The CNRS: world leader
The CNRS retains its reputation as a world-leading research institution.

With 4,894 cited articles in 2014 alone, the CNRS (Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique) was named best research institution in the "Nature Index", an international ranking of scientific institutions published by "Nature" magazine. The CNRS moves ahead of competitors including the Chinese Academy of Science, the German firm Max-Planck, Harvard University, and the Spanish National Research Council. The CNRS alone contributes to 93% of the 5,241 French articles taken into account in the ranking, which relies on a survey of 68 world-leading scientific journals.

UPMC (Université Pierre & Marie Curie in Paris) also appears in the top 10 institutions and is ranked 9th, ahead of Stanford University.

The ranking of countries places France in 5th position, behind the United States, China, Germany, and the United Kingdom.