Curtin University has been ranked in the top 100 of the world’s leading institutions for growth in high-quality science, and in the top three in Asia Pacific by the Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars supplement.
Released today, the Nature Index identifies the countries and institutions showing the most significant growth in research publications, across more than 8,000 global institutions.
Curtin increased its journal contribution by more than 80 per cent from 2012-2015.
Professor Deborah Terry, Curtin Vice-Chancellor, said this was an outstanding achievement and was testament to Curtin’s continued focus in improving its research performance.
“The journals in the Nature publishing group are amongst the best in the world and to be recognised amongst the world’s top research institutions is extremely rewarding,” Professor Terry said.
“The rankings demonstrate that key activities such as reorganising our mining school and taking a leading role in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, have significantly boosted our physical sciences, and Earth and environmental sciences article output.”
Since 2012, Curtin has increased its contribution to articles in the Earth and environmental sciences index by 54 per cent.
The top 100 most improved institutions in the Nature Index over the four-year period are ranked by the increase in their contribution to 68 high-quality journals. From this top 100, the supplement profiles 25 rising stars that are already making their mark, and have the potential to continue to grow over the next decade.
“Curtin University has shown a remarkable increase in output in the Nature Index in the past four years, rising from less than a hundred articles in 2012 to over two hundred in 2015, taking it into the top 500 universities worldwide and just into the top 10 in Australia,” Mr David Swinbanks, Managing Director of Springer Nature and Australia and Founder of the Nature Index said.
“Output is particularly strong in astronomy, with large numbers of articles involving authors from many institutions worldwide, but there is also significant output and strong contributions in earth and environmental sciences from Curtin’s Applied Geology Department, the Institute for Geoscience Research and the Department of Environment and Agriculture.
“Growth in output continues into 2016 and Curtin is certainly an institution to watch.”
Earlier this year, Curtin University was named as the most collaborative of the Australian universities and the biggest Australian mover in the Nature Index results for 2016.
