List of cities by scientific output

The following article lists the cities and metropolitan areas with the greatest scientific output, according to the Nature Index. The Nature Index attempts to objectively measure the scientific output of institutions, cities and countries by the amount of scientific articles and papers published in leading journals. Differences in quality are taken into account. Only articles published in 82[note 1] selected quality journals are counted. All these journals are in the English language. They were selected by a committee. If authors from several institutions from different cities are involved in a scientific article, it is divided accordingly, assuming that all researchers were equally involved in the article.

In 2019, Beijing was the city in the world with the largest scientific output, accounting for 2.8% of the world's total.[2] New York City was second in the world, with about 2% of the world's total. Overall, the United States has the most cities in the top 100 list, followed by China.

List

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Listed below are the top 100 cities and metropolitan areas with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals in 2023, according to the Nature Index 2024 Science Cities:[3]

Rank City/Metro area Country/Region
1 Beijing  China
2 Shanghai  China
3 New York metropolitan area  United States
4 Boston metropolitan area  United States
5 Nanjing  China
6 San Francisco Bay Area  United States
7 Baltimore-Washington  United States
8 Guangzhou  China
9 Wuhan  China
10 Tokyo  Japan
11 Paris  France
12 Seoul  South Korea
13 Hangzhou  China
14 London  United Kingdom
15 Hefei  China
16 Los Angeles  United States
17 Chicago  United States
18 Tianjin  China
19 Hong Kong  Hong Kong
20 Xi'an  China
21 Shenzhen  China
22 Chengdu  China
23 Changsha  China
24 Philadelphia  United States
25 Zürich  Switzerland
26 Singapore  Singapore
27 Cambridge  United Kingdom
28 San Diego  United States
29 Munich  Germany
30 Changchun  China
31 Jinan  China
32 Berlin  Germany
33 Copenhagen  Denmark
34 Houston  United States
35 Seattle  United States
36 Oxford  United Kingdom
37 Toronto  Canada
38 Qingdao  China
39 Ann Arbor  United States
40 Chongqing  China
41 Melbourne  Australia
42 Suzhou  China
43 Atlanta  United States
44 Dalian  China
45 Xiamen  China
46 Barcelona  Spain
47 Fuzhou  China
48 Sydney  Australia
49 Stockholm  Sweden
50 Ithaca  United States
51 Harbin  China
52 Montreal  Canada
53 Daejeon  South Korea
54 St. Louis  United States
55 Kyoto  Japan
56 Lausanne  Switzerland
57 Madrid  Spain
58 Vienna  Austria
59 Lanzhou  China
60 Osaka  Japan
61 Pittsburgh  United States
62 Amsterdam metropolitan area  Netherlands
63 Dallas–Fort Worth  United States
64 Taipei  Taiwan[note 2]
65 Madison  United States
66 Tsukuba  Japan
67 Heidelberg  Germany
68 Boulder  United States
69 Zhengzhou  China
70 Durham  United States
71 Nagoya metropolitan area  Japan
72 Austin  United States
73 Brisbane  Australia
74 Chapel Hill  United States
75 Rome  Italy
76 Minneapolis–Saint Paul  United States
77 Vancouver  Canada
78 State College  United States
79 Urbana  United States
80 Milan  Italy
81 Hamburg  Germany
82 Moscow  Russia
83 Denver  United States
84 Kolkata  India
85 Bengaluru  India
86 Geneva  Switzerland
87 Dresden  Germany
88 Edinburgh  United Kingdom
89 Nanchang  China
90 Santa Barbara  United States
91 Columbus  United States
92 Leuven  Belgium
93 Rehovot  Israel
94 Grenoble  France
95 Nashville  United States
96 West Lafayette  United States
97 Helsinki  Finland
98 Mumbai  India
99 Manchester  United Kingdom
100 Kunming  China

Leading cities in different fields

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The 10 cities and metropolitan areas with the highest share of articles published in the fields of biological sciences, Earth & environmental sciences, chemistry and physical sciences:

Rank Biological sciences[4] Earth & environmental sciences[5] Chemistry[6] Physical sciences[7]
1 United States New York metropolitan area China Beijing China Beijing China Beijing
2 United States Boston metropolitan area China Nanjing China Shanghai China Shanghai
3 United States San Francisco Bay Area China Guangzhou China Nanjing United States New York metropolitan area
4 United States Baltimore-Washington United States Baltimore-Washington China Guangzhou United States Boston metropolitan area
5 China Beijing China Shanghai China Hefei China Nanjing
6 China Shanghai United States New York metropolitan area China Tianjin South Korea Seoul metropolitan area
7 United Kingdom London metropolitan area United States San Francisco Bay Area China Wuhan United States San Francisco Bay Area
8 France Paris metropolitan area China Wuhan Japan Tokyo metropolitan area Japan Tokyo metropolitan area
9 United States San Diego metropolitan area United States Los Angeles metropolitan area United States New York metropolitan area China Hefei
10 United States Los Angeles metropolitan area France Paris metropolitan area South Korea Seoul metropolitan area France Paris metropolitan area

Notes

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  1. ^ The current complete list of the 82 leading scientific journals, as of September 2022, are: ACS Nano, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Materials, American Journal of Human Genetics, Analytical Chemistry, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Applied Physics Letters, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Cancer Cell, Cancer Research, Cell, Cell Host & Microbe, Cell Metabolism, Cell Stem Cell, Chemical Communications, Chemical Science, Current Biology, Developmental Cell, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Ecology Letters, eLife, Environmental Science & Technology, European Physical Journal C, Genes & Development, Genome Research, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Geology, Geophysical Research Letters, Immunity, Inorganic Chemistry, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Cell Biology, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Journal of High Energy Physics, Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Macromolecules, Molecular Cell, Molecular Psychiatry, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters, Nano Letters, Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Chemistry, Nature Climate Change, Nature Communications, Nature Genetics, Nature Geoscience, Nature Immunology, Nature Materials, Nature Medicine, Nature Methods, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Photonics, Nature Physics, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Neuron, Organic Letters, Physical Review A, Physical Review B, Physical Review D, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review X, PLOS Biology, PLOS Genetics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Science, Science Advances, Science Translational Medicine, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, The EMBO Journal, The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, The Plant Cell, and Water Research.[1]
  2. ^ Controlled by the  Republic of China on Taiwan. See also Political status of Taiwan and One China.

References

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  1. ^ "Revisions to the Nature Index". nature.com. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  2. ^ Jia, Hepeng (2020-09-19). "Beijing, the seat of science capital". Nature. 585 (7826): S52 – S54. Bibcode:2020Natur.585S..52J. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02577-x.
  3. ^ "Leading 200 science cities | | Supplements | Nature Index". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2025-10-10.
  4. ^ "Leading 50 science cities in biological sciences | | Supplements | Nature Index". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  5. ^ "Leading 50 science cities in Earth & environmental sciences | | Supplements | Nature Index". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  6. ^ "Leading 50 science cities in chemistry | | Supplements | Nature Index". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  7. ^ "Leading 50 science cities in physical sciences | | Supplements | Nature Index". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2024-05-05.