23 China Meteorological Administration (CMA), China 43.27 46.82 147 4.6%
24 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 37.93 46.66 170 18.9%
25 The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia 34.47 46.24 115 29.7%
26 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 44.84 46.23 161 -0.3%
27 National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), United States of America (USA) 40.82 45.64 171 8.1%
28 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 43.13 45.53 139 2.1%
29 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 49.91 45.41 141 -12.0%
30 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 40.67 44.69 181 6.2%
31 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 34.54 43.77 186 22.5%
32 University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia 30.31 43.28 139 38.1%
33 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 37.42 42.47 134 9.7%
34 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 41.42 42.40 146 -1.0%
35 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 43.13 41.65 166 -6.6%
36 Arizona State University (ASU), United States of America (USA) 22.44 40.41 139 74.1%
37 Beijing Normal University (BNU), China 32.15 39.75 191 19.5%
38 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 40.20 39.40 155 -5.2%
39 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 37.84 38.76 147 -0.9%
40 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 35.91 37.49 88 0.9%
41 The University of Arizona (Arizona), United States of America (USA) 31.15 36.28 133 12.6%
42 Colorado State University, United States of America (USA) 39.15 35.71 126 -11.8%
43 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 35.26 35.17 141 -3.5%
44 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), United States of America (USA) 28.20 34.33 103 17.7%
45 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 33.44 34.24 147 -1.0%
46 Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), China 29.29 34.17 77 12.8%
47 Max Planck Society, Germany 34.33 32.89 157 -7.3%
48 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), China 23.34 32.43 136 34.3%
49 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), United States of America (USA) 35.79 31.16 122 -15.8%
50 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 35.73 30.92 118 -16.3%
51 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 32.24 30.47 122 -8.6%
52 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 37.17 29.67 120 -22.8%
53 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 28.77 29.42 144 -1.1%
54 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 33.56 28.80 65 -17.0%
55 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 32.71 28.17 109 -16.7%
56 University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Mānoa), United States of America (USA) 25.66 27.85 149 4.9%
57 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 26.28 27.69 98 1.9%
58 Australian National University (ANU), Australia 24.50 27.46 106 8.4%
59 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 18.42 27.26 94 43.1%
60 University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States of America (USA) 18.13 27.22 114 45.1%
61 Fudan University, China 14.71 27.12 79 78.3%
62 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 29.57 26.62 159 -13.0%
63 Wuhan University (WHU), China 28.19 26.51 56 -9.1%
64 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 32.80 26.42 115 -22.1%
65 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 26.45 26.27 91 -3.9%
66 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 20.49 26.06 128 23.0%
67 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 17.87 26.04 78 40.9%
68 University of Alberta (U of A), Canada 34.99 25.97 79 -28.2%
69 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 26.25 25.39 121 -6.5%
70 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 26.09 25.06 61 -7.1%
71 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China 10.50 24.82 85 128.5%
72 Brown University, United States of America (USA) 19.84 24.59 82 19.9%
73 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 29.09 24.52 101 -18.5%
74 Monash University, Australia 22.83 24.22 85 2.6%
75 Leibniz Association, Germany 26.57 23.84 135 -13.3%
76 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 27.13 23.76 100 -15.3%
77 Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark 14.97 23.68 70 52.9%
78 Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Switzerland 24.20 23.67 80 -5.4%
79 University of Southern California (USC), United States of America (USA) 22.42 23.63 69 1.9%
80 The University of Utah (Utah), United States of America (USA) 17.22 23.57 76 32.3%
81 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 12.37 22.86 61 78.7%
82 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 20.71 22.66 117 5.8%
83 Curtin University, Australia 21.54 22.51 70 1.0%
84 Dalian University of Technology (DUT), China 15.57 22.48 29 39.6%
85 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 16.84 22.46 85 29.0%
86 Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Canada 22.10 22.42 80 -1.9%
87 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States of America (USA) 23.66 22.33 56 -8.7%
88 The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia 17.84 22.15 122 20.0%
89 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 18.72 22.05 91 13.9%
90 Institute of Research for Development (IRD), France 21.74 21.29 337 -5.3%
91 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 26.42 21.00 92 -23.1%
92 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 25.84 20.91 111 -21.8%
93 University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), United States of America (USA) 25.61 20.84 85 -21.3%
94 McGill University, Canada 23.39 20.76 97 -14.2%
95 Nankai University (NKU), China 21.76 20.65 41 -8.2%
96 National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Italy 17.88 20.54 66 11.1%
97 Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), China 18.92 20.50 167 4.8%
98 Jinan University (JNU), China 14.06 20.43 49 40.5%
99 Duke University, United States of America (USA) 21.77 20.32 86 -9.7%
100 Lanzhou University (LZU), China 19.10 20.06 53 1.6%

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, 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 natureindex.com.

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 2020 levels to calculate the percentage change. For more information on the adjustment, please see the Adjusted metric explainer.


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