The Nature Index annual table 2021 has rated the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata as 4th among the top-most academic institutions in the country.

Last year, the institute at Nadia’s Mohanpur had ranked 5th in the category.

Among all categories of institutions across the country, the IISER has ranked 7th for its high-quality scientific research. In 2019-20, the institute had ranked 8th in the overall category.

The Nature Index is a database of author information collated from research articles published in an independently selected group of 82 science journals, including the British journal Nature.

The database is compiled by a research team of Nature.

The overall categories include teaching and non-teaching institutes in the public and private sectors, as well as NGOs involved in research and other academic activities.

The Indian Institute of Science, in Bangalore, has ranked first in both categories and 62nd in the Asia-Pacific region.

IISER Kolkata has ranked 100th in the Asia-Pacific region, joining three other institutions from India to make the cut among top 100. Last year, the IISER had ranked 111th in the region.

The Mohanpur institution has retained its top-most position among all IISERs, in overall performance as well as subject-wise rankings.

The Nature Index is considered the most competitive and prestigious metric observed closely across the globe to assess the performance of institutions and countries in scientific research. Ranking high in the index is considered a signature of high performance in research globally.

The new ranking has been announced based on Nature Index data from January 1 to December 31, 2020.

“This improved ranking reflects the consistent performance of researchers of the institute,” IISER director Sourav Pal said. “It was a difficult year because of the Covid pandemic. Research was constantly hampered. Nevertheless, we continued our work and this ranking is a recognition of our collective efforts.”

The dean of international relations and outreach at the IISER, Anindita Bhadra, said: “This is quite an impressive ranking. It comes as a recognition of the high-quality research being done by our researchers.”

“The annual table highlights the institutions and countries which dominated high-quality research in natural sciences in 2020, as tracked by the Nature Index,” an IISER official said.