Data released in this year’s independent Nature Index Research Leaders tables shows a shift in global research landscape
11 June 2025
China sees a significant increase in research output, with Asian institutions rising in prominence
London | Beijing | New York | Tokyo 11 June 2025
Nature Index Research Leaders 2025: Overview of results for Japan
- In the country rankings, Japan maintained its 5th place, but its output (Adjusted Share) decreased by 9.0% from the previous year.
- The Japanese research institutions ranked in the top 100 global research institutions are the University of Tokyo (2025: 23rd, 2024: 21st) and Kyoto University (2025: 55th, 2024: 47th). This is the first time since the launch of the Nature Index that Kyoto University has fallen out of the top 50, with both the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University recording their lowest rankings to date.
- In the newly added indicator for 2025, ‘proportion of female authors’ (2024), the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) recorded 30.2%, ranking first in Japan.
China has extended its lead in research output, according to data released in the latest Nature Index Research Leaders (data refers to full year 2024 data only - see notes to editors). The country’s Share, the Nature Index’s key metric of author contribution to high-quality research, reached 32,122, a 17% increase on 2023, with the region now having institutions in 8/10 top rankings across the Index. Asian countries as a whole enjoyed greater dominance, with drops seen from Western institutions in the number of top positions held within the rankings.
The Nature Research Leaders is released annually and based on data from the previous year. It is part of the Nature Index which tracks contributions to research articles published in 145 high-quality natural science and health science publications, from many publishers, and selected by an independent group of researchers.
“The data reflect a profound shift in the global research landscape,” Simon Baker, Chief Editor, Nature Index, said: “China’s continued investment in science and technology is translating into rapid sustained growth in high-quality research output, which in areas such as physical sciences and chemistry is now far outstripping previously dominant Western nations, including the US.”
Other key regional analysis from this years’ table showed:
- Strong growth in research output for other countries across Asia. South Korea and India were the only two other countries in the top 10, other than China, to increase their adjusted Share from 2023 — by 4.1% and 2% respectively. South Korea rose to 7th place in the overall rankings, overtaking Canada. Singapore, ranked 16th, up from 18th, posted a 7% increase — the second-largest increase among the top 20 countries after China. Japan was one exception with a 9% decrease.
- Predominant Western nations recorded a decline in their adjusted Share for the second year in a row. with Canada, France, Switzerland, the UK and US, all recorded declines of at least 7%. Australia and Germany showed declines of less than 3%.
On an institutional level:
- Chinese institutions now occupy eight of the top 10 positions in the institutional rankings. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) retained its top spot. The University of Science and Technology of China takes 3rd place, while Zhejiang University (Share 819.57) climbed from 10th to 4th.
- Several Western institutions saw a decline in ranking. Germany’s Max Planck Society fell from 4th to 9th place, while the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) dropped out of the top 10 for the first time, ranking at 13th place. Harvard University recorded an 18% drop in adjusted Share, although it held 2nd place, but Stanford University and MIT both fell in ranking - Stanford from 15th to 16th place, and MIT from 14th to 17th place. The US National Institutes of Health also saw a change, falling out of the top 20 to 24th place.
All data and analysis for this year’s Research Leaders can be found here. The data is based on full year 2024 data.
Note: Nature Index recognises that many other factors must be taken into account when considering research quality and institutional performance; Nature Index metrics alone should not be used to assess institutions or individuals. Nature Index data and methods are transparent and available under a creative commons licence at natureindex.com
<Japan’s research capability in Nature Index Research Leaders 2025>
From 2023,, the Nature Index database has been updated to include author affiliation information from primary-research articles across 145 journals in 65 medical journals together with 75 natural science journals and 5 multi-disciplinary journals. Users can now track trends in the health sciences. Thus, the overview of the tables shown below is based on the results of the total output in both natural sciences and health sciences.
Country/territory tables for Nature Index 2025
Japan's 2024 Share was 3,185.39, maintaining its 5th position in the country/territory ranking. Japan's Adjusted Share decreased by 9.0% from the previous year, marking the second smallest decline among the top five countries, excluding China, which saw an increase from the previous year. The rankings of the top five countries and the changes in their Adjusted Share are as follows: 1st China (+17.4%), 2nd United States (-10.1%), 3rd Germany (-2.0%), 4th United Kingdom (-10.9%), and 5th Japan (-9.0%).
Global institution tables for Nature Index 2025
The Japanese research institutions ranked in the top 100 of the world's research institutions are the University of Tokyo (2025: 23rd, 2024: 21st) and Kyoto University (2025: 55th, 2024: 47th). This is the first time since the launch of the Nature Index that Kyoto University has fallen out of the top 50, with both the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University recording their lowest rankings to date. Osaka University (2025: 103rd, 2024: 70th), which was ranked within the top 100 last year, has fallen out of the top 100.
The difference in the 2024 Adjusted Share of Japanese institutions within the top 100 was a decrease of 10.2% for Kyoto University and 6.5% for the University of Tokyo.
In the Nature Index, the domestic rankings of Japanese research institutions are as follows (the columns for 2024 and 2025 indicate the global rankings among all institutions worldwide).
The top institutions in Japan for this year’s Nature Index Research Leaders are as follows:
National ranking
Institution
World ranking (2024)
World ranking (2025)
YoY change
1
The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan
21
23
−2
2
Kyoto University, Japan
47
55
−8
3
Osaka University, Japan
70
103
−33
4
RIKEN, Japan
126
115
+11
5
Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan
141
132
+9
6
Tohoku University, Japan
106
143
−37
7
Nagoya University, Japan
128
151
−23
8
Hokkaido University, Japan
122
185
−63
9
Kyushu University, Japan
219
209
+10
10
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan
196
222
−26
11
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan
382
391
−9
12
University of Tsukuba, Japan
332
392
−60
13
Hiroshima University (HU), Japan
543
446
+97
14
Keio University, Japan
363
477
−114
15
Chiba University, Japan
600
497
+103
Institution benchmarking for Japan
Proportion of female authorship for Nature Index 2025
A new measure, author gender ratio was added to the Index in 2025. In terms of the proportion of female authors (2024), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University ranked first in Japan with 30.2%. The University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, which ranked high in terms of Share, ranked 20th (14.0%) and 18th (15.2%) respectively in the domestic ranking of the proportion of female authors. The national ranking of institutions with a high percentage of female authors (Proportion of female authorship) is as follows.
National ranking
(Share ranking)
Institution
Proportion of female authorship (2024)
1
(21)
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST)
30.2%
2
(15)
Chiba University
26.5%
3
(19)
Waseda University
26.1%
4
(13)
Hiroshima University
20.9%
5
(14)
Keio University
19.7%
6
(4)
Tohoku University
18.5％
7
(12)
Tsukuba University
18.4%
8
(5)
RIKEN
18.2%
9
(8)
Kyushu University
18.1%
10
(25)
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
17.9%
10
(6)
Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo)
17.9%
10
(3)
Osaka University
17.9%
13
(7)
Nagoya University
17.7%
14
(18)
National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS)
17.4%
15
(20)
Okayama University
16.4%
16
(17)
Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU)
16.1%
17
(11)
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
15.8%
18
(2)
Kyoto University
15.2%
19
(22)
Kanazawa University (KU)
14.5%
20
(1)
The University of Tokyo (UTokyo)
14.0%
21
(16)
Tokyo University of Science (TUS)
13.8％
22
(9)
Hokkaido University
13.5%
23
(24)
High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)
12.1%
24
(23)
Nagoya Institute of Technology (NITech)
9.8%
25
(10)
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)
4.0%
Proportion of female authorship (2024) of top global institutions according to Share
Ranking
Institution
Proportion of female authorship (2024)
1
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
19.0%
2
Harvard University
38.2%
3
Zhejiang University (ZJU)
17.3%
4
University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)
13.9%
5
Tsinghua University
14.3%
https://www.nature.com/nature-index/author-gender-ratio/leading-institutions
For information on how the proportion of female authorship is measure, please see: https://www.nature.com/nature-index/author-gender-ratio/methodology
International Collaboration Score for Nature Index 2025
Another new measure, collaboration score (CS) was added to the Index in 2024. An international collaboration can be between any two institutions from different countries/territories co-authoring at least one article in the journals tracked by the Nature Index. The collaboration score (CS) between two institutions is the sum of each of their Shares on the papers to which both have contributed. The ranking of collaboration scores between Japanese institutions and international institutions is as follows. (Calculation period: 1 March 2024 to 28 February 2025)
Global ranking
Institution
CS
62
French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
The University of Tokyo (UTokyo)
23.78
105
Max Planck Society
The University of Tokyo (UTokyo)
19.47
207
The University of Tokyo (UTokyo)
Harvard University
15.52
227
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
The University of Tokyo (UTokyo)
14.98
245
Max Planck Society
RIKEN
14.57
* This ranking is as of 11 June 2025. The Nature Index database is updated regularly, so please refer to https://www.nature.com/nature-index/ to view the latest rankings.
Note to Editors
While the Nature Index Research Leader tables are a good indicator of high research output in the natural and health sciences, readers should consider the findings alongside other scientific outputs such as data, software and intellectual property when considering research quality and institutional performance.
Nature Index is part of the Nature Research Intelligence portfolio, helping you navigate the world of high-quality scientific research, make informed research decisions and collaborate with confidence.
The Research Leaders tables are an annual release of data for the previous full calendar year (in this case 2024). Research Leaders tables from previous years are updated annually to reflect any changes to the database. This means rankings and metrics may differ from the table when first released.
About the Nature Index Metrics
Nature Index’s signature metric, Share, is a fractional count for an article allocated to an institution, city or country/region, that takes into account the proportion of authors on the article whose institutional affiliation is with that institution or location.
Adjusted Share takes account of annual variations in the total number of articles in the Nature Index when comparing Share across years.
The other main Nature Index metric is Count. A country/region or an institution is given a Count of 1 for each article that has at least one author from that country/region or institution.
For further explanation, please see natureindex.com/glossary.
About Nature Index
The Nature Index, part of Nature Research Intelligence, is a database of author affiliations and institutional relationships. The index tracks contributions to research articles published in 145 high-quality natural science and health science publications, chosen by an independent group of researchers.
The Nature Index provides absolute and fractional counts of article publication at the institutional and national level and, as such, is an indicator of global high-quality research output and collaboration. Data in the Nature Index are updated regularly, with the latest 12-month window of data (known as the Current Index) updated monthly and made available under a Creative Commons licence at natureindex.com. Each year, a snapshot of data for the previous full calendar year (known as Research Leaders) is also released. For more information, see the Nature Index FAQs and Glossary. The database is compiled by Nature Research Intelligence, part of Springer Nature.
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