Asan Medical Center ranked 64th, the highest among Korean hospitals, in the "Nature Index 2026 Leading Healthcare Institutions in Research" rankings, the hospital said Thursday.
The Nature Index is a metric that evaluates the research competitiveness of institutions based on papers published in 178 of the world's most authoritative journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), The Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and Nature. Rankings are calculated not by the simple number of papers but by share, which reflects each institution's actual research contribution. Starting this year, the evaluation method was fully overhauled to classify research fields by individual paper rather than by journal, allowing for a more accurate reflection of each paper's actual research characteristics. The scope of evaluation was also expanded from a previous focus on natural sciences and health sciences to include applied sciences and social sciences. The aim is to more precisely reflect convergence research achievements such as medical artificial intelligence (AI) and digital healthcare.
Asan Medical Center recorded a share score of 33.4 in the Nature Index 2026 Leading Healthcare Institutions in Research rankings, calculated based on research achievements published over the past year. This represents an increase of about 29% from 25.9 the previous year. The number of papers reached 119, and its world ranking rose 13 places from 77th last year to 64th this year. The hospital explained that achieving the top domestic ranking by share in the first evaluation with an expanded scope and more sophisticated analysis method makes the result even more meaningful.
In this evaluation, Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States retained its world No. 1 position with a share score of 182.9, following last year. Excluding West China Hospital of Sichuan University in China, which ranked fifth among the world's hospitals, U.S. medical institutions swept the entire top 10. In Korea, Seoul National University Hospital placed second domestically with a share score of 30.9, down 16.0% from 36.7 the previous year, followed by Samsung Medical Center (15.1), Yonsei University Health System (14.5) and Korea University Medical Center (10.1) ranked third through fifth.
"This achievement demonstrates that Asan Medical Center's research capabilities are being recognized internationally," said Kim Tae-won, director of the Asan Institute for Life Sciences. "We will continue to strengthen our support system to improve research competitiveness and create an environment capable of producing world-class research achievements."
