Shanghai has consolidated its position as a global scientific powerhouse, ranking second worldwide in the Nature Index 2025 Science Cities supplement released on Nov 16. The ranking reaffirms the city's role as one of the world's leading hubs for high-quality scientific research.

The supplement evaluates 2024 research output across major global cities and metropolitan areas based on high-quality journals tracked by the Nature Index.

Its analysis uses "Share", a fractional count reflecting institutional contribution to publications, as the primary metric, with time-series data adjusted to 2024 levels. Each city's Share is calculated by summing the contributions of all affiliated institutions located within that city.

According to the supplement, China accounted for six of the world's top 10 science cities, up from five in 2023. It is the first time the country has taken a majority of the top 10. Beijing remained the world's leading science city, a position it has held since 2016.

Alongside Beijing and Shanghai, the cities in the global top 10 are the New York metropolitan area (US), Boston metropolitan area (US), Nanjing (China), Guangzhou (China), San Francisco Bay Area (US), Wuhan (China), Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area (US), and Hangzhou (China).

In terms of adjusted Share, Beijing's research output grew by more than 9 percent between 2023 and 2024, while Shanghai saw a nearly 20 percent increase. Over the same period, the adjusted Share of all US cities in the global top 10 declined.

The Nature Index, compiled by Springer Nature, tracks institutional contributions to papers published in 145 high-quality natural science and health science journals selected by an independent panel of scientists.

Source: Jiefang Daily