Nature Index 2016: the 100 most-improved universities based on research quality

China dominates the Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars list

August 8, 2016

Source: iStock

China has come out top in a new ranking that identifies the universities that have shown the most significant growth in the number of high-quality research publications.

The country takes the top nine spots and two-fifths (40) of the top 100 places in the Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars ranking.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences tops the list having increased its number of publications in high-quality journals by 245 – or 22 per cent – between 2012 and 2015. Peking University, in second place, grew its publications by 88 during that period.

The UK is the only other nation to make the top 10, with the University of Oxford in 10th place. The country claims nine of the top 100 places, making it the third most-represented nation in the list.

The US is second by number of institutions (11), led by Stanford University in 12th place.

Universities in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland are also included.

The Nature Index is a database that tracks the amount of research that more than 8,000 universities have contributed to 68 high-quality journals. The Rising Stars list includes the top 100 most improved institutions, based on the change in the number of publications by weighted fractional count (WFC).

Fractional counts for articles from specialist astronomy and astrophysics journals have been down weighted between 2012 and 2015.

Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars: top 100

The ranking below includes links to the profiles of institutions that also feature in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-2016.

Rank	Institution	Country	WFC 2015	Total number of articles 2015	Change in WFC 2012-2015	Change in WFC 2012-2015 (%)
1	Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)	China	1357.82	3449	245.02	22.02
2	Peking University (PKU)	China	300.39	1113	88.32	41.64
3	Nanjing University (NJU)	China	253.62	666	84.48	49.95
4	University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)	China	229.13	661	82.35	56.11
5	Nankai University (NKU)	China	150.88	334	65.04	75.76
6	Zhejiang University (ZJU)	China	183.62	386	61.27	50.08
7	Fudan University	China	177.65	374	56.12	46.17
8	Tsinghua University (TH)	China	231.33	785	52.74	29.53
9	Soochow University	China	108.47	209	52.43	93.57
10	University of Oxford	UK	398.38	1373	52.25	15.1
11	Institute for Basic Science (IBS)	South Korea	50.31	189	49.27	4732.54
12	Stanford University	US	530.83	1514	48.84	10.13
13	East China Normal University (ECNU)	China	83.9	164	48.35	136.03
14	Hunan University (HNU)	China	92.47	144	43.26	87.88
15	Sichuan University (SCU)	China	83.22	186	38.35	85.45
16	Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)	India	162.59	302	35.75	28.19
17	Xiamen University (XMU)	China	112.49	240	35.38	45.89
18	University of Manchester (UoM)	UK	149.09	665	32.13	27.47
19	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)	Saudi Arabia	72.19	176	31.67	78.19
20	Nanyang Technological University (NTU)	Singapore	207.83	423	30.23	17.02
21	Chongqing University (CQU)	China	33.2	69	30.2	1006.69
22	Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)	Switzerland	215.28	689	28.5	15.26
23	Imperial College London (ICL)	UK	199.52	838	28.49	16.66
24	Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER)	India	78.67	138	27.71	54.36
25	Southwest University (SWU)	China	45.36	67	26.99	146.93
26	Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (IIT)	Israel	95.59	291	26.84	39.05
27	Tianjin University (TJU)	China	64.02	206	26.29	69.68
28	Wuhan University (WHU)	China	100.27	185	25.99	35
29	Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)	US	92.15	241	25.86	39.01
30	Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres	Germany	413.71	1663	25.1	6.46
31	North Carolina State University (NCSU)	US	76.29	223	24.58	47.53
32	Stockholm University	Sweden	81.22	529	24.29	42.67
33	University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS)	China	88.73	547	23.78	36.6
34	Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU)	China	103.71	242	23.57	29.42
35	Jilin University (JLU)	China	87.47	187	22.68	35
36	Lanzhou University (LZU)	China	89.4	178	21.99	32.62
37	McGill University	Canada	162.07	576	21.83	15.56
38	East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST)	China	88.55	159	21.22	31.52
39	Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)	China	76.12	200	21.05	38.22
40	South China University of Technology (SCUT)	China	52.12	112	20.72	65.96
41	University of Southampton (Soton)	UK	90.47	409	20.66	29.59
42	Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU)	China	50.78	121	20.51	67.75
43	Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT)	China	39.73	86	20.43	105.82
44	University College London (UCL)	UK	214.83	972	20.27	10.42
45	Changzhou University (CZU)	China	20.36	33	19.8	3566.4
46	Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST)	China	63.78	176	19.62	44.45
47	King's College London (KCL)	UK	92.43	397	19.08	26.01
48	ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich	Switzerland	323.06	948	19.04	6.26
49	Italian Institute of Technology (IIT)	Italy	41.39	129	18.97	84.64
50	Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)	South Korea	41.49	113	18.41	79.76
51	Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)	US	101.06	303	18.41	22.27
52	University of New South Wales (UNSW)	Australia	79.09	256	18.33	30.17
53	Beijing Normal University (BNU)	China	54.24	177	17.51	47.66
54	Central South University (CSU)	China	23.57	75	17.11	265.24
55	Shaanxi Normal University (SNNU)	China	20.52	34	17.02	485.19
56	Shandong Normal University (SDNU)	China	25.33	33	16.5	186.98
57	The Rockefeller University	US	89.83	256	16.23	22.06
58	The University of Queensland (UQ)	Australia	98.09	348	15.93	19.39
59	University of Regensburg (UR)	Germany	72.58	156	15.72	27.65
60	Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)	India	46.53	228	15.68	50.84
61	Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT)	China	32.03	53	15.4	92.63
62	South University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTC)	China	15.8	36	15.18	2442.49
63	University of Sussex (US)	UK	33.26	251	15.17	83.9
64	Zhengzhou University (ZZU)	China	22.93	59	15.16	194.95
65	University of Zurich (UZH)	Switzerland	108.92	510	15.08	16.07
66	Indian Institute of Science (IISc)	India	85.45	137	14.57	20.56
67	Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI)	Canada	46.54	150	14.28	44.25
68	University of Pennsylvania (Penn)	US	257.16	646	14.22	5.85
69	Jagiellonian University (UJ)	Poland	31	186	13.63	78.48
70	Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)	India	119.8	170	13.58	12.79
71	University of Münster (WWU)	Germany	101.27	229	13.49	15.36
72	Beihang University (BUAA)	China	31.81	99	13.23	71.15
73	Lund University (LU)	Sweden	85.83	338	13.08	17.98
74	University of Bath	UK	40.15	98	13.01	47.96
75	National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM)	France	85.55	739	12.7	17.43
76	University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU)	Germany	89.64	290	12.69	16.49
77	University of Copenhagen (UCPH)	Denmark	125.32	679	12.69	11.27
78	Tongji University	China	33.27	110	12.48	60.02
79	U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)	US	51.1	141	12.46	32.25
80	University of Michigan (U-M)	US	304.18	944	12.35	4.23
81	São Paulo State University (UNESP)	Brazil	23.52	112	12.31	109.87
82	University of Basel (UB)	Switzerland	92.77	258	12.26	15.23
83	University of Würzburg	Germany	114.81	328	12.21	11.89
84	University of Girona (UdG)	Spain	16.15	38	12.18	306.61
85	Heidelberg University (Uni Heidelberg)	Germany	121.53	690	12.09	11.04
86	University of Leeds	UK	68.52	236	11.93	21.08
87	Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC) - Paris 6	France	103.02	1472	11.77	12.9
88	Southeast University (SEU)	China	37.51	82	11.73	45.51
89	Leibniz Association	Germany	159.77	750	11.62	7.85
90	University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL)	US	54.74	159	11.43	26.39
91	Saint Petersburg State University (SPbGU)	Russia	25.36	122	11.39	81.53
92	National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)	US	95.63	1182	11.33	13.44
93	Umeå University (UMU)	Sweden	30.84	83	11.2	57.03
94	Curtin University	Australia	24.16	233	10.93	82.59
95	University of Turin (UNITO)	Italy	33.99	322	10.76	46.33
96	University of Warsaw (UW)	Poland	37.5	211	10.58	39.32
97	University of Stuttgart	Germany	51.42	119	10.34	25.18
98	Nanjing University of Science and Technology (NUST)	China	17.5	42	10.23	140.83
99	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)	US	159.73	863	9.9	6.61
100	Nanjing Normal University (NNU)	China	19.73	55	9.79	98.39