Global NS Rankings: Harvard Leads, China Mainland Rises

Against the backdrop of intensifying global competition in scientific research, publications in Nature and Science have become one of the most important indicators of a university's capacity for original innovation and international academic influence.

Based on publication data from universities worldwide between June 18, 2025, and June 18, 2026, WorldHE has conducted a comprehensive analysis of institutional performance in Nature and Science (NS), providing insights into the evolving landscape of global higher education and scientific research.

The World's Leading Universities in NS Publications

Among the world's top 10 universities by total NS publications over the past year, the United States accounts for six institutions, China Mainland for three, and the United Kingdom for two, forming the first tier of global excellence in high-impact scientific research.

Harvard University ranked first by a substantial margin with 143 NS papers, including 91 in Nature and 52 in Science. Harvard scholars served as corresponding authors on 140 of these papers, meaning that nearly every publication was led by a Harvard researcher. This highlights the university's exceptional capacity to independently drive frontier scientific research.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ranked second with 98 papers, followed by Stanford University with 95.

The University of California, Berkeley placed fourth with 64 NS papers. Although its total output was lower than that of the top three institutions, Berkeley distinguished itself as the only university among the global top 15 where Science publications (35) outnumbered Nature publications (29), reflecting its longstanding strengths in astrophysics, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology.

Among universities in China Mainland, the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) ranked fifth globally with 52 papers, making it the highest-ranked institution outside the United States. Tsinghua University followed in sixth place with 46 papers, while Peking University ranked ninth with 41.

The United Kingdom's University of Oxford (43 papers) and University of Cambridge (42 papers) ranked seventh and eighth, respectively. Both universities recorded exceptionally high proportions of papers with institutional corresponding authors (Oxford: 41 of 43; Cambridge: 41 of 42), demonstrating their strong capability to lead major international research projects and shape global scientific agendas.

Rounding out the global top ten, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Washington, Seattle tied for tenth place with 39 NS papers each.

Overall, 70 universities worldwide published at least 10 NS papers during the one-year period. Beyond the global top ten, the University of California, San Francisco, Princeton University, ETH Zurich, Cornell University, and Yale University each produced more than 30 NS papers, further demonstrating their outstanding research performance.

The Global Research Landscape

At the national and regional level, the United States remains the undisputed global leader in high-impact scientific research. In addition to world-leading institutions such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, it also possesses remarkable depth across its broader higher education system. Among the 31 universities worldwide that published more than 20 NS papers, 18 are located in the United States, accounting for well over half of the total.

Perhaps even more striking is the exceptionally high proportion of publications led by U.S. institutions as corresponding authors. For example, Stanford served as the corresponding institution on 90 of its 95 papers, while the University of Washington was the corresponding institution on all 39 of its publications. These figures demonstrate that the United States is not only the world's largest producer of high-impact scientific research but also its principal intellectual leader, maintaining unparalleled influence over the direction and leadership of major international research initiatives.

Universities in China Mainland have firmly established themselves as the world's second research powerhouse. Their overall NS output now significantly surpasses that of traditional scientific powers such as the United Kingdom and Germany, with 12 universities in China Mainland publishing at least 10 NS papers during the reporting period.

Universities in China Mainland also display a clear preference for publishing in Nature, with Nature papers generally outnumbering those in Science. This pattern reflects the region's long-established strengths in physics, chemistry, materials science, and nanoscience. Meanwhile, the proportion of papers with institutions from China Mainland serving as corresponding authors has increased markedly, indicating that researchers from China Mainland are assuming increasingly prominent leadership roles in international scientific collaborations.

Europe's research ecosystem, by contrast, is characterized by its breadth and diversity. While many European universities make notable contributions to NS publications, few possess the scale of research output seen at institutions such as Harvard or MIT.

In Switzerland, ETH Zurich ranked 13th globally with 35 NS papers, while École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) also delivered a strong performance with 15 papers. In the United Kingdom, beyond Oxford and Cambridge, Imperial College London (20 papers) and University College London (UCL) (17 papers) maintained consistently high levels of output. Germany's leading contributors include LMU Munich (13 papers), the Technical University of Munich (12), and Humboldt University of Berlin (11). In France, PSL University (16 papers) and Paris-Saclay University (10 papers) represent the core of the country's research strength, together forming an important pillar of continental Europe's scientific landscape.

Methodology

For Nature, only publications classified as Article and Review Article were included. For Science, the analysis includes Research Article, Special-Issue Research Article, and Review.

The study covers papers formally published between June 18, 2025, and June 18, 2026.

Only the physically affiliated first author was counted as the first author. All corresponding-author affiliations were included, with each affiliated institution counted once. If the first-author institution and the corresponding-author institution were the same, the publication was counted only once for that institution.

Only formally published articles were included in the analysis. Advance online publications and papers in pre-publication status were excluded.