(London Time) Wednesday 19Th September

*This supplement is under strict embargo until 1800 BST (London Time) Wednesday 19th September* YOUR CAREER BREAKTHROUGH Sooner or later? THE LIVELY LEAGUE Young universities RISING take on the elite THE TABLES STARS Fastest climbers ranked natureindex.com

THE NEW BREED Standout researchers transform science, from medicine to materials RISING STARS | NATURE INDEX

RISING STARS NATURE, VOL. 561, ISSUE NO. 7723 (20 SEPTEMBER 2018)

THE FAST TRACK PADDY MILLS PADDY

f ideas are the flames burning from the This supplement also tells the stories of torches of discovery, scientists are the hands institutions (S26), countries and regions (S20) that hold them. Creative minds uphold the that have exceeded expectations over the Iscientific enterprise. past three years in their contribution to the ON THE COVER In recognition of their leading role, Nature Index. The ones we have selected as Cognitive neuroscientist, Sarah Garfinkel, (left) and Nature Index 2018 Rising Stars profiles 11 rising stars experienced exceptional absolute system engineer, Jaemin Kim, up-and-coming researchers in the natural and percentage growth in their output of are bringing fresh ideas to sciences (S10). These scientists are highlighted high-quality research, either across the their fields. based on their recent contributions to the 82 breadth of subjects in the natural sciences, journals tracked by the Nature Index, and their or in specific areas. As always in the Nature EDITORIAL: Catherine Armitage, Smriti Mallapaty, Rebecca Dargie, Herb Brody, standing in the League of Scholars Whole-of- Index, our primary quantitative measurement Stephen Pincock ANALYSIS: Aaron Web ranking, which assesses individuals on is fractional count (FC) — a metric that Ballagh, Bo Wu, Willem Sijp ART & DESIGN: Tanner Maxwell, Madeline their research quality and impact, industry accounts for the relative contribution of each Hutchinson, Ruffi Lu, Mohamed Ashour, links and co-authorship networks. Their author to an article. All FC figures are adjusted Wojtek Urbanek WEB DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN: Bob Edenbach, Olivier work ranges from analysing peatland and to 2017 levels. Lechevalier, Roberto Espinoza, permafrost, to developing wearable electronics. A section on young universities explores Naomi Nakahara, Erika Suzuki DATA The researchers have all demonstrated their progress in the research world, achieved QUALITY: Jörn Ishikawa, Yuxin Wang, Paul Glaeser, Megha Katyal, Tipsy excellence, and the passion, ambition and without the years of experience of established Jerald, Fabiha Shaikh, Rasika Zilpelwar resilience to rise higher — essential for competitors (S30). We expect to see more of PRODUCTION: Kay Lewis, Karl Smart, Ian Pope, Nick Bruni MARKETING: surviving in academia. As competition for these high-flying contributors to the Nature Stacy Best Ruel, Angelica Sarne jobs intensifies, researchers are expected to do Index, in reports of scientific inquiry and the PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Rebecca more earlier in their careers, from publishing testimonies of social change. Jones, Chris Gilloch, Kazuki Kurebayashi, Sharon Wang SALES: Helen Hill, Janet high-quality research to achieving impact, Cen, Olaitan Fakinlede, Maki Ishikawa, Neil attracting funding, teaching, and cultivating Smriti Mallapaty Macmillan, Nichole Yu, Stella Yan, Tommy Yim ART DIRECTOR: Kelly Buckheit international connections. Senior editor, Nature Index Krause PUBLISHING: Nick Campbell, Richard Hughes, David Swinbanks. NATURE INDEX 2018 RISING STARS Nature Index 2018 Rising Stars, a supplement to Nature, is produced by Nature Research, the flagship science The world at their feet Discovery relies whose growth in high-quality portfolio of Springer Nature. This publication is based on data from the S10 The on strong support staff research surpasses their peers. Nature Index, a Nature Research website newcomers S24: A lack of trained maintained and made freely available at making administrators is holding Predicting scientific natureindex.com. their mark African scientists back. success NATURE EDITORIAL OFFICES The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, in science S32: Even sophisticated, data- London N1 9XW, UK across the Movers and shakers driven models of academic Tel: +44 (0)20 7833 4000 disciplines. S26: The most improved careers have trouble forecasting Fax: +44 (0)20 7843 4596/7 institutions in the Nature the highs and lows. CUSTOMER SERVICES To advertise with the Nature Index, Challenger states Index 2015–2017. please visit natureindex.com/ S20: Strength in different The tables [email protected] Copyright © 2018 Macmillan Publishers sectors, subjects, and regions Green shoots S35: The world’s institutions Limited, part of Springer Nature.

NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS | S9 NATURE INDEX | RISING STARS

THE WORLD AT THEIR FEET These newcomers are making their mark in science across the disciplines.

From cutting the cost of solar electricity to reducing the risk of The analysis included active researchers who have published ovarian cancer, the 11 early- to mid-career scientists profiled at least one paper in the 82 index journals in 2017, and whose here are emerging as leaders in their fields. first scientific paper appeared less than 20 years ago, with some They stood out from among 500 scientists assessed using the even emerging on the scholarly scene in the past six years. power of the Nature Index and the League of Scholars Whole- The profiled scientists have shown year-on-year citation of-Web (WoW) rankings. They are bringing fresh ideas in a growth, and scored exceptionally in the WoW ranking, which range of disciplines, from cognitive neuroscience to geology, identifies the most influential researchers using an algorithm and condensed matter physics. Their initiative, curiosity and similar to Google’s PageRank. It considers factors such as the flexibility have given them an edge in a competitive research quality of a scientist’s output, links to industry, and co-author- environment. ship networks.

RESEARCH RECORD Dane deQuilettes’s publication history. Each dot represents one paper, with citation gures correct as of 3 August 2018. Red dots represent papers published in one of the 82 journals tracked by the Nature Index. Some dots overlap.

600

500 Non-Nature Index Journals

400 Nature Index Journals

300 Citations Citations 200

100

0 2014 2018 Publication year

DANE DEQUILETTES, 28 MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

DEFECT DETECTIVE A chemist seeks the right material to bring cheap, solar electricity to those without access.

Materials scientist Dane deQuilettes hopes to help transform the world’s energy systems, especially for people who don’t have reliable access to electricity. The postdoc at MIT is using his expertise in the properties of promising materials called perovskites to make it happen. The performance of perovskites in solar cells rivals conventional silicon, and they promise to be much cheaper to make. While costs of silicon solar cells, which supply 1.7%

S10 | NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS RISING STARS | NATURE INDEX of the world’s electricity, have come down, improved the resolution of conventional they are not likely to fall low enough to make optical microscopes by using a beam of elec- an impact for the 1.2 billion people globally trons, instead of light, to reveal nanometre- who don’t have access to grid electricity. sized structural features. But Feynman urged GridEdge Solar is an MIT project, led researchers to improve the resolution by a by deQuilettes, to evaluate different light- hundred times. Drawing on imaging theory, weight, flexible photovoltaic materials, Ge and a team at the Chinese Academy of and, in a few years, build a pilot line to Sciences’s Institute of Physics developed a manufacture them. He thinks perovskites, method for obtaining structural information which can be made into ink-like solutions less than a nanometre in size, using conven- and printed on rolls of material, similar tional TEM. They provided the first analyti- to newsprint, are a strong contender. The cal expression of image distortions that arise project is funded by the Indian philan- in samples of greater thickness and used that thropic organization Tata Trusts. to observe individual atoms. deQuilettes, who has a background in Ge has moved on to the application of TEM chemistry, started working on perovskites to reveal the microstructures of catalysts and during his PhD at the University of Washing- thermoelectric materials in unprecedented ton. Fascinated by their particular crystalline detail. Recently, he has been exploring the SOURCE FOR ALL GRAPHS: NATURE INDEX/DIMENSIONS FROM DIGITAL SCIENCE INDEX/DIMENSIONS FROM DIGITAL ALL GRAPHS: NATURE SOURCE FOR structure, he has studied how single mis- 150 microstructure of thermoelectric materials placed atoms in perovskites can degrade their at multiple scales, with a view to improving properties and inhibit their performance in a 120 their efficiency in heating, cooling and gen- solar cell. Before his work, it wasn’t clear why 90 erating power. These materials could be used 60 there was so much variation in the quality of Citations to convert the wasted two-thirds of heat pro- perovskite solar cells. deQuilettes revealed 30 duced by vehicle engines to electricity. the answer in the varying atomic alignment 0 Ge wants to explore cryo-electron micros- in different regions of the crystalline materi- 2006 2018 copy, a TEM method allowing scientists to als. “Once we understood where the defects Publication year image three-dimensional biological mole- were, we could work on a design strategy to cules without destroying samples. Ge wants remove them and make the performance of SARAH GARFINKEL, 38 to know whether this can improve imaging the device more uniform,” he says. BRIGHTON AND SUSSEX MEDICAL SCHOOL of non-biological materials that are also “I’m interested in the fundamental physics susceptible to beam damage, such as metal- of how light interacts with materials, but I organic frameworks, widely used in catalysts. always come back to, ‘What’s the purpose?’” accuracy. Garfinkel then showed why that CATHERINE ARMITAGE says deQuilettes. KATHERINE BOURZAC incongruence matters, reporting in 2016 that

the less people with autism knew their own 120

hearts, the greater their anxiety. 100

In another study, she and Critchley found 80 HEARTFELT REASONER that poor interoceptive awareness among 60 A cognitive neuroscientist reveals people with depression or anxiety was asso- Citations 40 how the body moves the mind. ciated with deficient sleep quality. “This now 20

gives us a target for intervention,” Garfinkel 0 Sarah Garfinkel studies how beats of the says. “We want to train people to have better 2003 2018 heart, and our awareness of its rhythms, can precision over their bodily signals.” Publication year influence everything from anxiety levels Garfinkel is now co-leading one of the first and emotional learning, to sleep quality and clinical trials of an interoception-directed BINGHUI GE, 40 racial bias. She’s now one of the world’s fore- therapy, evaluating whether a computer INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES most experts on the health consequences of training module can help people with autism ‘interoception’, the felt sense of one’s internal become more in tune with their heartbeats organ activities. and thereby reduce anxiety. As a postdoc at the University of Michi- Critchley says psychologists had been aware gan, Garfinkel studied memory recall among of interoception for more than a century, but veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars its clinical importance had largely been over- who were suffering from post-traumatic looked until Garfinkel’s work. “She reinvigor- stress disorder. Her study focussed mostly ated this whole field,” he says. ELIE DOLGIN on the brain, but a curious observation led Garfinkel to wonder about the role the heart might play in emotional processing. Why was it that the heartbeats of some veterans ELECTRON MICROSCOPIST remained steady while in the brain scanner A condensed-matter physicist peers deep reliving their traumatic experiences, whereas into materials for industrial applications. the hearts of others raced frantically? Working with Hugo Critchley, a neu- Binghui Ge made his mark with an answer to ropsychiatrist at the Brighton and Sussex Richard Feynman’s 1959 challenge: “Is there Medical School, she revealed a disconnect no way to make the electron microscope between how good people think they are at more powerful?” Invented in 1931, trans- detecting their own heartbeats and their true mission electron microscopy (TEM) vastly MILLS PADDY BY ILLUSTRATIONS

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during his master’s degree at the Korea FROST SURVEYOR Advanced Institute of Science and Technol- A physical geographer digs deep ogy in Daejeon. “I tried to measure emotion in frozen soils to fill gaps in maps. by measuring goosebumps,” he says. The best way to sense the changes, he learned, To Gustaf Hugelius, white space on a map was not with typical, rigid electronics, but presents a challenge. The modern-day pliable ones that move with the skin. explorer, who as a boy hiked every summer Throughout his PhD at Seoul National in northern Scandinavia, looks for peatland University, Kim developed sensors and and permafrost areas of the Arctic and sub- systems for stretchy devices, including a Arctic regions where soils have not been sticker-like heart monitor that uses a printed analysed. The gaps in the maps have taken heart-shaped display to tell the wearer him as far as Siberia, Greenland, and north- whether her electrocardiogram is normal ern Canada. (red heart) or unhealthy (blue). Arctic peatland and permafrost repre- He has worked on a soft, curved image sent 25% of the Earth’s carbon sink. Global sensor that could one day become the basis warming is expected to thaw these frozen for a retinal implant for blind people. But, grounds, releasing carbon dioxide and meth- he says, a lot of difficult engineering work ane into the atmosphere and accelerating 600 is needed to make these promising devices climate change. Yet their potentially crucial 500 practical. role in the carbon–climate feedback cycle is 400 The flexible electronics in his publications poorly understood, partly due to large gaps 300 have to be attached to bulky external elec- in the data. Citations 200 tronics and power sources to work. Hugelius has pioneered the use of high- 100 In November 2017, he moved to Califor- resolution satellite imagery, calibrated with 0 nia to work as a postdoctoral researcher at 2009 2018 field samples, to show that northern soils, Publication year Stanford University with Zhenan Bao, one due to seasonal freezing and thawing, are of the leading chemists designing intrinsi- far more variable and complex in composi- GUSTAF HUGELIUS, 38 cally stretchy electronic materials. At the Bao tion than the comparatively simple ‘back- lab, Kim is focussing on using these materi- yard’ soil types used in climate modelling. STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY als to make standalone medical and touch Reflecting the diversity in soil composition sensors that don’t have to be tethered to a and, correspondingly, in the decomposition bulky microcontroller to analyse the data process that releases greenhouse gases, could they gather. improve the accuracy of climate models. 500 Kim says he’s torn about whether to con- The field research is “very demanding”, tinue in academia or take an industry role. he says. There are permits to secure; there 400 He wants to see this research translated to are the logistics of getting people, equipment 300 products. “I want to make something that 200 KB and supplies to some of the world’s most Citations works for everyone,” he says. remote regions for long stays; and the sheer 100 difficulty of drilling into ice-hard ground for 0 samples. Not to mention the polar bear risk. 2013 2018 “You need to be aware of the bears, both for Publication year MINI-MOLECULE MANIPULATOR their safety and for ours,” he says. An organic chemist creates hydrogels made Poor data sharing has long been a prob- JAEMIN KIM, 31 of cost-effective, self-assembling proteins. lem for soil research, he says. As manager STANFORD UNIVERSITY of the Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Antimicrobial peptides, made of chains Database, a dataset of organic carbon stored of amino acids, are the body’s first line of in soils of the region he studies, Hugelius is defence against invading pathogens. These helping to fix that, also working with cli- proteins have the geometric quality of chi- mate modellers so they can better account rality, which means they cannot be overlaid for uncertainty in the models. CA on their mirror images, just as a left-handed glove doesn’t fit on a right hand. Their chirality also determines their biological activity — a quality that pharmaceu- READY-TO-WEAR DESIGNER tical manufacturers have long utilized to A system engineer develops stick-on create drugs with sought-after properties. sensors to monitor health. The heartburn pill, Nexium, for example, is made from a left-handed molecule. Its pre- One day, stretchy sensors applied to the decessor drug, Prilosec, also made by Astra- skin, like temporary tattoos, will monitor Zeneca, included the left and right hands of vital signs, predicts Jaemin Kim. If things the molecule pair. go according to his plan, sophisticated and These molecules generally consist of long squishy electronics will give robots a sense strings of hundreds of amino acids. Organic of touch. chemist, Silvia Marchesan, of the Univer- Kim, a system engineer from South Korea, sity of Trieste in Italy, has a more refined became interested in wearable electronics and cost-effective approach. She works with

S12 | NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS RISING STARS | NATURE INDEX

120

100 United States and the United Kingdom CANCER SLEUTH — gaining experience and a dual scientific 80

60 A marine biologist turns molecular epide- background that made her “very adept at for-

Citations 40 miologist to tackle ovarian cancer risk. mulating important research questions”, says

20 molecular epidemiologist Marc Gunter, a for-

0 It’s hard to study marine biology from land- mer mentor from Imperial College London. 2005 2018 locked Vermont. So, as an undergraduate, In 2015, for example, Merritt helped Publication year Melissa Merritt left to spend a semester develop a methodological approach for eval- investigating the reproductive abilities of uating the risk of dietary factors in cancer. It SILVIA MARCHESAN, 39 corals along the Great Barrier Reef in north- is now being used to study the links between UNIVERSITY OF TRIESTE east Australia. Within a few years, though, foods and tumours of all kinds, and has also Merritt had to give up ocean studies due to shown that coffee intake helps lower a wom- problems with sea sickness, and went into an’s risk of developing endometrial cancer. cancer research. Her grandmother had ovar- In what Merritt considers her most “sig- ian cancer and Merritt decided to devote nificant finding”, she showed in a recent herself to elucidating risk factors and genetic study that women with locally invasive ovar- drivers of the gynaecological disease. ian cancer have approximately a 30% lower For her PhD and postdocs, Merritt trained risk of dying from the disease if, after their

in cancer epidemiology and molecular biol- diagnosis, they take aspirin or a nonsteroidal SCIENCE INDEX/DIMENSIONS FROM DIGITAL ALL GRAPHS: NATURE SOURCE FOR ogy at institutions across Australia, the anti-inflammatory drug like ibuprofen. Now a faculty member of the University

150 of Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu, Mer- ritt has secured funding to explore whether 120 hormone-altering chemicals found in many 90 products affect a woman’s chances of devel- 60

Citations oping endometrial cancer — a project that 30 will harness Merritt’s skills in basic lab sci- ED 0 ence and epidemiological data analysis. 2003 2018 Publication year

MELISSA MERRITT, 41 UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII CANCER CENTER short peptides, only three amino acids long, and switches the chirality of the individual amino acids. “It’s like putting a right-hand finger on a left hand to see what kind of hand we get, and how this new hand behaves differently,” she says. Marchesan has used this technique to make tripeptides that self-assemble into water-based gels that have intrinsic antimicrobial properties and are biocompat- ible. The supramolecular structure of the hydrogels allows the potential to switch functions on and off, making them useful as enzyme substitutes, scaffolding in the repair of body tissue, and for the sustained delivery of drugs. In 2013, Marchesan co-authored a paper, which described combining the self-assembling tripeptides with a common antibi- otic. The resulting hydrogel continuously released the drug over six days. A paper that made the August 2018 cover of Chem describes why Marchesan’s tweaked tripeptides behave differently from their real-world analogues and how the process holds consistent across the scale from single molecule to macroscopic hydrogels, which is important for large-scale production. The next step, says Marchesan, is to refine the lab process into one that can be scaled up cheaply and sustainably. CA MILLS PADDY BY ILLUSTRATIONS

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MATERIALS MAESTRO A computational physicist delves into the complex structures of organic materials.

Due to their abundance and low cost, organic molecules make excellent building blocks for flexible nanoelectronic devices. But achieving the properties needed to replace inorganic semiconductors, such as silicon, demands an intimate understanding of how the molecules interact at the nanoscale. Sahar Sharifzadeh employs computational modelling to find intuitive ways of describing these molecular interactions, which could facilitate the development of organic materials whose electrical conductivity can be controlled with exquisite precision — a characteristic of semiconductors. Sharifzadeh has used this theoretical approach to show that the arrangement of molecules in an organic crystalline material strongly influences how it responds electronically to light — an insight that could improve the efficiency and longev- ity of organic solar cells. Her computational

200 analyses have also been applied to understanding the structures of promising inor- 150 ganic materials.

100 In 2017, she simulated free-standing, Citations 50 150

0 120 2002 2018 Publication year 90

60 Citations TAYLOR SCHILDGEN, 40 CLIMATE ROCKER 30 A geologist studies how changes in climate GFZ GERMAN RESEARCH CENTRE FOR 0 wear away mountains and riverbeds. GEOSCIENCES/UNIVERSITY OF POTSDAM 2003 2018 Publication year By geological standards, the timescales that Taylor Schildgen studies are short. sensitive to the sudden changes in climate SAHAR SHARIFZADEH, 36 She is trying to determine how climate we are experiencing, says Schildgen. The BOSTON UNIVERSITY transforms the Earth’s surface over thou- results have “big implications for things sands of years. Her work uses a new tech- like flood hazards and water management,” nique to date landforms, by measuring the she says. presence of rare isotopes known as cosmo- Occasionally, Schildgen’s work takes her genic nuclides. The proportion of these further back in time. In July 2018, she co- isotopes in rock samples allows geologists authored a paper in Nature, refuting assump- to estimate their age and rate of change tions about the link between global climate over millennia. and erosion. She established that there was In 2017, Schildgen published a paper, insufficient evidence to suggest that the with postdoc, Stefanie Tofelde, considering onset of glacial–interglacial cycles several the influence of global climate variations million years ago accelerated erosion in on river terraces in the Argentinian Andes. alpine regions. The researchers examined 100,000-year Schildgen traces her fascination for rocks cycles of glaciation and interglaciation. back to a vacation to Yellowstone National They found that during colder and wetter Park as a teenager. After completing her periods, the increased flow of water and PhD in geology at MIT in 2008, she took a sediments cut deep slits in the valley. The postdoctoral position in Germany due to the basins filled back up with sediment during shortage of academic positions in the United drier, warmer periods. Nearby river chan- States. “Part of me feels guilt for having left nels closer to the mountains responded the US because I received such good train- similarly, but over cycles of 21,000 years. ing there,” she says. “But the reality of my These studies could offer clues about situation is that I have been extremely well what parts of the landscape will be supported in Germany.” SMRITI MALLAPATY

S14 | NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS RISING STARS | NATURE INDEX one-atom-thick sheets of boron, known as in 2013, presenting strong evidence of the borophene. Researchers have only recently effects of climate change on forest cover- grown the two-dimensional material on sil- age over a span of 20 years. A co-authored ver, but have not been able to isolate it in paper in Nature Climate Change in 2017 its freestanding form. Like its close relative reviewed more than 600 studies and found graphene, borophene promises exceptional overwhelming evidence of the role of cli- properties, including strength, flexibility mate change in the increasing frequency and electrical conductivity. Sharifzadeh’s and magnitude of fires, droughts and pests. calculations predict that borophene’s opti- Vacchiano’s interest in conservation cal and electronic properties could be prompted him to study forestry, but he now precisely adjusted by stretching or com- believes in managing forests for multiple pressing the material. purposes. In Italy, he has pioneered the use of Sharifzadeh, whose family moved to modelling for forest management. Using tools the United States from Iran when she to simulate dynamics under different condi- was eight, started out studying electrical tions allows estimation of, for example, how engineering and computer science at the quickly trees will grow after a thinning, or how University of California, Berkeley, but the many trees are needed to stop rocks falling physics courses she took in that degree from a slope. These tools offer forest manag- captured her imagination. Her PhD on 30 ers a more accurate and reproducible basis for SCIENCE INDEX/DIMENSIONS FROM DIGITAL ALL GRAPHS: NATURE SOURCE FOR condensed matter physics at Princeton 25 decisions, he says.Vacchiano spent 15 months University led to a two-year post-doctoral 20 working on forest modelling with the Euro- project on nanoscale materials at the US 15 pean Commission before landing his current Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berke- Citations 10 position at the University of Milan in 2017. ley National Laboratory in California. She 5 He considers himself lucky. “There are a lot set up her lab at Boston University in 2014. 0 of brilliant young researchers who can’t find 2012 2018 She is modelling not just the behaviour Publication year research work in this country.” of molecules, but that of the high-achiev- Vacchiano’s current research focusses on ing scientist who is also the mother of a OLIVIER THOUVENIN, 27 optimizing forest management to mitigate one-year-old. Aware that many young climate change, including harvesting timber women fear the two roles are incompat- LANGEVIN INSTITUTE to replace more carbon-intensive materials ible, she’s happy to be seen doing both. CA such as concrete for building and fossil fuels as-yet-unpublished research that cerebro- for energy. CA ■ spinal fluid in zebrafish larvae moves in

both directions through the backbone, as in 120 MOTION TRACKER humans. Flow disturbance could result in 100

A biophysicist develops microscopes spinal curvature defects, in fish and people. 80 to peer into living tissue samples. About to start his own lab back at the Lan- 60

gevin Institute, Thouvenin is also thinking Citations 40

As a summer intern at the private foun- about how to make a bigger societal impact 20 dation Brain and Spine Institute (ICM) in through research. “He’s a very generous and 0 Paris, Olivier Thouvenin helped develop open-minded person,” Wyart remarks. Cur- 2006 2018 an imaging technique for monitoring the rently, most commercial OCT instruments Publication year neural circuitry in zebrafish larvae. But the used for diagnosing eye diseases and other method lacked the spatial resolution to health problems cost €30,000 (US$34,800) GIORGIO VACCHIANO, 38 tease apart connections between neurons or more, which makes them inaccessible UNIVERSITY OF MILAN at the single-cell level, which frustrated the for many hospitals in developing countries. young biophysics master’s student. Thouvenin hopes to bring the price down So for his PhD at the Langevin Insti- by using three-dimensional printing, cheap tute — two kilometres away on the edge of optical parts and a smartphone as a camera. Paris’s famed Botanical Gardens — Thou- “I’m building a prototype,” he adds, one that venin worked on improving an existing should cost less than €1,000. ED high-resolution tissue-imaging tool called full-field optical coherence tomography (OCT). He added a dynamic time element to the otherwise static picture-taker, and FOREST MODELLER with that, Thouvenin says, “we could see An ecologist applies mathematical things that were moving inside the sam- modelling to forest management. ple”. Thouvenin used his upgraded OCT technique to track the movement and Giorgio Vacchiano started his career estab- metabolism of subcellular organelles and lishing the impact of climate change on for- other structures inside living retina tissue ests, but is now finding ways of using forests from mice and monkeys. to mitigate climate change. Last year, he returned to the same ICM His PhD thesis linked the high mortality lab as a postdoc, with the microscope of a hardy tree species in Italy’s southwestern he’d designed in tow. Working with neu- Alps to drought. The finding set the foun- roscientist, Claire Wyart, he showed in dation for an influential paper, published MILLS PADDY BY ILLUSTRATIONS

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CHALLENGER STATES CHINA AUSTRIA R&D SPENDING R&D SPENDING These six countries have experienced the highest (% GDP, 2015): 2.06% (% GDP, 2015): 3.05% RESEARCHERS RESEARCHERS absolute and percentage increases in their (FTE, 2015): 1,619,027 (FTE, 2015): 43,562 contribution to the Nature Index since 2015. While TOP RISING INSTITUTIONS (2017): TOP RISING INSTITUTIONS (2017): 1. University of Chinese Academy of 1. University of Vienna (FC: 65.42) China is making waves among the traditional Sciences (FC: 255.65) 2. Institute of Science and Read more on page S27 Technology Austria (FC: 24.37) scientific powers, the other five nations are 2. Tsinghua University (FC: 353.40) Read more on page S31 disrupting lower-tiered research strongholds. 3. Shanghai Jiao Tong University 3. Austrian Academy of Sciences (FC: 166.39) (FC: 36.03)

QUALITY GROWTH 10,000 400

Assessed on their contribution to high-quality research in the 8,000 300 natural sciences, all six countries have upped their pace of 6,000 FC production since 2015. Iran stands out for its 30.7% increase FC 200 4,000 in fractional count (FC), from 66.87 in 2015 to 87.43 in 2017. 100 2,000 China is on a scale of its own, accelerating 22.6% from an FC of 7,412.96 in 2015 to 9,088.90 in 2017, just under half that of 0 0 2012 2017 2012 2017 the world leader, the United States.

Total institutions: 844 (649 rising) Total institutions: 79 (58 rising)

SECTOR STARS 512 (370) 26 (18) Not all sectors appear equal, and not all sectors rise together. In Austria, in the past three years, a higher proportion of corporate institutions (23/28) than academic institutions 6 (5) (18/26) have increased their article counts in the Nature Index. 28 (23) Norway’s growth has been more evenly spread across all four 118 (91) sectors.

187 (167) 19 (12) Academic Corporate = 1 institution = 4

Non-profit = Rising institutions Government organization 27 (21)

Chemistry Chemistry

Ea Ea SUBJECT STRENGTHS r r th th a a National acceleration is often driven by research n n d d s s e e e e specializations. Iran and Brazil excel in the physical sciences, c n c n

n v n v

e i e i r r i i

o o

and Norway in Earth and environmental sciences. This is not c c

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m m

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the case in the Czech Republic. While scientists in the country e c c

i i n

1,000 n s s 30

t t

a a y y

l l

favour chemistry, their fractional count (FC) has swelled in the h

s s

P 2,000 P 60

c c

i i

e FC FC e

three other fields. 3,000 90 n

c c

e e s

2015 2017 4,000 120 s Life sciences Life sciences

125 40

REGIONAL CLIMBERS 100 This graph shows the five administrative provinces, counties 30 or states with the most institutions in each country. In China, 75 20 Beijing remains the centre of knowledge production in the 50

natural sciences, but Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shandong have 25 10 a higher proportion of rising institutions. Other regions that rise 0 high above the tide are Styria in Austria, Oslo in Norway and # Institutions # Institutions 0 Tehran in Iran. Rising institutions had a higher article count in 25 10 2017 than in 2015. 50

75 20

Rising No change Falling Styria Tyrol Beijing Jiangsu Vienna ShanghaiShandong Guangdong Upper AustriaLower Austria

*Merged with Nord-Trøndelag in January 2018 to form Trøndelag

S20 | NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS RISING STARS | NATURE INDEX

NORWAY CZECH REPUBLIC BRAZIL IRAN R&D SPENDING R&D SPENDING R&D SPENDING R&D SPENDING (% GDP, 2015): 1.93% (% GDP, 2015): 1.93% (% GDP, 2015): 1.28% (% GDP, 2013): 0.25%

RESEARCHERS RESEARCHERS RESEARCHERS RESEARCHERS SOURCE: UNESCO/OECD (FTE, 2015): 30,632 (FTE, 2015): 38,081 (FTE, 2014): 183,853 (FTE, 2013): 51,961 TOP RISING INSTITUTIONS (2017): TOP RISING INSTITUTIONS (2017): TOP RISING INSTITUTIONS (2017): TOP RISING INSTITUTIONS (2017): 1. University of Oslo (FC: 65.58) 1. Czech Academy of Sciences 1. University of São Paulo (FC: 56.35) 1. University of Tabriz (FC: 3.60) Read more on page S29 (FC: 86.84) 2. Ministry of Science, Technology, 2. Yazd University (FC: 3.09) 2. Norwegian University of Life 2. Masaryk University (FC: 21.97) Innovation and Communication 3. Damghan University (FC: 3.27) Sciences (FC: 8.62) 3. Silesian University in Opava (FC: 17.16) 3. University of Tromsø - The Arctic (FC: 5.24) 3. Federal University of University of Norway (FC: 15.97) Minas Gerais (FC: 12.90)

400 400 400 400

300 300 300 300 FC FC FC 200 200 FC 200 200

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Total institutions: 62 (53 rising) Total institutions: 33 (25 rising) Total institutions: 128 (81 rising) Total institutions: 65 (52 rising)

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6 (6) 12 (11) 5 (3) 4 (4) 23 (17) 1 (1) 16 (14) 2 (1) 6 (5)

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Oslo Troms Tehran Prague Liberec Isfahan Kerman Hordaland Rogaland Pardubice São Paulo Minas Gerais Rio de Janeiro Sør-Trøndelag* South MoraviaMoravia-Silesia Federal District East Azarbaijan Razavi Khorasan Rio Grande do Sul SOURCE FOR ALL GRAPHS: NATURE INDEX ALL GRAPHS: NATURE SOURCE FOR

NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS | S21 NATURE INDEX | RISING STARS

COMMENT DAVID LANGLEY THERINA THERON

DISCOVERY RELIES ON STRONG SUPPORT STAFF A lack of trained administrators is holding African scientists back.

he global research funding system is in certain fields, talented researchers, access to qualification to allow for the recruitment and becoming increasingly complex and important data sets, knowledge of the devel- development of research management and competitive. Scientists need to dem- oping world context, and insight into new administration personnel. Tonstrate quality, relevance, impact and inno- markets. Among others, the United Kingdom vation, while meeting the highest standards Newton Fund, the United States National Insti- ON COURSE of integrity and ethics, managing intellectual tutes of Health, and the European Union Hori- Over the past decade, several initiatives have INDEX SOURCE: NATURE property issues and publicizing their work. zon 2020, have committed millions of dollars sought to create a research support system in To help them succeed in this demanding in grant funding for collaborative research with Africa and other parts of the developing world. environment, scientists in the global north Africa and other regions in the global south. These have been supported by the Associa- have something that those in the global south tion of Commonwealth Universities, as well lack: comparatively well-resourced support RESEARCH REPRESENTATION as international funding bodies, including structures with trained research management In 2017, institutions in Africa contributed the World Health Organisation and the Well- and administration staff, who assist with to 0.2% of the paper authorship in the 82 come Trust. Existing professional associations planning, developing, managing and sustain- journals that make up the Nature Index. for research and innovation managers, such as ing their research pursuits. Higher-education Their contribution to high-quality research in the Southern African Research and Innovation institutions in the global south would benefit the natural sciences, measured by fractional Management Association (SARIMA) and count (FC), was far exceeded by institutions in from similar investments in strong, multi- North America, Europe and Asia Paci c. WARIMA in West Africa, have been strength- skilled research support. ened through capacity development interven-

Many regions are struggling to compete Share of global FC, 2017 tions, with new associations created in Central with the global scientific powers. Africa, for (CARIMA) and East Africa (EARIMA) and Asia example, has some 700 universities serving Europe Paci c the Carribean (CabRIMA). more than 1.2 billion people. The region has 31.3% 29.0% In 2017, a consortium of institutions led by the lowest investment in research and devel- Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and opment, the lowest number of researchers per co-funded by the EU Erasmus+ programme, capita and a comparatively low, albeit growing, launched the first professional academic quali- share of global scientific publications. Western Asia 1.7% fication programme for research management Just as the most talented athletes need good South America 0.8% and administration in the global south. The coaches to take them to stardom, gifted scien- Africa 0.2% project, known in short as StoRM, will develop tists in the region need well-trained support a post-graduate diploma course and a master’s staff to help them shine. degree curriculum, as well as a mechanism for formal recognition of professionals in the field. IN SHORT SUPPLY North It will also promote exchange between admin- America In 2014, the 55 countries that make up the 36.9% istrators in Europe and southern Africa. African Union adopted a 10-year strategy Universities also need to invest more in this for science, technology and innovation. They area to support their scientific stars. For exam- recognized the critical role of science in the To capitalize on these opportunities, univer- ple, they could allocate indirect costs recovered socio-economic development and growth of sities need to invest in skilled research support by grant income to support structures. Many the continent, and stressed the importance of teams. Well-trained professionals can instil universities in the global south are developing turning universities into centres of excellence. confidence in potential partners that research strategies to become research intensive. Provid- But progress has been slow. The top country funds will be spent efficiently and responsibly. ing optimal research support will help create in terms of spending on R&D, South Africa, is But, such professionals are in short supply thriving and sustainable scientific communi- still below 0.8% of GDP and showed slightly on the continent. The majority of universities ties, and improve innovation and impact from decreasing spending over the past five years. in Africa typically rely on senior professors research in the developing world. ■ Universities in Africa are increasingly to provide part-time guidance on research dependent on international sources of fund- administration, while expecting them to main- David Langley is chief partnerships officer at ing for research. Funders in the global north tain teaching and research obligations. There is New Model in Technology and Engineering, UK. are also recognizing the value of collaborating therefore a general lack of capacity in African Therina Theron is senior director of research with researchers in low- and middle-income universities to support and develop research, and innovation at Stellenbosch University, countries. They offer geographical advantages and no obvious career pathway or professional South Africa. GABRIELLA KARNEY PHOTOGRAPHY JOHANN THERON PHOTOGRAPHY;

S24 | NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS NATURE INDEX | RISING STARS

Excavations led by Griffith University at Leang Bulu Bettue, a cave on Sulawesi island, Indonesia.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS These 16 institutions were selected from among the most improved institutions in the Nature Index between 2015 and 2017. Some showed exceptional absolute and relative growth in their overall contribution to the papers in the journals tracked by the index, measured by fractional count (FC), while others excelled in a specific subject category. Chinese institutions make up more than half of the top 100 rising stars, far exceeding the 20 from the United States, and four each from Germany and the Netherlands (see online tables).

additional Au$60 million (US$43.1 million) GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY in funding since 2010. Overall, Griffith has SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY 1,446 full-time researchers and had a total AUSTRALIA | 2015 FC: 12.8 | 2017 FC: 24.09 research budget in 2017 of Au$280 million. CHINA | 2015 FC: 37.97 | 2017 FC: 75.60 Hui Jun Zhao, an analytic chemist, and Spread across five campuses in Queensland, director of the Centre for Clean Environ- Southeast University (SEU) has long been Griffith University boasts a strong commit- ment and Energy is among the university’s a science hub in China. It was once part of JUSTIN MOTT/MOTT VISUALS MOTT/MOTT JUSTIN ment to sustainability, as befits an institution top contributors to the index. He recently Nanjing University, but split away in 1952. near the Great Barrier Reef. co-authored a paper in water research of Today, its historical strengths in chemistry The university achieved an 88.1% increase a self-cleaning system for monitoring raw and physics have powered its growth in the in its fractional count between 2015 and 2017, sewage in real time. Nature Index, with its output nearly doubling making it the fastest-rising Australian institu- Griffith is also a founding member of the over the past three years. Publications have tion in the Nature Index. Ned Pankhurst, a International WaterCentre, a partnership included research on atom-thin memory marine biologist and senior deputy vice chan- between four Australian universities that storage devices and graphene-based elec- cellor at Griffith, attributes its recent success engages communities, practitioners and tronic tattoos that can monitor heart rates. to two strategic investment programmes: one academics in finding solutions to complex One of the university’s most widely read focussed on specific research areas, includ- water management problems. papers in 2017, however, was in the life sci- ing environmental science, water science and In 2016, Griffith University launched the ences: a fruit fly study that investigated the climate change response, and a 2020 plan to Australian Research Centre for Human Evo- neuronal circuitry that drives flies to either become one of the most influential universi- lution, which contributed to the recent dis- sleep or have sex. Neurobiologist, Yufeng ties in the Asia-Pacific region. covery of the oldest fossil of modern humans Pan, and his colleagues at the MOE Key Those programmes together have seen an outside Africa. BIANCA NOGRADY Laboratory for Developmental Genes and

S26 | NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS RISING STARS | NATURE INDEX

Human Disease observed that sleep depri- SPECIALTY FIELDS vation caused male fruit flies to more often Researchers at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) — the top rising star sleep rather than mate, whereas female fruit in the Nature Index — are proli c producers of natural science papers in physical chemistry, materials engineering and biochemistry and cell biology. This analysis is based on the eld flies seemed impervious to fatigue. categories assigned to UCAS articles published between 2015 and 2017 in the 82 journals Pan credits recruitment of a large number tracked by the Index. Boxes are sized by number of articles. of foreign researchers — including through China’s Thousand Talents Plan — for SEU’s Chemical sciences Engineering Biological sciences Physical sciences growth. Though research in life sciences Earth sciences Medical and health sciences Technology Mathematical sciences only began at SEU in the past decade, he thinks the recruitment trend will continue with the recent creation of a joint institute on neuron morphology with the United Biochemistry States-based Allen Institute. The university Genetics Physical chemistry and cell biology has 925 doctoral supervisors. MARK ZASTROW (incl. structural) SOURCE: NATURE INDEX/DIMENSIONS FROM DIGITAL SCIENCE INDEX/DIMENSIONS FROM DIGITAL SOURCE: NATURE

Plant biology Microbiology Ecology Other UNIVERSITY OF CHINESE Organic chemical Inorganic chemistry Other chemistry Neuro- ACADEMY OF SCIENCES sciences physical sciences sciences CHINA | 2015 FC: 101.95 | 2017 FC: 255.65

Materials engineering The Chinese Academy of Sciences spans a Geology network of more than 100 research institutes across China — and its affiliated university Analytical chemistry Nanotechnology matches its scale. Headquartered in Beijing, Macromolecular and materials chemistry Pure mathematics the University of Chinese Academy of Sci- Environmental engineering Statistics ences (UCAS) sprawls across four campuses Electrical and electronic engineering Oncology and Chemical engineering with five satellite branches in other cities, carcinogenesis including Shanghai and Chengdu. It counts Atomic, molecular, nuclear, particle and plasma physics more than 15,000 instructors and 7,210 doc- Geochemistry toral supervisors on staff, with more than Physical geography and environmental geoscience 45,000 graduate students. UCAS is the latest iteration of China’s first graduate university in science, founded in Index, with a 58.8% increase in its contribu- Union. But after the Cold War, the institu- 1978. Still regarded as China’s best graduate tion to journals in Earth and environmental tion struggled with budget cuts as state funds school, UCAS began to admit undergradu- sciences between 2015 and 2017. shifted towards universities. In 2013, parlia- ates in 2014. Growing interest in collaborative research ment implemented reforms to the institu- The university has shown remarkable has brought NCAR to the fore, says Gerald tion, seeking to bring it under control of a growth in its output of high-quality research: Meehl, who heads its climate change federal agency that reports directly to Presi- from 2015 to 2017, its fractional count research section and is among its top authors dent Vladimir Putin. Critics said the move increased 151% from 101.95 to 255.65, the in the index. He also attributes the institute’s threatened the academy’s independence. largest rise of any institution globally. The success to a high percentage of eager young However, RAS has rebounded in the pace of growth is sustained across all fields researchers. “We’ve got a crop of young pro- Nature Index — especially in chemistry, tracked by the index, and contrasts with a ject scientists who are pretty active,” he says. where its output has risen by more than 50%, 3.4% decline in the output of CAS over the More than half of NCAR’s funding — from a fractional count of 44.21 in 2015 to same period. MZ US$173 million in 2017 — comes from the 66.73 in 2017. In October 2017, an all-RAS United States National Science Foundation, team demonstrated a more sustainable 3D with additional funding from other federal printer that uses a material derived from cel- NATIONAL CENTER FOR agencies interested in weather and geo- lulose, the bulk material in plant walls. sciences, including the National Aeronaut- Valery Rubakov, a theoretical physicist ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH ics and Space Administration, the National at the RAS Institute for Nuclear Research UNITED STATES | 2015 FC: 31.55 | 2017 FC: 47.02 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in Moscow, says the value of RAS is more and the departments of defence and energy. recognized today than five years ago. But NCAR has approximately 494 scientists, he warns that if the architects of the 2013 The National Center for Atmospheric postdocs, and engineers on staff. NEIL SAVAGE reform continue to exert control, “the sys- Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, was tem of RAS institutes is in danger of com- founded in 1960 to assist researchers in their plete destruction.” RAS’s budget in 2013 was studies of atmospheric and climate science. RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 60 billion roubles (US$887 million), and it The aim was to provide faculty members employed 46,955 researchers in 2016. MZ with resources no single university could RUSSIA | 2015 FC: 155.38 | 2017 FC: 170.84 afford. Those resources now include the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center, Founded in 1724 by decree of Peter the WESTERN UNIVERSITY the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory in Hawaii, Great, the Russian Academy of Sciences and two aircraft for geoscience studies. (RAS) is the world’s oldest scientific research CANADA | 2015 FC: 32.95 | 2017 FC: 46.12 These facilities have contributed to network, and represented the height of Rus- NCAR’s rise in prominence in the Nature sian science through the era of the Soviet The 140-year-old Western University in

NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS | S27 NATURE INDEX | RISING STARS

Ontario, Canada, has 12 faculties with 1,396 Index, achieving 29.3% growth in its frac- manufacturing centre of Leverkusen. full-time staff and a research budget of more tional count over the past three years, with The university has a faculty of 2,300 and than Ca$225 million (US$172 million) in increases in all fields. a 2017 budget of €330 million, including 2017. The university’s fractional count has Founded in 1965, UCI is one of the third-party funding. ANJA KRIEGER increased by 40% in the Nature Index from younger schools in the state’s university sys- 2015 to 2017. Its output in the physical sci- tem, but has come into its own thanks to an ences has doubled, with noticeable growth emphasis on building research facilities with WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY & RESEARCH in chemistry and the life sciences. Research- advanced equipment, such as the recently ers during this period have contributed to opened Irvine Materials Research Institute THE NETHERLANDS | 2015 FC: 34.45* | 2017 FC: 50.55 numerous papers on emerging materials, that includes a state-of-the-art transmission astrophysics, and the brain regions control- electron microscope. The founding of Wageningen University in ling behaviours such as paying attention. UCI has also invested in recruitment. “We 1876 marked the beginning of the Nether- John Capone, vice-president (research), attract really top-notch faculty,” says Soroosh lands’s agricultural education programme, attributes the rise to the university’s signifi- Sorooshian, director of the Center for Hydro- a legacy upheld to this day. In 2016, the cant investments in areas such as neurosci- meteorology and Remote Sensing in UCI’s university merged with its eight research ence, materials science, wind engineering engineering school. The university’s strategic institutes to form one entity: Wageningen and medical research. In 2013, for exam- plan, released in 2016, set a target to recruit University & Research (WUR). ple, the university invested more than 250 new faculty members by 2021, welcom- Between 2015 and 2017, Wageningen Uni- Ca$20 million in clusters of research excel- ing 57 in 2017 alone. That’s a continuation of versity’s fractional count (FC) increased 62% lence focussed on cognitive neuroscience a hiring plan to recruit a few senior professors to 43.59. Adding the newly incorporated and musculoskeletal health. and several junior faculty, particularly if they institutions to the 2017 figure increased the Western University has also secured pri- span different departments. Recent high-pro- FC to 50.55. Particularly notable, has been

research institutes. 2015 output is based on the sum of FC for the university and research institutions. for the university and research institutes. 2015 output is based on the sum of FC research vate and public partnerships, particularly in file hires include tissue bioengineer Kyriacos WUR’s growth in Earth and environmental areas of research with higher equipment and Athanasiou, and cognitive scientist, Zygmunt sciences, from 11.77 to 18.82. infrastructure costs. Overall, it has invested Pizlo, who uses computational modelling to With a full-time faculty of almost 5,000,

*Wageningen University & Research was created in 2016 from a merger between Wageningen University and its eight a merger between Wageningen in 2016 from created was University & Research *Wageningen more than Ca$400 million in infrastructure, simulate how humans perceive three-dimen- the university focusses on three core areas including biomedical imaging and high-per- sional shapes from 2D images. — food production, living environment, and formance computing facilities at The Brain The university has more than 2,100 livelihood — covering such diverse areas as and Mind Institute. BN research faculty. Its funding for fiscal year non-chemical pest control, a faster route to 2017 was US$378 million. NS vaccines, and improving the sustainability of banana plantations. WUR has also prior- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE itized investments in broad research themes, TU DORTMUND UNIVERSITY such as resource-use efficiency, metropolitan UNITED STATES | 2015 FC: 125.68 | 2017 FC: 162.5 solutions, synthetic biology, and resilience. GERMANY | 2015 WFC: 23.40 | 2017 WFC: 41.82 Biogeochemist Dolf Weijers is among its University of California, Irvine (UCI) is most prolific researchers in the index. Most

STEVEN ZYLIUS/UCI STEVEN North America’s top rising star in the Nature Located in Germany’s industrial heartland, recently, he led a study into the 700-million- TU Dortmund University has made fast year-long evolution of the hormone auxin, friends in the 50 years since its establish- which controls processes involved in plant ment. Collaborations have ensured its posi- growth and development. BN tion among Germany’s top rising stars in the Nature Index, almost doubling its fractional count (FC) since 2015, with even faster HUNAN UNIVERSITY growth in chemistry from an FC of 11.86 to 25.59 in 2017. The partnerships have CHINA been facilitated by a combination of strong PHYSICAL SCIENCES FC 2015: 4.5 | 2017 FC: 23.46 researcher networks, university strategy and a changing grant environment. In 2012, TU Dortmund joined a €28 mil- Located in the city of Changsha in south- lion (US$32 million) initiative, funded by the central China, Hunan University (HNU) German Research Foundation, to explore the has seen remarkable growth in physical sci- science of solvents. Chemists, physicists and ences, with its output in the field increasing engineers from 50 research groups in seven more than four-fold in the index between institutions are part of the fundamental sci- 2015 and 2017, easing declines in chemistry. ence project to advance green chemistry, Yet HNU’s predominant strengths medical technologies, and photovoltaics. remain chemistry and materials science. Gabriele Sadowski, a chemical engi- It has two state-funded key labs — China’s neer and TU Dortmund’s vice president of elite national laboratories — one for vehi- research says researchers have also strength- cle design and manufacturing, and one for ened collaborations across borders and with biosensing and data-driven chemistry analy- industry. Physicists from the university are sis. The latter accounts for roughly half of working with colleagues from Russia to HNU’s research in the index. improve semiconductor science using the Chemist, Xidong Duan, of the biosens- power of electron spin. The university is also ing lab says that increased support from the Xiaoqing Pan, director of the newly established part of a joint venture with the pharmaceuti- central Chinese government has contributed Irvine Materials Research Institute, University of cal company, Bayer, developing innovative to HNU’s standing, as well as university poli- California, Irvine. drug-delivery technologies at the chemicals cies that have sought close collaborations

S28 | NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS RISING STARS | NATURE INDEX with top scientists abroad. In 2017, he and UCLA’s Xiangfeng Duan published a paper in Science demonstrating a method for pro- ducing super-thin semiconductors with intricate structures just a few atoms thick. Hunan has 1,950 faculty, of which more than 1,400 are professors. MZ

MARTIN LUTHER UNIVERSITY HALLE-WITTENBERG GERMANY | 2015 WFC: 18.81 | 2017 WFC: 29.18

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg was established in 1817 as the largest university in Germany’s state of Saxony-Anhalt. The Nazi regime and subsequent politici- sation of academia in East Germany took a toll on the university’s faculty and pro- Laser devices are used by polymer physicists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg grammes. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, to determine how proteins are folded. MLU emerged as a medium-sized university, with around 340 professors among its fac- has given the university many opportunities, publications and participation in collabora- ulty in 2017, offering the panoply of science says environmental chemist Zhen Ma, whose tions with universities such as the University subjects. Its research and teaching budget in particular focus is on practical solutions. of California, Berkeley, UC San Diego, and 2017 was €205 million (US$238 million), Fudan’s output in Earth and environ- Ecole Normal Superieure de Lyon. excluding third-party funding. mental sciences more than tripled in the Knut Breivik, an environmental scientist MLU’s rise in the Nature Index has been index between 2015 and 2017. Work led at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, SCHOLZ/MLU MARKUS driven by its chemistry output: between 2015 by Kan Haidong of Fudan’s School of Pub- says collaborations between the school and and 2017, its contribution to articles in this lic Health published in 2017 showed that research institutes encourage a mix of basic field almost tripled. To Wolfgang Binder, exposure to fine particulate matter less and applied environmental research. dean of the faculty of natural sciences, MLU’s than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) The research budget at UiO was 3.39 bil- interdisciplinary approach of connecting is linked to blood inflammation and the lion NOK (US$404 million) in 2016, with physics, chemistry and biology has laid the production of stress hormones, increasing about 3,635 faculty performing research. NS groundwork for this success. cardiovascular risk. MLU’s Institute of Chemistry conducts The university’s output in Earth and research on subjects ranging from nano- environmental sciences is set to grow fur- QUFU NORMAL UNIVERSITY structured and self-healing polymers, to the ther: in April 2018, it opened a department role of protein misfolding in Alzheimer’s and for atmospheric and oceanic research. MZ CHINA | 2015 FC: 1.21 | 2017 FC: 12.66 Parkinson’s diseases, and liquid crystals used in flat-panel displays (LCDs). In 2016, MLU The city of Qufu has a long history of schol- chemist, Carsten Tschierske and his team, in UNIVERSITY OF OSLO arship: it is the hometown of Confucius. collaboration with Trinity College Dublin, Qufu Normal University (QFNU) is just published research on materials that could NORWAY | 2015 FC: 43.46 | 2017 FC: 65.58 coming into its own as a presence in the make liquid-crystal technology faster and index. In the last three years, it has seen its more energy-efficient. AK Every five years, the Research Council of fractional count multiply by the largest fac- Norway offers national research institutions tor of any institution globally, from 1.21 to generous ten-year grants to set up centres of 12.66. Its papers in the journals tracked by FUDAN UNIVERSITY excellence in key research areas. The Univer- the index are in chemistry and physics. sity of Oslo (UiO) has won 17 of the 44 cen- Among them, analytic chemist, Fengli Qu, CHINA tres since the programme’s launch in 2003. has co-authored a flurry of articles on effi- E&E SCIENCES 2015 FC: 5.67 | 2017 FC: 18.40 Nine centres are active, covering subjects cient catalysts for the large-scale production ranging from solar physics to multilingual- of hydrogen, which has promise as a clean ism and Earth dynamics. source of fuel and long-term storage reser- Fudan University in Shanghai is a member of Four centres have been in Earth and envi- voir for renewable energy. In the past few the elite C9 League — nine schools sometimes ronmental sciences, where the university’s years, QFNU has transformed itself from a referred to as China’s Ivy League. The desig- growth in the index has been particularly traditional teaching university to a compre- nation comes directly from the Chinese gov- strong. UiO’s contribution to the authorship hensive research university, says Qu. One of ernment, and accords it extra resources and in this field has nearly doubled over the past the most effective policies for improvement, funding. This has been key in luring interna- three years, exceeding its 51% growth overall. he says, has been the introduction of bonus tional researchers, and getting more Chinese The centres give the best and most active incentives for research. The university has researchers who studied overseas to return. researchers more money, says Bjørn Jamt- more than 700 professor positions. In 2002, As the government pushes to clean up veit, a geophysicist at UiO. The university has it expanded to a second campus located in China’s dangerously polluted air and miti- also received a significant increase in gov- Rizhao, on the Yellow Sea — a city known for gate the effects of climate change, Fudan is ernment funding for climate science, Jamt- its sustainability and adoption of solar water helping lead the way. The government’s push veit says, which has spurred high-quality heaters in every new building. MZ ■

NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS | S29 NATURE INDEX | RISING STARS GREEN SHOOTS While many of the top institutions have benefited from centuries of steady scientific activity, these younger contenders are reaching for the sky. Established as universities after 1988, they have made significant progress in contributions to 82 high-quality journals over the past three years. We profile six of the leading young institutions.

HOMI BHABHA NATIONAL INSTITUTE SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY INDIAN INSTITUTES OF SCIENCE INDIA | FC 2015: 29.84 | FC 2017: 50.20 OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION AND RESEARCH PHYSICAL SCIENCES 2015 FC: 21.25 | 2017 FC: 33.99 CHINA | FC 2015: 15.7 | FC 2017: 67.6 INDIA | FC 2015: 79.01 | FC 2017: 98.21

India’s Department of Atomic Energy Southern University of Science and Starting with two institutes in 2006 A (DAE) created Homi Bhabha National B Technology (SUSTech) is positioned C in Pune and Kolkata, there are now Institute (HBNI) in 2005 to advance the for success in Shenzhen, a city often referred seven Indian Institutes of Science Educa- country’s capabilities in nuclear science and to as China’s Silicon Valley. Between 2015 tion and Research (IISER), with two set up engineering. Named after Homi Jehangir and 2017, funding at SUSTech increased in 2015 in Berhampur and Tirupati, on the Bhabha, considered the father of India’s from 153 to 600 million yuan (US$87.8 mil- central-eastern coast. nuclear programme, the university was lion), largely from the Shenzhen government The IISERs were established to bring high- formed from 10 DAE institutions focus- and National Natural Science Foundation of quality science teaching and research under sing on nuclear physics and mathematics. China. With the city’s support, SUSTech is one roof. It was an unusual model for the Among them is the Variable Energy Cyclo- also building the country’s most advanced country. University faculty, burdened with tron Centre in Kolkata, which houses India’s cryo-electron microscope laboratory for teaching loads, poor funding and limited first major accelerator for peering inside the revealing the structure of biomolecules. infrastructure, did not engage in research, atomic nucleus. In 2016, an 11th member, Shenzhen’s investments are yielding while the elite research institutes did not the National Institute of Science Education results. Since 2015, SUSTech has more than teach. “The IISERs have the right combina- and Research in Bhubhaneswar, became part quadrupled its contribution to the Nature tion of both components,” says Soumitro of the university. Index — making it the top rising star under Banerjee, a physicist at IISER, Kolkata. HBNI has increased its contribution to 30, with strengths in chemistry, and rapid The Indian government now recognizes papers in the index by 68.2% since 2015, growth in the physical sciences. Among its several IISERs as Institutes of National and is the top-ranked rising star in India in top index contributors is Xumu Zhang, who Importance, a designation given to institu- the physical sciences. Papers cover theoreti- has a chemical reaction named after him. tions that play a role in developing highly cal investigations into subatomic particles, Some 90% of the university’s 300-strong skilled individuals, which affords them addi- from neutrinos to mesons. Researchers faculty have overseas experience, with the tional funding. at the institution have also contributed to majority of courses taught in English. SUS- Collectively, the institutes have increased work on harnessing the Sun’s heat to halve Tech has enlisted 60 staff members through their contribution to science tracked by the the fossil-fuel consumption of existing coal- China’s national Thousand Talents Plan, index by 24% since 2015. fired power plants, and the use of molecu- which offers incentives to Chinese profes- The mandate to balance teaching with lar assemblies to prevent amyloid build-up sors, trained abroad, to return to China. research has engaged undergraduates in in the body, a hallmark of many diseases The university also has policies that research, some publishing results by com- including Parkinson’s. HBNI received 15 encourage high-quality work, such as a meri- pletion of their master’s degree. The IIS- million Indian rupees (US$212,000) in tocratic appraisal system that makes it easy ERs’ research budget was 6.3 billion Indian grants and subsidies in 2016–2017, and has for researchers to identify promotion oppor- rupees (US$89 million) in 2016–2017. 1,042 research faculty. SMRITI MALLAPATY tunities, and deters nepotism. SARAH O’MEARA T.V. PADMA

15 UNDER 30 All under 30 years old, these universities are the top 15 among the under thirties in the Nature Index, ranked by their growth in fractional count (FC) 2015–2017. Their success has been achieved largely without the advantage of time, though some have inherited a head start from predecessor institutions.

B Southern University of Science and Technology, China Established in 2009 E King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia 2009 A Homi Bhabha National Institute, India* 2005 C Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research 2006 ShanghaiTech University, China 2013 Central South University, China 2000 Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea 2007 D Institute of Science and Technology Austria 2009 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China 1991

Institutions Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan 2011 F Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea 2004 Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology, Thailand 2015 Singapore University of Technology and Design 2009 FC 2015 University of Luxembourg 2003 Change in FC 2015–2017 University of Eastern Finland 2010 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 *Formed from 10 research institutions of the Indian Department Atomic Energy in 2005 10 research from *Formed FC

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DAEGU GYEONGBUK INSTITUTE DGIST OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SOUTH KOREA | FC 2015: 6.73 | FC 2017: 13.99

Situated in South Korea’s manufactur- F ing centre, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) was established in 2004 to boost Daegu’s economy through innovation. Four years later, DGIST expanded into a university, support- ing 234 researchers addressing societal chal- lenges in six key research areas, including emerging materials, green energy and medical robotics. The university encourages commercial partnerships, and has 11 start-ups developing technologies such as rehabilitation exer- cise devices, robots that work on building maintenance, and a fire-retardant insula- tion material. With three other national institutes Matilda Peruzzo, a PhD student in Johannes Fink’s group at the Institute of Science and Technology advancing science across the country, in Dae- Austria. Her experiments seek to characterize new types of superconducting qubits. jeon, Gwangju and Ulsan, DGIST president, Sang Hyuk Son, says the university stands out for its interdisciplinarity: roboticists team up INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY with life scientists, while solar energy special- ists work with materials scientists. AND TECHNOLOGY AUSTRIA OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DGIST’s contribution to articles tracked AUSTRIA | FC 2015: 10.88 | FC 2017: 24.37 SAUDI ARABIA | FC 2015: 88.42 | FC 2017: 109.98 by the index has doubled over the past three years to a fractional count of 13.99 in 2017. Located in Klosterneuberg, just out- King Abdullah University of Science Chemistry accounts for more than half of its NADINE PONCIONI/IST AUSTRIA NADINE PONCIONI/IST D side Vienna, researchers at the Insti- E and Technology (KAUST) launched overall output. In 2017, for example, DGIST tute of Science and Technology Austria (IST in 2009 to help move Saudi Arabia’s oil- researchers developed a high-resolution Austria) are encouraged to explore their dependent economy to one more reliant on imaging technique to analyse living biologi- curiosities, far from the fixation on impact. knowledge. It supports 710 research scien- cal samples without chemical pre-treatment, Established by the federal government in tists in 11 centres tackling clean combustion, which could be applied in medical diagnosis 2009 to focus on basic research, “the insti- water desalination and solar energy, among and drug screening. GC ■ tute values science for its own sake and not other transformational technologies. its potential to bring immediate benefit,” says KAUST is the fastest-growing institution biologist, Fyodor Kondrashov, who runs a in Western Asia in the Nature Index 2015– research group that uses an array of tools 2017, increasing its contribution in the life — mathematical modelling, bioinformatics sciences by 79.5% to a fractional count (FC) data, and experiments — to study evolution. of 10.5 in 2017, and growing by 57% in the The graduate-only university, which is physical sciences to an FC of 47.28. organised into research groups with no Its strongest subject, however, is chemis- departments, encourages students to be col- try, bolstered by partnerships with industry laborative and broadminded, says Kondra- giants Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries shov: students spend the first year rotating Corporation and Dow Saudi Arabia. These among groups to find the best fit for their partnerships offer researchers start-up interests. funding and job opportunities. In May 2018, Researchers have thrived in the intellectual KAUST welcomed the Dow Innovation environment, more than doubling their con- Center, which will facilitate applied research tribution to the Nature Index since 2015, with into oil and gas technologies, sustainable the life sciences accounting for two-thirds construction, and industrial chemicals. of this output. Among IST Austria’s most The university’s deep pockets for research prolific teams are those determining how and salaries have drawn foreign talent. immune cells move and change shape, how Among them is chemical scientist, Yu Han, plants adapt to changing environments, and who moved to KAUST in 2009, and stands how neuronal networks process information. out in the index journals for his work on IST Austria supports 700 staff, and 142 nanoporous materials used to purify water PhD students. The Austrian government and clean fuel emissions. Some 95% of committed €290 million (US$336 million) KAUST faculty are international, and more A researcher at the Convergence Research for its first 10 years, with researchers secur- than three-quarters of papers co-authored Center for Wellness, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute ing an additional €100 million in third-party at the university in the journals tracked by of Science and Technology, in South Korea, funds. GEMMA CONROY the index are with international partners. GC demonstrates a robot that can walk and run.

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Physicist, Frank Wilczek, whose Nobel-winning work on the forces acting on quarks was published when he was just starting out.

PREDICTING SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS Even sophisticated, data-driven models of academic careers have trouble forecasting the highs and lows.

SMRITI MALLAPATY University’s Kellogg School of Management in their ethnicity, gender or location,” says Rob- Evanston, Illinois. “To be a successful scientist, erta Sinatra, a network and data scientist at the hen Frank Wilczek was a gradu- you should just keep drawing the lottery and Central European University in Hungary, and ate student in his early twenties, hope for the best.” first author of the 2016 study. he published work on the forces Sophisticated new models are using vast Wholding quarks together that later won him a data sets to help elucidate the process of sci- BETTING ON THE BEST Nobel Prize. entific discovery, and how it will evolve — Researchers have had limited success in find- At the other end of a career span, John including at the level of individual careers. As ing quantitative and objective ways of predict- Fenn, a retired analytic chemist in his sev- the volume of this information expands, the ing a scientist’s future performance based on enties, developed the award-winning tech- resulting algorithms and their predictions will their past merits. nique for analysing large proteins using mass improve. Earlier efforts typically involved statisti-

BERTIL ERICSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES BERTIL ERICSON/AFP/GETTY spectrometry. But, in searching for predictable patterns, cal checks of single or collected metrics to From early starters to late bloomers, the and a formula for detecting rising research see how well they correlate with reality. In timing of a researcher’s career high is largely stars, scientists are finding that success is 2007, for example, Jorge Hirsch, a physicist dependent on chance. This was the conclusion inherently unpredictable, says Daniel Larre- at the University of California, San Diego, of a 2016 study, in which researchers developed more, a computer scientist at the University of published a paper on the predictive power of a mathematical model to describe publication Colorado Boulder. a popular measure he had invented for deter- and citation trends based on the records of These models are also beginning to reveal mining the scientific impact of an individual thousands of people. the flaws in the research system and point to — the h-index. Hirsch observed a correlation Every piece of work is just as likely to be your ways of correcting them. “Through reverse between a researcher’s current and future highest impact paper as the last, says study engineering, we can help create a fairer sys- h-index. co-author Dashun Wang at Northwestern tem that nurtures talented people, no matter Several years later, a group led by computer

S32 | NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS RISING STARS | NATURE INDEX scientist, Daniel Acuna, now at Syracuse Uni- to be good predictors to be useful, says Vin- versity, developed a formula to estimate an cent Traag, a computational social scientist at individual’s future h-index based on several the Centre for Science and Technology Stud- variables, including number of articles, pub- ies, Leiden University. By allowing research- lication in prestigious journals and years since ers to uncover the mechanisms underlying first paper. It accounted for 66% of the variabil- the phenomena they observe — how science ity in the h-index of some 3,000 neuroscientists itself works — “we can start thinking of how five years later. But some scientists argued that to address questions such as the replicability the cumulative nature of the h-index over- crisis, publication biases, and inappropriate stated its predictability. incentives,” says Traag. Now, mathematicians, network scientists, Gaps in the publication records of individu- and physicists are bringing new tools to the als expose the many lost opportunities — from challenge. They are creating simple models of those who have abandoned academia out of the rules of human behaviour, in the same way a sense of failure, or to raise children, or for that the Standard Model explains the existence unexplained reasons. of the Higgs Boson. “The big piece of the puzzle that is missing

These models exploit rich and accessible is a quantitative understanding of failure,” says LIBRARY PHOTO LEWIS HOUGHTON/SCIENCE LIBRARY; SCIENCE PHOTO long-term data generated about scientists Wang, who is analysing grant application data and their scholarly endeavours — from pub- from the US National Institutes of Health to lications and citations, to funding sources, capture signals not just of acceptance, but also collaborators, mobility, institutional affilia- rejection. “It happens all the time, yet we know tion, ethnicity and gender. But a formula for so little about it.” spotting rising research stars is still elusive. In When it comes to tracking talent, some detecting career trends, the models are also traits have little to do with merit. Studies of the revealing predictive limits. First x-ray photograph of a human, in 1895. h-index, for example, have found that women are cited less than men. CHANCE DISCOVERY While emerging algorithms can poten- “If we put this into an approach that Those who study the trajectories of scientific tially anticipate incremental advances in sci- predicts impact, then it would favour men, careers had long assumed that researchers were ence, such as the observation of gravitational rather than women,” says Sinatra, who is at their most creative early in their careers. waves, it is beyond their capacity to predict the working on developing data-driven meas- Sinatra and Wang’s 2016 study proved other- accidental isolation of penicillin, or the seren- ures and models to identify the source and wise. They found that a constant and unique dipitous discovery of x-rays, as it is beyond the contribution of forms of bias so they can be value known as Q, derived from an individual’s scope of most humans. corrected, and not perpetuated in predictive long-term citation and publication record, “Any kind of model that makes strong bets modelling. could determine the number of citations that on the trends of the past is likely to perpetu- “So much of the past ‘success’ has been cor- their best paper would achieve, but the timing ate the kinds of problems that we have now, related with looking and sounding, well, like of that paper was anybody’s guess. The higher without leaving us open to the weird and unex- me — white, male, native English speaking, a researcher’s Q factor, the higher the impact pected innovations that no-one sees coming,” past affiliation with Harvard,” says Larremore. of their paper. says Larremore. “There is a danger of reading too much into the In a recent study covering a shorter publica- Models of scientists’ careers don’t need patterns of the past.” ■ tion window, Wang and Sinatra showed that a career high is typically characterized by a slew of several highly cited papers. “All of an individual’s best works tend to happen within that hot streak,” says Wang. And while most scientists will experience such a creative burst, it will probably only happen once in their career. A 2017 study by Larremore also decon- structed the fast-early-peak, slow-slump pattern of productivity. In an analysis of more than 2,000 computer scientists and 200,000 publications, he found that while the researchers’ collective publication trajectory followed the rise–fall pattern, it could only explain the productivity of one in every five scientists. Paper citations don’t always follow a reliable pattern either, which makes it difficult to predict career trajectories based on them. Some papers lie dormant for many years before gaining citation traction. A 2015 citation analysis of 22 million articles spanning more than a century found that there are many examples of such ‘sleeping beauties’. Among them is a 1955 paper by Eugene Garfield on the utility of a citation index, which caught the research commu- Algorithms can point to incremental advances, but breakthroughs such as the accidental isolation of penicillin nity’s attention some half a century later. are impossible to predict.

NATURE INDEX 2018 | RISING STARS | S33 RISING STARS | NATURE INDEX RISING STARS TABLES The top 50 rising institutions, ranked by change in adjusted fractional count (adjusted FC*) from 2015 to 2017. Also listed are each institution’s FC and total number of articles (AC) in 2017, percentage change in adjusted FC from 2015 to 2017, and global rank in the 2018 annual tables.

For more tables of rising institutions in the Nature Index go to www.natureindex.com

TOP 50 INSTITUTIONS

CHANGE IN CHANGE IN RANK INSTITUTION COUNTRY/REGION FC 2017 AC 2017 ADJUSTED FC ADJUSTED FC 2018 ANNUAL 2015–2017 2015–2017 (%) TABLES RANK

1 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 255.65 1,359 153.70 150.8% 31 2 Tsinghua University China 353.40 1,084 74.30 26.6% 15 3 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China 166.39 546 61.29 58.3% 62 4 Southern University of Science and Technology China 67.60 195 51.90 330.5% 225 5 Wuhan University China 158.44 341 47.77 43.2% 68 6 University of Science and Technology of China China 299.53 801 46.38 18.3% 23 7 Indian Institutes of Technology India 214.66 448 44.70 26.3% 41 8 Nanjing University China 321.50 773 42.90 15.4% 18 9 South China University of Technology China 97.25 182 39.41 68.1% 135 10 Southeast University China 75.60 136 37.63 99.1% 195 11 University of California, Irvine United States 162.50 439 36.82 29.3% 66 12 Xi'an Jiaotong University China 88.63 209 31.85 56.1% 152 13 Xiamen University China 145.95 273 30.54 26.5% 81 14 Peking University China 384.43 1,273 29.22 8.2% 12 15 The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center United States 151.72 289 29.09 23.7% 74 16 Sichuan University China 123.34 230 28.99 30.7% 95 17 Washington University in St. Louis United States 206.95 449 28.55 16.0% 42 18 Sun Yat-sen University China 148.28 376 28.40 23.7% 76 19 Max Planck Society Germany 734.95 2,289 28.03 4.0% 3 20 Huazhong University of Science and Technology China 112.05 279 27.66 32.8% 112 21 The University of Hong Kong China 92.45 347 26.68 40.6% 145 22 Shandong Normal University China 52.05 79 26.64 104.9% 284 23 Nanjing Tech University China 51.71 140 25.90 100.4% 287 24 Zhejiang University China 240.33 580 25.46 11.8% 35 25 National University of Singapore Singapore 229.18 574 24.49 12.0% 37 26 Soochow University China 158.44 299 23.80 17.7% 67 27 California Institute of Technology United States 299.63 891 22.95 8.3% 22 28 Shenzhen University China 32.52 131 22.77 233.6% 422 29 Beijing Institute of Technology China 51.58 110 22.43 76.9% 289 30 Harbin Institute of Technology China 80.91 158 22.41 38.3% 175 31 University of Oslo Norway 65.58 335 22.13 50.9% 238 32 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center United States 110.11 280 21.60 24.4% 115 33 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Saudi Arabia 109.98 237 21.56 24.4% 116 34 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States 195.39 468 21.32 12.2% 49 35 University of Bristol United Kingdom 152.12 467 20.82 15.9% 72 36 China University of Geosciences China 47.32 113 20.80 78.4% 307 37 China Pharmaceutical University China 34.38 66 20.75 152.3% 409 38 University of Basel Switzerland 109.67 310 20.45 22.9% 118 39 Homi Bhabha National Institute India 50.20 188 20.36 68.2% 297 40 Czech Academy of Sciences Czech Republic 86.84 369 19.35 28.7% 160 41 Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research India 98.21 246 19.20 24.3% 133 42 Colorado State University United States 75.04 208 18.89 33.7% 198 43 ShanghaiTech University China 23.67 129 18.56 363.7% >500 44 TU Dortmund University Germany 41.82 209 18.42 78.7% 344 45 University of Pittsburgh United States 148.04 448 16.84 12.8% 77 46 Argonne National Laboratory United States 118.10 616 16.83 16.6% 101 47 University of Amsterdam Netherlands 76.42 518 16.77 28.1% 194 48 The University of Chicago United States 221.23 680 16.72 8.2% 39 49 Central South University China 43.75 114 16.61 61.2% 332 50 Jinan University China 29.37 101 16.48 127.9% 458

* FC figures are adjusted to 2017 levels.

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A GUIDE TO THE NATURE INDEX A description of the terminology and methodology used in this supplement, and a guide to the functionality available free online at natureindex.com

he Nature Index is a database of author affiliations and institutional relation- ships. The index tracks contributions to Tresearch articles published in 82 high-quality NATUREINDEX.COM natural science journals, chosen by an inde- pendent group of researchers. A global indicator of high-quality research The Nature Index provides absolute and fractional counts of publication productivity 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 most recent 12 months made available under a Creative Commons licence at natureindex.com. The database is compiled by Springer Nature. NATURE INDEX METRICS The Nature Index provides several metrics to track research output and collaboration. These include article count, fractional count, and adjusted fractional count. The simplest is the article count (AC). A country or institution is given an AC of 1 for each article that has at least one author from that country or institution. This is the case regardless of the number of authors an article has, and it means that the same article can contribute to the AC of multiple countries or institutions. To get a sense of a country’s or institution’s natureindex.com users can search for by journal, and then by article. contribution to an article, and to ensure they specific institutions or countries and Research outputs are organized by are not counted more than once, the Nature generate their own reports, ordered by subject area. Index uses fractional count (FC), which takes article count (AC) or fractional count The pages list the institution into account the share of authorship on each (FC). or country’s top collaborators, as article. The total FC available per article is 1, Each query will return a profile page well as its relationship with other which is shared among all authors under the that lists the country or institution’s organizations. Registering allows assumption that each contributed equally. For recent outputs, from which it is users to track an institutions’ instance, an article with 10 authors means that possible to drill down for more performance over time, create their each author receives an FC of 0.1. For authors information. Articles can be displayed own indexes and export table data. who are affiliated with more than one institution, the individual author’s FC is then split equally between those institutions. The total FC for an institution is calculated by calculating the percentage difference in the 2017 at the institution level. by summing the FC for individual affiliated total number of articles in the index in a given Most analyses within the supplement use authors. The process is similar for countries, year relative to the number of articles in 2017 adjusted FC as the primary metric. The tables although complicated by the fact that some and applying this adjustment to FC values. rank institutions by their absolute change in institutions have overseas labs that will be adjusted FC from 2015 to 2017. The tables counted towards host country totals. THE SUPPLEMENT also provide the percentage change in FC When comparing data over time, FC val- Nature Index 2018 Rising Stars is based on data 2015–2017 and an institution’s global rank in ues are adjusted to 2017 levels to account for from natureindex.com, covering articles pub- the 2018 annual tables. Separate tables rank the small annual variation in the total num- lished during six years from 1 January 2012 to the top academic institutions, top young uni- ber of articles in Nature Index journals. The 31 December 2017 at the country level, and versities under 30 years old, as well as the top adjustment of FC values in each year is done articles from 1 January 2015 to 31 December institutions in each subject area. ■

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