There are cities known for their scientific temperament. Here are the top five Science Cities Of The World.

Some cities become iconic world over for their progressiveness, cosmopolitanism, cultural quotient, luxuriousness, liveability, and other attributes. One of the interesting indices that a city can be known by is their scientific temperament. They are simply known as ‘science cities’. The Nature Index global science city rankings are a definitive guide for understanding which of the cities in the world have an ingrained science culture.

Deciding Factors

Some of the indices are R&D quality and spend, prestigious research institutions, specialist science facilities, and an ability to attract global science talent, competitiveness, innovativeness, etc.

Methodology

The collective volume of publications stemming from a city’s institutions, featured in 82 high-quality, peer-reviewed journals between January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2019, were tracked. The primary metrics of analysis was a share of affiliated institutions located in the city, with time series figures adjusted to 2019 levels. The deliberations were further validated by a survey of more than 6,000 scientists worldwide.

Here are the top 5:

Beijing

Share 2019: 2,846.4

Change in adjusted Share 2015–19: +40.8%

Count 2019: 6,018

Beijing, home to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is on top for the second year running. It also topped the Earth and environmental sciences list as well.

New York

Share 2019: 2,066.4

Change in adjusted Share 2015–19: −10.3%

Count 2019: 4,894

Global winner in competitiveness for its ability to attract and retain human capital, New York’s top institution is Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Boston

Share 2019: 1,909.8

Change in adjusted Share 2015–19: −5.5%

Count 2019: 4,325

Geographically-integrated academic institutions, start-up incubators and mass transit, especially, The Boston Waterfront Innovation District, revitalised Boston’s prospects in the last three years. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, home to the greatest concentration of biotechnology companies in the world, is ranked 6th in the index.

San Francisco – San Jose

Share 2019: 1,692.5

Change in adjusted Share 2015–19: −10.7%

Count 2019: 3,979

Home to Silicon Valley, San Francisco, is rated highly for job creation, cultural activities and citizen engagement.

Stanford University, which ranks 1st across all four natural sciences fields occupy the 5th global position for share. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, had the area’s fastest rising adjusted Share 2015–19.

Shanghai

Share 2019: 1,480.5

Change in adjusted Share 2015–19: +38.6%

Count 2019: 3,227

One of the top 10 in Global Power Cities Index 2019, Shanghai had 416 foreign R&D centres in 2017 - a quarter of the total in China and in that year itself announced policies to attract foreign R&D centres by providing policy and financial support, simplified exit and entry procedures and customs clearance. It certainly paid off very well.