For the first time, Chinese cities represent more than half of the world's top ten scientific research hubs, as indicated by the latest Nature Index supplement. Beijing maintains its status as the leading global science city, a title it has held since 2016.

The newly released 'Nature Index 2025 Science Cities' supplement reveals that the number of Chinese cities in the global top ten has risen from five in 2023 to six in 2024, marking the first time that China dominates the rankings.

The supplement draws on the Nature Index database, which tracks research articles published from 2015 to 2024. 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 Nature Index, the world's leading science cities overall are: Beijing, Shanghai, the New York metropolitan area, the Boston metropolitan area, Nanjing, Guangzhou, the San Francisco Bay Area, Wuhan, the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area, and Hangzhou.

Beijing continues to lead the rankings, with its adjusted Share increasing by 9.14 percent between 2023 and 2024. Shanghai's output saw an even sharper rise, with a 20 percent increase. In contrast, the combined adjusted Share of all U.S. cities in the top ten declined.

'The movements of cities reflect a wider trend in the index of China expanding its lead as the United States loses ground,' the supplement noted.

Further analysis reveals that Chinese cities possess a significant advantage in chemistry, physical sciences, and earth and environmental sciences, placing them at the forefront of global rankings in all three fields. Remarkably, for the first time, cities in China occupied all of the top ten positions in chemistry.

In the other two subject areas, they achieved six of the top ten rankings, with Beijing leading the world across all three domains.