US politicians push agencies to restrict research collaboration with China
Republicans and Democrats worry about research theft and exploitation — but don’t agree on how to solve the problem.
The Nature Index 2026 Research Leaders are now available. The update adds 17 applied-science journals, one conference proceeding, and 15 social-science journals to the database. Learn more about the Major changes to the Nature Index for 2026.
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2026 Research Leaders
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Discover the top-performing institutions and countries/territories in scientific research with the Nature Index Research Leaders.
Nature Index author gender ratio
Female authorship at leading institutions Author gender ratio by subject area and research topic
This dataset highlights the progress made towards achieving gender parity in authorship of papers tracked by the Nature Index.
Nature Index 2026 Chemistry
Chemistry research is undergoing a period of transformation, driven by new technologies and mounting environmental pressures. In this supplement, we explore the trends behind China’s extraordinary rise in chemistry output, and why efforts to curb the use of PFASs are accelerating worldwide. We also look at the innovations that could redefine how chemicals are designed, produced and recycled.
Nature Index 2026 Cancer
Cancer incidence is on the rise. Countries are meeting the challenge in different ways, such as through nationwide action plans and broadening early detection programmes. However, coordinating these efforts to make them accessible, targeted and effective is a balancing act. In this supplement, we explore the factors that are shaping these first lines of defence and the research efforts that are informing them.
Most viewed institution profiles
The following institution profiles have been the most viewed on the Nature Index in the past 28 days.
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
- Zhejiang University (ZJU)
- Harvard University
- Max Planck Society
- Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
- Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS)
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern Medical Center)
- Tsinghua University
- The University of Tokyo (UTokyo)
- Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata (IISER Kolkata)
Most viewed news articles
The following Nature Index news articles have been the most viewed in the past 28 days.
- Major changes to the Nature Index for 2026
- Harvard loses first place in Nature Index
- Nature Index 2026 Research Leaders rankings: are China’s East Asian neighbours keeping pace with it?
- These are the 10 best countries for biological sciences research
- What China’s rise in chemistry means for the rest of the world
- Three scientists pushing chemistry in new directions
- Nature Index 2025: The world’s top 10 institutions for neuroscience research
- First and last authors more likely to be men in leading science journals
- Women and minority researchers have more original ideas, but white men are rewarded faster
- Nature Index 2025: The world’s top 10 institutions for social-sciences research
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 30,000 topics at the most granular level, grouped into a 4-level hierarchy.
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Institution collaboration
Nature Index collaborations highlight the most fruitful institutional collaborations that lead to high quality research around the world. Naturally, proximate institutions collaborate the most, which hides the many benefits from collaboration further afield. To address this, the overall leading international collaborators are shown as well as the leading collaborations involving countries/territories outside the top 50 (broadening collaborators).
Country/territory collaboration
Country/territory collaboration looks at the leading collaborators around the world, as well as within and between between regions and equatorial hemispheres. To show trends in collaboration between any two countries/territories over the past 10 years we've introduced historical country/territory collaboration.
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