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 295.72 330.21 1052 6.7%
2 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Germany 119.55 144.27 471 15.3%
3 French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France 101.32 99.59 759 -6.1%
4 Nanjing University (NJU), China 81.37 86.80 265 2.0%
5 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 90.38 86.30 261 -8.7%
6 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States of America (USA) 99.23 84.94 425 -18.2%
7 California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States of America (USA) 63.80 73.08 284 9.5%
8 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States of America (USA) 68.12 71.33 314 0.1%
9 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), United States of America (USA) 72.96 69.42 188 -9.1%
10 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China 62.92 68.64 381 4.3%
11 Peking University (PKU), China 51.49 68.40 276 27.0%
12 Tongji University, China 56.46 65.10 217 10.2%
13 Columbia University in the City of New York (CU), United States of America (USA) 64.59 63.33 224 -6.3%
14 China University of Geosciences (CUG), China 52.05 59.92 169 10.0%
15 Stanford University, United States of America (USA) 67.14 58.20 181 -17.2%
16 University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), China 55.85 55.89 145 -4.4%
17 University of Washington (UW), United States of America (USA) 66.04 55.24 204 -20.0%
18 University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States of America (USA) 55.04 53.13 212 -7.7%
19 Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China 34.51 52.49 159 45.4%
20 University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder), United States of America (USA) 59.20 51.54 259 -16.8%
21 Tsinghua University, China 41.76 50.03 183 14.5%
22 Yale University, United States of America (USA) 34.54 48.68 195 34.7%
23 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States of America (USA) 43.40 48.31 155 6.4%
24 University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States of America (USA) 37.93 47.80 172 20.5%
25 China Meteorological Administration (CMA), China 43.27 46.82 147 3.4%
26 The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia 34.49 46.58 118 29.0%
27 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), United States of America (USA) 44.84 46.23 161 -1.5%
28 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America (USA) 40.67 45.79 184 7.6%
29 National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), United States of America (USA) 40.82 45.64 171 6.8%
30 The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), United States of America (USA) 43.13 45.53 139 0.9%
31 The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan 49.91 45.46 142 -12.9%
32 University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia 30.33 43.28 139 36.4%
33 University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) 43.17 43.12 168 -4.5%
34 University of Toronto (U of T), Canada 37.42 42.67 135 9.0%
35 University of Michigan (U-M), United States of America (USA) 41.42 42.40 146 -2.2%
36 Arizona State University (ASU), United States of America (USA) 22.44 40.74 140 73.5%
37 University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) 37.84 39.87 149 0.7%
38 Beijing Normal University (BNU), China 32.20 39.77 191 18.1%
39 Harvard University, United States of America (USA) 40.64 39.51 156 -7.1%
40 Zhejiang University (ZJU), China 36.34 38.05 89 0.1%
41 University of Minnesota (UMN), United States of America (USA) 35.26 36.76 145 -0.3%
42 The University of Arizona (Arizona), United States of America (USA) 31.15 36.48 134 11.9%
43 Colorado State University, United States of America (USA) 39.15 35.71 126 -12.8%
44 Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), China 27.95 35.24 234 20.5%
45 Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), China 29.45 34.34 78 11.4%
46 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), United States of America (USA) 28.20 34.33 103 16.3%
47 Princeton University, United States of America (USA) 33.44 33.55 141 -4.1%
48 Max Planck Society, Germany 34.32 32.89 157 -8.4%
49 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), China 23.43 32.43 136 32.3%
50 Utrecht University (UU), Netherlands 37.17 31.55 123 -18.9%
51 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), United States of America (USA) 35.79 31.30 123 -16.4%
52 Imperial College London (ICL), United Kingdom (UK) 32.24 31.30 124 -7.2%
53 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), United States of America (USA) 35.73 31.25 119 -16.4%
54 Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain 28.71 30.44 147 1.3%
55 Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 34.02 29.20 65 -18.0%
56 University of California, Irvine (UCI), United States of America (USA) 26.28 28.53 99 3.7%
57 Australian National University (ANU), Australia 24.52 28.37 110 10.5%
58 University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States of America (USA) 32.71 28.17 109 -17.7%
59 University of Leeds, United Kingdom (UK) 32.80 27.92 119 -18.7%
60 University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Mānoa), United States of America (USA) 25.66 27.79 148 3.5%
61 University of Oslo (UiO), Norway 26.45 27.30 93 -1.4%
62 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), United States of America (USA) 18.42 27.26 94 41.5%
63 University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States of America (USA) 18.13 27.22 114 43.4%
64 Fudan University, China 14.71 27.12 79 76.2%
65 University of Alberta (U of A), Canada 34.99 27.03 82 -26.2%
66 University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), United States of America (USA) 29.68 26.69 159 -14.1%
67 Wuhan University (WHU), China 28.19 26.56 57 -10.0%
68 UCL, United Kingdom (UK) 20.49 26.56 129 23.9%
69 Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands 17.87 26.04 78 39.3%
70 Texas A&M University (TAMU), United States of America (USA) 26.25 25.39 121 -7.6%
71 Curtin University, Australia 21.54 25.19 76 11.8%
72 Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), China 10.50 25.12 86 128.6%
73 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), China 26.09 25.06 61 -8.2%
74 Brown University, United States of America (USA) 19.84 25.05 84 20.7%
75 Monash University, Australia 22.82 24.86 87 4.1%
76 Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), United States of America (USA) 29.09 24.52 101 -19.4%
77 University of Bristol (UoB), United Kingdom (UK) 27.13 24.04 101 -15.3%
78 The University of Utah (Utah), United States of America (USA) 17.22 23.91 77 32.7%
79 Leibniz Association, Germany 26.58 23.84 135 -14.3%
80 Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark 14.97 23.68 70 51.1%
81 Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Switzerland 24.20 23.67 80 -6.5%
82 University of Southern California (USC), United States of America (USA) 22.42 23.63 69 0.7%
83 Johns Hopkins University (JHU), United States of America (USA) 20.71 22.99 118 6.1%
84 Dalian University of Technology (DUT), China 15.57 22.48 29 38.0%
85 The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK) 16.84 22.46 85 27.5%
86 Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Canada 22.10 22.42 80 -3.1%
87 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States of America (USA) 23.66 22.33 56 -9.8%
88 The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia 17.81 22.31 124 19.7%
89 Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia 18.72 22.27 94 13.7%
90 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 12.89 22.25 54 65.0%
91 Institute of Research for Development (IRD), France 21.87 21.54 342 -5.9%
92 University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), United States of America (USA) 25.61 21.31 87 -20.4%
93 Rice University, United States of America (USA) 26.42 21.20 93 -23.3%
94 Cornell University, United States of America (USA) 25.84 21.05 112 -22.1%
95 McGill University, Canada 23.39 20.97 99 -14.3%
96 Nankai University (NKU), China 21.76 20.65 41 -9.3%
97 National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Italy 17.88 20.54 66 9.8%
98 Jinan University (JNU), China 14.06 20.43 49 38.8%
99 Duke University, United States of America (USA) 21.77 20.32 86 -10.8%
100 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan 22.90 20.11 77 -16.1%

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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