The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries/territories and their scientific output since its introduction in November 2014.^[1] Originally released with 64 natural-science journals, the Nature Index expanded to 82 natural-science journals in 2018, then added 64 health-science journals in 2023. Each year, Nature Index ranks the leading institutions (which can be companies, universities, government agencies, research institutes, or NGOs) and countries by the number of scientific articles and papers published in leading journals. This ranking can also be categorized by individual fields of research such as life sciences, chemistry, physics, or earth sciences, with different institutions leading in each. The Nature Index was conceived by Nature Portfolio. In total, more than 17,000 institutions are listed in the Nature Index.

The Nature Index attempts to objectively measure the scientific output of institutions and countries, taking into account differences in quality. Therefore, only articles published in 145 selected high-quality journals are counted. These journals were selected by independent committees. If authors from several institutions and/or countries are involved in a scientific article, it is divided accordingly, assuming that all researchers were equally involved in the article. For example, this "fractional count" (Share) received by each author would be 0.1 for an article with 10 authors. If an author is affiliated with more than one institution, that author's Share is then subdivided equally across their affiliated institutions. The process is similar for countries/territories and regions, though the fact that some institutions have overseas labs makes the process more complicated, with such labs being counted towards their appropriate host countries.^[2][3]

The top 25 institutions with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals according to the Nature Index 2024, which is valid for the calendar year 2023:^[4]

Rank	Institution	Country	Total share	Count
1	Chinese Academy of Sciences	China	2243.22	7554
2	Harvard University	United States	1143.43	3763
3	Max Planck Society	Germany	642.83	2572
4	University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences	China	635.81	3227
5	University of Science and Technology of China	China	631.2	1858
6	Peking University	China	617.17	2349
7	French National Centre for Scientific Research	France	613.9	4400
8	Nanjing University	China	609.45	1448
9	Zhejiang University	China	595.37	1540
10	Tsinghua University	China	593.45	1946
11	Helmholtz Association	Germany	531.05	2752
12	Sun Yat-sen University	China	492.47	1266
13	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China	488.94	1449
14	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	484.86	2032
15	Stanford University	United States	474.13	1929
16	Fudan University	China	461.26	1333
17	Sichuan University	China	413.63	768
18	National Institutes of Health	United States	394.48	1112
19	University of Tokyo	Japan	389.36	1239
20	University of Oxford	United Kingdom	388.22	1625
21	University of Michigan	United States	380.50	1415
22	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	368.12	1436
23	ETH Zurich	Switzerland	346.26	1042
24	Yale University	United States	342.16	1402
25	Nankai University	China	337.67	797

The countries with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals according to the Nature Index 2024, which is valid for the calendar year 2023.^[5]

Rank	Country or Territory	Count	Share	Population	Count per ten million people	Share per ten million people
1	China	27736	23171.84	1,409,670,000	197	164.38
2	United States	29165	20292.72	335,893,238	868	604.14
N/A	Schengen area[Note 1]	N/A	15618.76	453,324,255	N/A	344.54
3	Germany	9347	4318.69	84,607,016	1105	510.44
4	United Kingdom	8880	3701.99	67,596,281	1314	547.66
5	Japan	5161	2956.75	124,000,000	416	238.45
6	France	5453	2243.92	68,394,000	797	328.09
7	Canada	4239	1702.32	40,769,890	1040	417.54
8	South Korea	2776	1630.99	51,293,934	541	317.97
9	India	2334	1494.27	1,400,744,000	17	10.67
10	Switzerland	3695	1393.3	8,960,817	4124	1554.88
11	Italy	3653	1313.44	58,972,268	619	222.72
12	Australia	3518	1263.44	26,821,557	1312	471.05
13	Spain	3651	1247.25	48,592,909	751	256.67
14	Netherlands	3231	1153.45	17,967,505	1798	641.96
15	Sweden	2391	769.37	10,549,287	2267	729.31
16	Denmark	1933	652.4	5,961,249	3243	1094.40
17	Israel	1448	611.49	9,880,000	1466	618.92
18	Singapore	1424	542.59	5,917,600	2406	916.91
19	Belgium	1576	471.74	11,820,117	1333	399.10
20	Taiwan	1150	423.67	23,420,442	491	180.90
21	Austria	1391	401.22	9,159,993	1519	438.01
22	Russia	915	379.67	146,150,789	63	25.98
23	Poland	1257	331.74	37,620,000	334	88.18
24	Brazil	1102	293.88	203,080,756	54	14.47
25	Finland	947	276.88	5,574,011	1699	496.73
26	Norway	1002	259.01	5,550,203	1805	466.67
27	Czech Republic	875	207.08	10,900,555	803	189.97
28	Portugal	644	137.06	10,467,366	615	130.94
29	New Zealand	496	135.65	5,305,600	935	255.67
30	Saudi Arabia	456	132.74	32,175,224	142	41.26
31	Ireland	632	123.38	5,281,600	1197	233.60
32	Iran	285	115.77	84,055,000	34	13.77
33	Chile	618	115.7	19,960,889	310	57.96
34	South Africa	603	104.67	62,027,503	97	16.87
35	Turkey	581	103.93	85,372,377	68	12.17
36	Hungary	496	94.55	9,584,000	518	98.65
37	Argentina	441	85.51	46,654,581	95	18.33
38	Mexico	438	85.22	129,625,968	34	6.57
39	Greece	536	82.79	10,413,982	515	79.50
40	Thailand	368	62.36	66,090,475	56	9.44
41	Slovenia	289	48.81	2,123,103	1361	229.90
42	Pakistan	276	40.28	241,499,431	11	1.67
43	United Arab Emirates	270	37.76	9,282,410	291	40.68
44	Vietnam	115	36.21	100,300,000	11	3.61
45	Croatia	211	34.13	3,855,641	547	88.52
46	Estonia	215	33.58	1,366,491	1573	245.74
47	Ukraine	274	30.35	36,700,000	75	8.27
48	Romania	342	29.58	19,051,562	180	15.53
49	Iceland	113	29.53	383,726	2945	769.56
50	Luxembourg	90	29.49	672,020	1339	438.83
51	Colombia	345	24.2	52,695,952	65	4.59
52	Malaysia	183	21.02	33,379,500	55	6.30
53	Kenya	120	19.95	51,526,000	23	3.87
54	Uganda	80	19.4	45,562,000	18	4.26
55	Cyprus	154	18.58	918,100	1677	202.37
56	Slovakia	214	17.24	5,424,687	394	31.78
57	Egypt	205	17.16	104,462,545	20	1.64
58	Lithuania	135	15.63	2,886,515	468	54.15
59	Indonesia	112	14.14	279,118,866	4	0.51
60	Peru	136	13.17	33,725,844	40	3.91
61	Qatar	92	12.76	2,656,032	346	48.04
62	Bulgaria	197	12.75	6,447,710	306	19.77
63	Ecuador	114	12.55	16,938,986	67	7.41
64	Latvia	100	10.72	1,872,500	534	57.25
65	Ethiopia	61	10.4	107,334,000	6	0.97
66	Bangladesh	73	10.24	169,828,911	4	0.60
67	Serbia	219	9.98	6,641,197	330	15.03
68	Morocco	148	9.19	37,022,000	40	2.48
69	Tanzania	76	9.15	61,741,120	12	1.48
70	Nigeria	60	8.9	223,800,000	3	0.40
71	Ghana	43	8.11	30,832,019	14	2.63
72	Uzbekistan	48	6.97	36,963,262	13	1.89
73	Uruguay	34	6.81	3,444,263	99	19.77
74	Lebanon	41	6.15	5,490,000	75	11.20
75	Panama	41	6.02	4,064,780	101	14.81
76	Malawi	35	5.93	21,507,723	16	2.76
77	Oman	22	5.75	5,113,071	43	11.25
78	Kazakhstan	35	5.43	20,075,271	17	2.70
79	Costa Rica	38	4.92	5,262,225	665	0.00
80	Georgia	190	4.83	3,736,400	509	12.93
81	Philippines	135	4.44	112,892,781	12	0.39
82	Burkina Faso	25	4.41	22,752,315	11	1.94
83	Zambia	32	4.36	19,610,769	16	2.22
84	Armenia	116	4.33	2,993,800	387	14.46
85	Rwanda	19	4.29	13,246,394	14	3.24
86	Mozambique	30	4.11	32,419,747	9	1.27
87	Jordan	21	4.1	11,516,000	18	3.56
88	Nepal	40	3.99	29,164,578	14	1.37
89	Zimbabwe	29	3.75	15,178,979	19	2.47
90	Congo	28	3.51	95,370,000	3	0.37
91	Mali	15	3.44	22,395,489	7	1.54
92	Malta	31	3.31	519,562	597	63.71
93	Macedonia	26	3.03	1,832,696	142	16.53
94	Gambia	21	2.93	2,417,471	87	12.12
N/A	Central America-4[Note 2]	N/A	2.89	40,514,214	N/A	0.71
95	Cuba	49	2.83	11,089,511	44	2.55
96	Belarus	17	2.73	9,200,617	18	2.97
97	Tunisia	17	2.73	11,850,232	14	2.30
98	Azerbaijan	135	2.72	10,151,517	133	2.68
99	Mongolia	77	2.57	3,457,548	223	7.43
100	Myanmar	16	2.48	55,770,232	3	0.44
101	Madagascar	17	2.4	26,923,353	6	0.89
102	Cameroon	27	2.35	28,088,845	10	0.84
103	Sri Lanka	84	2.22	22,037,000	38	1.01
104	North Korea	4	2.22	25,660,000	2	0.87
105	Senegal	13	2.22	18,275,743	7	1.21
106	Botswana	15	1.9	2,410,338	62	7.88
107	French Polynesia	12	1.86	279,890	429	66.45
108	Cambodia	8	1.79	17,091,464	5	1.05
109	Benin	17	1.78	12,606,998	13	1.41
110	Ivory Coast	19	1.69	29,389,150	6	0.58
111	Monaco	12	1.63	38,367	3128	424.84
112	International	18	1.57	8,104,267,000	0	0.00
113	Nicaragua	8	1.4	6,733,763	12	2.08
114	Algeria	7	1.38	45,400,000	2	0.30
115	Liberia	8	1.34	5,248,621	15	2.55
116	Guatemala	19	1.26	17,602,431	11	0.72
117	Namibia	11	1.25	3,022,401	36	4.14
118	Venezuela	20	1.24	28,302,000	7	0.44
119	Kuwait	75	1.23	4,670,713	161	2.63
120	Greenland	10	1.16	56,865	1759	203.99
121	Bolivia	17	1.12	12,006,031	14	0.93
122	Vanuatu	3	1.05	301,295	100	34.85
123	Haiti	11	1	11,743,017	9	0.85
124	Syria	1	1	22,923,000	0	0.44
125	Iraq	12	0.99	43,324,000	3	0.23
126	Sierra Leone	6	0.79	8,494,260	7	0.93
127	Paraguay	9	0.78	6,109,644	15	1.28
128	Niger	5	0.76	25,369,415	2	0.30
129	Mauritius	10	0.66	1,261,041	79	5.23
130	Laos	9	0.64	7,443,000	12	0.86
131	Guinea-Bissau	1	0.58	1,781,308	6	3.26
132	Togo	6	0.51	8,095,498	7	0.63
133	Lesotho	5	0.51	2,306,000	22	2.21
134	Kyrgyzstan	6	0.48	7,100,000	8	0.68
135	Tajikistan	4	0.47	10,077,600	4	0.47
136	Angola	5	0.44	34,094,077	1	0.13
137	Jamaica	7	0.41	2,825,544	25	1.45
138	Palestinian territories	50	0.41	5,483,450	91	0.75
139	Kosovo	3	0.39	1,762,220	17	2.21
140	South Sudan	1	0.36	14,746,494	1	0.24
141	Bahamas	4	0.36	397,360	101	9.06
142	Sudan	7	0.35	41,984,500	2	0.08
143	Dominican Republic	9	0.34	10,760,028	8	0.32
144	Somalia	2	0.34	18,143,379	1	0.19
145	Seychelles	10	0.32	100,447	996	31.86
146	Moldova	8	0.32	2,512,758	32	1.27
147	Guinea	3	0.3	13,261,638	2	0.23
148	Bahrain	6	0.29	1,577,059	38	1.84
149	Fiji	6	0.29	893,468	67	3.25
150	Eritrea	2	0.29	3,748,902	5	0.77
151	Yemen	4	0.29	31,888,698	1	0.09
152	Reunion	5	0.28	885,700[6]	56	3.16
153	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	3	0.24	110,872	271	21.65
154	Andorra	5	0.24	85,101	588	28.20
155	Antigua and Barbuda	3	0.23	100,772	298	22.82
156	Brunei	7	0.23	445,400	157	5.16
157	Maldives	3	0.2	515,132	58	3.88
158	Papua New Guinea	6	0.18	11,781,559	5	0.15
159	East Timor	3	0.17	1,354,662	22	1.25
160	Trinidad and Tobago	7	0.17	1,367,510	51	1.24
161	Cape Verde	6	0.15	491,233	122	3.05
162	Afghanistan	1	0.14	34,262,840	0	0.04
163	Montenegro	60	0.14	616,695	973	2.27
164	Honduras	34	0.12	9,745,149	35	0.12
165	Albania	7	0.12	2,761,785	25	0.43
166	El Salvador	5	0.11	6,884,888	7	0.16
167	Liechtenstein	4	0.1	40,023	999	24.99
168	Martinique	1	0.1	349,925[6]	29	2.86
169	Vatican City State (Holy See)	5	0.09	764	65445	1178.01
170	Swaziland	2	0.09	1,223,362	16	0.74
171	Guadeloupe	2	0.09	378,561[6]	53	2.38
172	Bosnia and Herzegovina	7	0.09	3,277,082	21	0.27
173	Palau	2	0.08	16,733	1195	47.81
174	Tonga	2	0.07	100,179	200	6.99
175	Guyana	7	0.07	743,699	94	0.94
176	Libya	2	0.07	6,931,061	3	0.10
177	Samoa	7	0.06	205,557	341	2.92
178	Bhutan	3	0.06	770,276	39	0.78
179	Faroe Islands	2	0.05	54,547	367	9.17
180	Grenada	2	0.05	112,579	178	4.44
181	Comoros	1	0.05	758,316	13	0.66
182	Burundi	2	0.02	12,837,740	2	0.02
183	Barbados	5	0.02	267,800	187	0.75
184	Suriname	3	0.02	616,500	49	0.32
185	Saint Lucia	1	0.01	47,195	56	0.56
185	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	0.01	178,696	212	2.12
186	Gabon	2	0.01	2,233,272	9	0.04
187	Kiribati	1	0.01	120,740	83	0.83
188	Netherlands Antilles	1	0	337,617	30	0.00
189	Dominica	1	0	67,408	148	0.00
190	Solomon Islands	2	0	734,887	27	0.00
191	Cook Islands	1	0	15,040	66	0.00
192	San Marino	1	0	33,916	295	0.00
193	Belize	1	0	397,483	25	0.00
193	Turkmenistan	1	0	7,057,841	1	0.00

• List of cities by scientific output
• List of countries by number of scientific and technical journal articles
• List of sovereign states by research and development spending