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Shi Huang

Zhejiang University in China has overtaken Harvard University to become the top academic institution in the world, according to the 2026 Nature Index.
This is the first time Harvard has lost its top position in the rankings since the index’s inception in 2014.
Tsinghua University, also from China, was third.
Chinese institutions dominated this year’s list, accounting for nine of the top 10 – up from eight in last year’s rankings.

Of the top 20, China has 17, with Stanford University No 12 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at No 17.
The University of Tokyo in Japan came in at No 23, with Oxford 28th and Cambridge 30th.
Universities from China took 24 of the top 30 positions.
Nature Index’s 2026 rankings of leading academic institutions do not include government agencies and companies.
In the rankings that include government agencies, the Chinese Academy of Sciences again surpassed Harvard, having held the top position for years.
The Nature Index is a database of author affiliations and institutional relationships, part of Nature Research Intelligence, an AI-led service.
The 2026 edition was published on Wednesday.
The index tracks research contributions across 178 high-quality academic publications covering the fields of natural, health, applied and social sciences. The latest edition evaluates about 125,000 primary research articles published throughout 2025.
For each institution and country, the number of such published articles is tallied and ultimately scored based on the proportion of authors from each institution.
Unlike other university rankings, the Nature Index rankings do not factor subjective indicators such as school reputation and the number of international students. Instead, it scores each university’s publications across high-level journals.
Compared with 2024, Zhejiang’s Nature Index score increased by 22.7 per cent, while Harvard’s rose by 0.6 per cent.


For the 2026 edition, the Nature Index expanded its tracking database to include 15 social science journals, 17 applied science journals and one applied science conference.
The newly added applied science journals increased the database by about 20,200 articles, while the social science journals added about 2,000 articles.
“With expanded disciplinary coverage and a recalibrated methodology, the Nature Index now provides a more comprehensive and precise view of high-quality research output,” Simon Baker, Nature Index’s chief editor, said.
“In terms of the results, we are continuing to see extremely strong performance from China, while there is also evidence that the wider East Asia region is growing output at a faster rate than Europe and North America.”
China remains the world’s leading contributor, with research output surging 22.4 per cent from 2024 to 2025. It is the only country represented in the top 10 to have achieved double-digit growth.
Japan and South Korea followed with robust growth rates near 10 per cent. The United States saw an increase of only 4.2 per cent.
Subject-area rankings give a more nuanced view of national and institutional strengths.
Chinese institutions occupy the top 10 spots in applied sciences and chemistry. They also comprise nine of the top 10 spots in earth and environmental sciences.
In the biological sciences, China ranked as the world’s top-performing country, leading a total of five out of the seven major tracked subject areas.
At the institutional level, the Chinese Academy of Sciences captured the global No 1 spot in biological sciences, while the US maintained a strong presence in the top tier, led by Harvard in the No 2 position.
In physical sciences, China secured the top spot globally, leading in five of the seven tracked subject areas.
Meanwhile, the US maintained the top global ranking in health sciences (medicine) and social sciences.
Harvard ranked first in medicine, and US institutions dominated the social sciences, occupying nine of the top 10 spots. Tsinghua, at fifth, was the only Chinese university in this top 10 list.


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News

China

Mainland institutions dominate in 2026, accounting for nine of top 10 in list based on research output in high-quality academic publications


Mainland institutions dominate in 2026, accounting for nine of top 10 in list based on research output in high-quality academic publications.


United States

Zhejiang University

Harvard Medical School

Tsinghua University

China’s Zhejiang University tops Harvard in Nature Index world academic rankings

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Mainland institutions dominate in 2026, accounting for nine of top 10 in list based on research output in high-quality academic publications

Mainland institutions dominate in 2026, accounting for nine of top 10 in list based on research output in high-quality academic publications