BEIJING: The latest Nature Index rankings (covering the period from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2024) were recently released by the internationally renowned academic publisher Nature.
The rankings reveal China’s dominance in high-quality research output, with nine of the world’s top ten academic institutions coming from China. Harvard University remains the only non-Chinese institution in the top ten. In discipline-based rankings, Chinese institutions performed particularly well in Chemistry, Physical sciences, and Earth & environmental sciences, according to a CEN report.
The Nature Index is an open database of author affiliations and institutional relationships. The Index tracks contributions to research articles published in high-quality natural-science and health-science journals, chosen based on reputation by an independent group of researchers. China’s Universities Take the Lead When the first edition of the Nature Index 2014 Global were published on November 13, 2014, only eight Chinese institutions made it into the global top 100.
In contrast, the latest rankings highlight China’s significant progress, with nine Chinese universities securing spots in the global top ten and 14 making it into the top 20. In the top 100, Chinese universities lead with 42 institutions, surpassing the U.S. (36 institutions) and the UK (four institutions).
The University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Zhejiang University (ZJU), and Peking University (PKU) stood out, with USTC ranking second worldwide with a total paper count (Count) of 2,585 and a contribution share (Share) of 835.02—trailing only Harvard University (Count: 3,849, Share: 1,146.43).
Beyond academic institution rankings, the Nature Index also categorizes rankings by institution type, including academic institutions, government research institutions, corporations, health care institutions, and NPO/NGO. –Agencies
