The Nature Index has broadened its disciplinary scope and refined its methodology with the release of the 2026 Research Leaders tables, based on full‑year 2025 data. This update marks a significant development in the database since its launch in 2014. The latest tables indicate that China continues to lead globally, with East Asia overall outperforming other regions.
For the first time, the Nature Index includes 17 applied‑science journals, one conference, and 15 social‑science journals. These additions were selected following a global survey of more than 4,000 researchers on preferred venues for publishing their most important work. The database now tracks 177 journals and one conference across seven subject areas, with 84% of them published outside Springer Nature.
A new article‑level subject classification system has also been introduced, replacing the previous journal‑based categorization. This approach allows each article to be classified individually, providing a more accurate representation of disciplinary coverage. To ensure comparability, articles from the newly added journals have been incorporated for 2024 and 2025, and the updated classification has been applied retrospectively across the database.
Simon Baker, Chief Editor of Nature Index, noted that the expanded coverage and recalibrated methodology provide a more comprehensive and precise view of high‑quality research output. He added that China continues to show strong performance, with evidence that East Asia as a whole is increasing output at a faster rate than Europe and North America.
Regional Highlights:
• China remains the leading contributor, with research output rising 22.4% from 2024 to 2025. It is the only country in the global top ten to record double‑digit growth.
• Japan, South Korea, and India also rank among the top ten, with Japan and South Korea each reporting nearly 10% growth, surpassing Western countries in the same group.
• The remaining top ten countries include four European nations and two North American nations. The United States and Germany are among the top five across all subject areas, with the U.S.
• leading in health and social sciences. The United Kingdom ranks in the top five in all areas except chemistry.
Institutional Performance:
• The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) retains its overall No. 1 position and leads in most subject areas except health and social sciences.
• Nine of the top ten institutions are based in China, up from eight last year, with Zhejiang University rising to No. 2.
• Harvard University ranks No. 3 overall but leads in health and social sciences. In social sciences, nine of the top ten institutions are U.S.‑based.
• In biological sciences, Harvard ranks No. 2, while the Max Planck Society ranks No. 3. European institutions perform strongly in physical sciences, with four in the top ten, including the Max Planck Society (No. 2) and Italy’s National Institute for Nuclear Physics (No. 4).
• The Helmholtz Association ranks No. 4 in Earth and environmental sciences.
All data and analysis for the 2026 Research Leaders tables are based on full‑year 2025 data and are available at natureindex.com.
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