Frequently asked questions

1. What data is held in the Nature Index?

The Nature Index database captures all affiliation information of primary research articles published within 178 high-quality natural, health, applied and social science publications, across many different publishers, that were selected based on reputation by active scientists, independently of Springer Nature. It also includes links to the abstracts of those articles. It stores whole article counts (referred to by the metric, Count) and fractional article counts (Share) for each article. Behind the snapshot of data published on the website is a database containing the English names, local language names and acronyms of the parent institutions associated with articles tracked by the Nature Index.

2. Why isn’t my article in the Nature Index?

The Index is updated periodically, so there can be a time lag between when your article is published and when it is added to the Nature Index. Your article may be excluded because it was not a primary research article. Sometimes articles may be missed due to technical difficulties. If you believe this may have happened to a particular article, please contact us.

3. Why isn’t my institution in the Nature Index?

Only institutions with at least one affiliated author on a primary research article published in one of the 178 publications tracked by the index will appear in the Nature Index.

4. Which articles are selected for inclusion in the Nature Index? Are all articles treated equally?

The Nature Index includes only primary research articles published in the 178 selected publications tracked by the Nature Index. For a small number of large physics journals only primary articles identified by the journals as having higher importance, more urgency or more interest for the community are included: notably, articles classified as ‘Highlighted articles’, ‘Editors’ Suggestions’ or ‘Letters’ from Physical Review A, Physical Review B and Physical Review D; and articles classified as ‘Letters’ from Astronomy and Astrophysics and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

All articles are treated equally when ordering institutions and countries by Count and Share.

5. How were publications selected for inclusion in the Nature Index?

The journals and conference proceeding tracked by the Nature Index were selected based on reputation by panels of actively publishing scientists. The selections were made independently of Springer Nature, and validated by a subsequent survey of global researchers. Panelists and survey respondents were asked to list the journals they would most like to publish in and were asked not to consider the Journal Impact Factor. It is intended that the list of journals amounts to a reasonably consensual upper echelon of both multidisciplinary journals and some of the most highly selective journals within the main disciplines of the natural, health sciences, applied, and social sciences.

The composition and total number of journals included in the Nature Index is reviewed on an ongoing basis. The current list of 178 publications was expanded in June 2026 (see Major Changes to the Nature Index for 2026).

6. Why are articles from only 178 publications included? Why not more?

The selection panels of scientists aimed to ensure there were enough journals to cover many disciplines while maintaining selectivity so that the chosen journals truly reflect the upper tiers of research achievement as judged by peers. The composition and total number of publications included in the Nature Index is reviewed on a regular basis, with the current revised list of 177 journals and 1 conference proceeding released in June 2026. The revision and expansion of the Nature Index journals encompasses a number of changes from the original release, including better representation of each of the subjects covered and the inclusion of new journals that were not available when the index was first released. For more information on the selection of Nature Index journals, see Introducing the Index, Revisions to the Nature Index, Health sciences added to the Nature Index and Major Changes to the Nature Index for 2026.

7. How is article output counted?

Article output is counted in two ways:

1. Count: where a Count of one is assigned to an institution or country/territory if one or more authors of the research article are from that institution or country/territory, regardless of how many co-authors there are from outside that institution or country/territory.
2. Share: an institution’s or country/territory’s Share takes into account the percentage of authors from that institution or country/territory and the number of affiliated institutions per article. For calculation of the Share, all authors are considered to have contributed equally to the article. The maximum combined Share for any article is 1.0.

The ratio of Count to Share gives an indication of the degree to which an institution or country/territory collaborates in its research. Broadly speaking, if the Count is a lot higher than the Share it indicates a high degree of external collaboration and dependency on external resources. If the Count is close in value to the Share it indicates limited collaboration with external researchers and a strong dependency on internal resources.

8. How are topics decided?

The Nature Research Intelligence Topics are created from networks of articles that cite each other, or articles that are very similar to each other, and we have over 41,000 topics at the most granular level, grouped into a 4-level hierarchy. On the Nature Index we show topic data from the 2nd level of the hierarchy that have enough articles to provide insights on the topic.

Nature Index data for these topics should not be compared with the data used in Nature Index supplements. Supplement topics often use different methodologies, including the use of keywords to search for relevant articles in the database, and as such represent a different view of a particular field of research.

9. How are the articles categorized by subject/discipline?

Research articles are assigned to subjects based on the Nature Research Intelligence Topic associated with each article. ANZSRC fields of research codes were linked to Nature Index disciplines to allow for the categorization of each article. All fields of research are linked to a subject/discipline. (Discipline mapping)

10. How often is the data updated?

Nature Index data is updated regularly as newly published articles from tracked publications are processed and added to the database. The Current Index is refreshed monthly and reflects a rolling 12‑month publication window. Rankings and historical tables may also be revised periodically to incorporate updates to article and affiliation data.

11. What should I do if I think an institutional affiliation is incorrect?

Nature Index maintains a curated database of institutional affiliations. If you believe an article, affiliation, or institutional record has been incorrectly assigned, please contact us with the relevant details so the record can be reviewed.

12. Why can an institution’s ranking change over time?

Rankings may change for several reasons, including corrections, retractions, publication of new research articles, errors on publication platforms, changes to affiliation data, updates to the Nature Index database, and annual revisions to historical data. Rankings should therefore be interpreted as a snapshot of research output within a specific timeframe rather than a permanent position.

13. Can Nature Index be used to benchmark institutions?

Nature Index can provide valuable insights into research output, collaboration, and publication activity. The institution benchmarking page can compare research output of up to 10 different institutions. However, because the Nature Index covers a selected group of journals and does not normalize for factors such as institution size or disciplinary mix, it should be used alongside other indicators when benchmarking organizations.

14. Why do Nature Index metrics differ from other research databases or rankings?

Different research databases use different publication sources, inclusion criteria, attribution methods, subject classifications, and metrics. Nature Index focuses on primary research articles from a selected set of high-quality journals and conference proceedings and reports metrics such as Count and Share. As a result, figures may differ from those reported by other bibliometric databases, rankings, or analytics providers.

15. How can I help shape future Nature Index data products and services?

We are currently gathering feedback from the research community on potential new Nature Index data products and analytics capabilities. The survey explores interest in expanded datasets, collaboration and topic analytics, benchmarking tools, downloadable data, API access, and a proposed premium offering. If you use Nature Index data for research performance assessment, strategic planning, benchmarking, reporting, or collaboration analysis, we encourage you to share your views through our short survey. Responses will help inform future product development and priorities. Complete the survey here.

16. What is the difference between the ‘Current Index’ and the ‘Research leaders’?

The tables in the ‘Current Index’ represent a dataset for a 12-month rolling window, which is updated monthly. The tables include all institutions and countries/territories with research outputs within the 12-month rolling window. The current date range is clearly indicated. The ‘Research leaders’ are a snapshot of data for one, full calendar year, listing the leading institutions and countries/territories by region/country, sector, and broad subject area. 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.

17. What are the limitations of the Nature Index?

The Nature Index tracks a small proportion of the total number of research articles published. There are many factors that determine an institution’s output in the Nature Index. The size of the institution is a major factor, as is the composition of research specialities within the institution. The Nature Index does not attempt to normalize data for such factors. Rather it presents raw data that can contribute to an analysis.

Nature Index recognizes, in line with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, that multiple factors must be considered when benchmarking research quality and institutional performance, and that outputs from scientific research not only include journal articles, but data, software, intellectual property and highly trained young scientists.

Nature Index metrics alone should not be used to assess institutions or individuals. We encourage users to combine the open source Nature Index data with other information, measures and tools.

18. What publications are in the Nature Index?

The current 12-month window on nature.com/nature-index/ includes data from primary research articles from the following 178 science journals and conference proceedings:

Note: The journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters was merged with the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in January 2026, since then we only include ’Letters’ from the latter journal. Please see Which articles are selected for inclusion in the Nature Index?" for other instances where only certain article sections from journals are included in the Nature Index.

19. What institutions are included in the Nature Index?

The Nature Index primarily includes parent institutions that are central to the administration and/or execution of research, as indicated in author affiliations. These institutions can encompass various organizational structures such as faculties, schools, institutes, departments, or subsidiaries, all of which contribute to the institution’s Count or Share. Institutions can be classified as or associated with the following categories:

• Parent institutions
• Affiliated institutions
• Affiliated joint institutions
• Consortia
• Partner institutions
• Umbrella organisations

For a comprehensive list of included institutions, please refer to the Institutions A-Z section.

Note: Affiliations from funding institutions are generally not credited with a Share, except in circumstances where the funding institution maintains its own research facilities. In such cases, those affiliations will be credited with a Share. Funding institutions lacking their own research facilities are not represented in the institution output tables.

20. How are regions defined?

21. Which journals are included in the journal groups?