2021 tables: Institutions - physical sciences

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

Table criteria

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# Institution Share 2019 Share 2020 Count 2020 Change in Adjusted Share* 2019–2020
1 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland 150.66 143.30 422 -11.6%
2 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 95.08 119.67 311 17.0%
3 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland 53.17 51.50 342 -10.0%
4 University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland 38.54 41.39 185 -0.2%
5 Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland 30.02 35.31 188 9.3%
6 University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland 31.94 30.12 240 -12.3%
7 University of Basel (UB), Switzerland 29.77 29.79 74 -7.0%
8 University of Bern (UniBE), Switzerland 19.63 18.70 126 -11.5%
9 Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Switzerland 14.44 15.57 54 0.2%
10 University of Fribourg (UNIFR), Switzerland 11.93 9.99 54 -22.1%
11 University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland 2.15 2.62 17 13.1%
12 Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), Switzerland 2.08 2.05 7 -8.4%
13 F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Switzerland 1.43 1.93 4 25.1%
14 University of Neuchâtel (UniNE), Switzerland 0.01 1.54 3 21311.0%
15 Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), Switzerland 0.60 1.50 13 133.8%
16 Centre Suisse d'Electronique et Microtechnique SA (CSEM SA), Switzerland 0.22 0.95 2 297.3%
17 STMicroelectronics N.V., Switzerland 0.68 0.92 8 25.1%
18 University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), Switzerland 0.48 0.52 3 0.5%
19 FLUXiM AG, Switzerland 0.27 0.43 3 47.6%
20 Novartis International AG, Switzerland 1.00 0.43 6 -59.9%
21 Biognosys AG, Switzerland 0.20 0.36 1 67.8%
22 Attolight AG, Switzerland – 0.33 1 N/A
23 Zurich Instruments AG, Switzerland – 0.30 1 N/A
24 Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Switzerland 0.67 0.28 5 -61.3%
25 Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Switzerland – 0.27 2 N/A
26 University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), Switzerland 0.50 0.26 2 -51.0%
27 International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Switzerland 0.06 0.20 1 234.6%
28 MaxWell Biosystems AG, Switzerland – 0.17 1 N/A
28 EarlySight SA, Switzerland – 0.17 1 N/A
29 Amcor plc, Switzerland – 0.15 1 N/A
30 AO Foundation, Switzerland 0.70 0.14 1 -81.0%
31 World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland 0.00 0.14 3 4311.9%
32 Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno (IRSOL), Switzerland – 0.13 2 N/A
33 Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland 0.17 0.10 1 -46.0%
34 ABB Ltd., Switzerland 0.35 0.09 5 -75.7%
35 Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Switzerland 0.81 0.09 2 -89.4%
36 ADSresonances Sàrl, Switzerland – 0.08 1 N/A
36 Lumiphase AG, Switzerland – 0.08 1 N/A
37 Limites Medical Research Ltd., Switzerland – 0.08 1 N/A
38 Multiwave Technologies AG, Switzerland 0.08 0.07 1 -13.7%
38 BluAct Technologies GmbH, Switzerland – 0.07 1 N/A
39 Oncotheis Sàrl, Switzerland – 0.07 1 N/A
40 Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Switzerland 1.38 0.06 3 -96.2%
41 FenX AG, Switzerland – 0.06 1 N/A
42 Tofwerk AG, Switzerland 0.04 0.04 1 -7.1%
43 ChemOS Sàrl, Switzerland – 0.03 1 N/A
44 Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), Switzerland – 0.02 1 N/A
45 Kido Dynamics SA, Switzerland – 0.02 1 N/A
46 University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), Switzerland 0.51 0.02 1 -96.8%
46 EA - Shaping Environmental Action, Switzerland – 0.02 1 N/A
47 International Centre for Scientific Culture - World Laboratory (ICSC - World Laboratory), Switzerland – 0.01 1 N/A

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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