The Nature Index Research Leaders 2024, released recently (previously the Nature Index Annual Tables) shows the rapid progress India has made in research output, with the country seeing a higher percentage growth in contributions to Index journals than China. The Nature Index is an open database of author affiliations and institutional relationships. It tracks contributions to research articles published in 145 natural science and health science publications chosen by an independent group of researchers.
Since the Nature Index was introduced in 2014, China has been the standout country for growth in Share, a metric that measures the contribution to papers in the Index by authors based in a particular location. In 2022, China overtook the United States as the leading country for natural-sciences output. In 2023, a year after health science publications were added to the Index, China was top overall.
While India’s overall Share for 2023 was 1,494.27 — much lower than China’s, at 23,171.84 — its growth is now mirroring its neighbor. From 2022 to 2023, India recorded an increase of 14.5% in its adjusted Share, a percentage change metric that takes account of annual fluctuations in the number of Nature Index articles each year. China, by comparison, had a growth in adjusted Share of 13.6%.
Additional trends across Research Leaders this year show that the Japanese research landscape appears to be experiencing positive change. While the country still saw a drop in adjusted share of 1.7% from 2022 to 2023, this was moderate compared to many European and North American countries and the steep decline in the share of around 20% that Japan recorded between 2017 and 2022; Despite featuring in the top ten for global/adjusted share, many leading Western countries continue to record dips in adjusted share: the United Kingdom fell by 8.2%, the United States by 7.1% and Germany by 6.8%. Denmark was the notable exception seeing an 11.8% increase; while much of Europe saw its overall share in the Index decrease in 2023, in specific areas the UK’s adjusted share was much more severe (biological sciences, environmental sciences, and Chemistry).
On an institutional level within the academic tables: Chinese institutions now hold seven of the top ten positions in the overall ranking, as well as making up the majority of the top 10 institutions in the categories of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences, Chemistry and Natural Sciences; US institutions still have a strong presence across the Nature & Science and Biological Science categories; and From Europe, the most notable performer in the overall top 100 was the University of Copenhagen at 52nd. It increased its adjusted Share by 11.4% as most other European institutions fell. For articles in Nature and Science, the University of Oxford was 7th after rising 18.7% and in health sciences, Sweden’s Karolinska Institute rose 5.9% and placed 10th.
One can read more about this year’s Research Leaders in an overview article here on nature.com, and all data and analysis for the tables can be found here.
Click here to read the original press release.
