Melbourne leads Australia in high-quality science output

Melbourne was Australia’s leading city in terms of high-quality science output in 2015, followed by Sydney. That’s according to the Nature Index, which tracks the high-quality research of more than 8000 global institutions and has assessed the top 30 leading Australian institutions by their contribution to 68 high-quality journals.

As highlighted in the Nature Index 2016 Australia and New Zealand supplement, 83 of Melbourne’s institutions published in the 68 journals selected for inclusion in the index, followed by 50 from Sydney. Melbourne also had the most research partnerships between institutions within the city, elevating it into the world’s top 10 ranked cities by this measure.

Sydney was meanwhile found to have a strength in the physical sciences that is fuelling an expanding science ecosystem. Major research hubs focused on quantum computing and nanoscience have been strengthened by the addition of new labs in 2016, which are said to offer promise for lucrative new industries.

Not to be outdone, Brisbane’s output has grown faster than any other city in the past three years, largely due to its strength in the life sciences. The Queensland capital has benefited from state investment of $3.4 billion in research capacity over the last decade that has attracted and retained talented young scientists.

The top 10 institutions in the country, based on their contributions to high-quality research papers, are as follows:

1. The University of Queensland
2. Monash University
3. Australian National University
4. The University of Melbourne
5. The University of New South Wales
6. The University of Sydney
7. CSIRO
8. The University of Western Australia
9. The University of Adelaide
10. Curtin University

“The index’s data illustrate that Australia’s high-quality research output is increasingly being driven by … hotspots of innovation, like in Melbourne and Sydney, where institutions are clustered together and can collaborate easily,” said David Swinbanks, founder of the Nature Index.

Overall, the index finds that Australia’s high-quality research output has increased by 10% in just three years, placing it 12th in the index’s global standings — a position that can only be maintained through long-term support for basic science and the pursuit of research quality.