An increase in high-quality research output has helped the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to emerge as the top scientific research institution in Singapore, according to Nature, one of the world’s most prestigious specialist research publications.
The Nature Index Global, which was released on Wednesday (June 17) in the United Kingdom, showed NTU moving up two spots to be ranked 40th in the world — beating out other local institutions, such as the National University of Singapore (NUS) (42nd), and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) (107th).
NTU, NUS and A*STAR are the only Singapore institutions in the top 200. NTU and NUS also beat other top universities such as Duke University (52nd) and University College London (45).
Last year, NTU published 371 scientific research articles, and the index tabulated that the university had a 6.7 per cent increase in high-quality research output as compared with the previous year.
The top three institutions are the Chinese Academy of Sciences, followed by Harvard University in the United States and the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
The Nature Index, which is in its second year, tracks author affiliations of around 60,000 scientific articles published every year, spanning across 20,000 research institutions worldwide.
The index also ranked research done according to different disciplines, and NTU was ranked ninth internationally for its chemistry research, followed by NUS at 28th place.
For physical sciences research, NUS is at 27th and NTU at 35th spot.
Responding to NTU’s showing in the index, NTU president Bertil Andersson said it “testifies to the high quality and impact of the work being done by (NTU’s) outstanding faculty and researchers”.
A*STAR chairman Lim Chuan Poh, noting the institution improvement in rankings, added that it will continue to collaborate with other industry partners in Singapore’s R&D landscape. A*STAR was ranked 133rd last year.
NUS president Tan Chorh Chuan noted that the university’s position is “a strong recognition of the (NUS’) high-quality research and capabilities”.
Among 100 countries ranked in the index, Singapore also went up by two places to 15th place. The top three countries are US, China and Germany.
Publisher of Nature Index Richard Hughes said China is ranked highly given the country’s substantial investments in research. Mr Hughes also noted that northern and western European institutions tend to collaborate with other institutions in the same region, whereas researchers in the East and South-east Asia will partner with institutions in North America or Europe.
Source: www.todayonline.com
