View the Nature Index 2026 Research Leaders. The Current Index will be updated with data from the new journals in the 2026 Research Leaders dataset on 18 June, when articles published in February 2026 are added to the 12-month rolling window.

Your gateway to scientific excellence

Discover the world’s leading research institutions, explore collaborations, compare research performance, track top papers with Nature Index.

Time frame: 1 February 2025 - 31 January 2026

Academic

  1. Harvard University

    Share: 1171.85 | Count: 3988
  2. University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)

    Share: 1021.18 | Count: 3489
  3. Zhejiang University (ZJU)

    Share: 970.87 | Count: 2667

Corporate

  1. Roche

    Share: 66.74 | Count: 190
  2. AstraZeneca

    Share: 54.71 | Count: 172
  3. Merck & Co

    Share: 41.51 | Count: 101

Government

  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

    Share: 3161.09 | Count: 11293
  2. French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)

    Share: 648.49 | Count: 4874
  3. National Institutes of Health (NIH)

    Share: 430.54 | Count: 1256

NPO/NGO

  1. Max Planck Society

    Share: 734.56 | Count: 3100
  2. Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

    Share: 598 | Count: 3170
  3. Leibniz Association

    Share: 230.01 | Count: 1488

Biological sciences

  1. Harvard University

    Share: 555.67 | Count: 1708
  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

    Share: 456.36 | Count: 1808
  3. National Institutes of Health (NIH)

    Share: 298.97 | Count: 803

Earth & environmental sciences

  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

    Share: 626.77 | Count: 2166
  2. Nanjing University (NJU)

    Share: 184.33 | Count: 654
  3. Peking University (PKU)

    Share: 156.12 | Count: 692

Health sciences

  1. Harvard University

    Share: 496.13 | Count: 1717
  2. National Institutes of Health (NIH)

    Share: 167.91 | Count: 610
  3. Johns Hopkins University (JHU)

    Share: 134.61 | Count: 621

Physical sciences

  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

    Share: 1256.48 | Count: 4692
  2. University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)

    Share: 520.69 | Count: 1791
  3. Tsinghua University

    Share: 467.86 | Count: 1637

Asia Pacific

  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

    Share: 3160.7 | Count: 11286
  2. University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)

    Share: 1021.18 | Count: 3489
  3. Zhejiang University (ZJU)

    Share: 970.87 | Count: 2667

Europe

  1. Max Planck Society

    Share: 727.52 | Count: 3054
  2. French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)

    Share: 642.01 | Count: 4785
  3. Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

    Share: 590.21 | Count: 3114

North America

  1. Harvard University

    Share: 1170.26 | Count: 3952
  2. Stanford University

    Share: 622.95 | Count: 2130
  3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

    Share: 511.85 | Count: 2208

South America

  1. University of São Paulo (USP)

    Share: 62.28 | Count: 392
  2. National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET)

    Share: 43.23 | Count: 311
  3. State University of Campinas (UNICAMP)

    Share: 21.94 | Count: 166
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View a complete list of all research institutions, their research outputs, collaborations and more. Generate a table of institutions ordered by research outputs, by region or country/territory of interest, sector, subject area or journal group.

Discover the top-performing institutions and countries/territories in scientific research with the Nature Index Research Leaders.

This dataset highlights the progress made towards achieving gender parity in authorship of papers tracked by the Nature Index.

Nature Index 2026 Chemistry

Chemistry research is undergoing a period of transformation, driven by new technologies and mounting environmental pressures. In this supplement, we explore the trends behind China’s extraordinary rise in chemistry output, and why efforts to curb the use of PFASs are accelerating worldwide. We also look at the innovations that could redefine how chemicals are designed, produced and recycled.

Nature Index 2026 Chemistry
Access for free

Nature Index 2026 Cancer

Cancer incidence is on the rise. Countries are meeting the challenge in different ways, such as through nationwide action plans and broadening early detection programmes. However, coordinating these efforts to make them accessible, targeted and effective is a balancing act. In this supplement, we explore the factors that are shaping these first lines of defence and the research efforts that are informing them.

Nature Index 2026 Cancer
Access for free

The Nature Research Intelligence Topics are created from networks of articles that cite each other, or articles that are very similar to each other, and we have over 40,000 topics at the most granular level, grouped into a 4-level hierarchy.

Nature Research Intelligence Topics
  1. View trending research topics in the current window of the Nature Index.

  2. Each level 2 topic page included in the Nature Index contains an auto-generated summary, leading institutions, leading countries/territories, a 5-year trend and top collaborators.

  3. Institution profiles display leading research topics based on the institution's Share in the topic.

Institution collaboration

Institution collaboration

Nature Index collaborations highlight the most fruitful institutional collaborations that lead to high quality research around the world. Naturally, proximate institutions collaborate the most, which hides the many benefits from collaboration further afield. To address this, the overall leading international collaborators are shown as well as the leading collaborations involving countries/territories outside the top 50 (broadening collaborators).

North-north collaborators

Country/territory collaboration

Country/territory collaboration looks at the leading collaborators around the world, as well as within and between between regions and equatorial hemispheres. To show trends in collaboration between any two countries/territories over the past 10 years we've introduced historical country/territory collaboration.

Institution benchmarking
  1. Choose the institutions to benchmark against.

  2. Use the powerful comparison feature to view side-by-side data on research output across subject areas.

  3. Gain valuable insights to inform your decision-making process and download table data for further analysis for free.

Nature Strategy Reports
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions 

When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.

  • Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.

  • Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.

  • Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.

Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.

Nature Masterclasses
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.

Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:

  • Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.

  • Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.

  • Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.

Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.

Nature Careers
Need to hire scientific researchers?

Nature Careers is visited by over 180,000 active job seekers per month that you can target directly with your role. Application response rates have increased by 28% on average over 2022 averages.

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