The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) topped the Asia-Pacific region in the Nature Publishing Index, a benchmark for research success and achievement that was released on Thursday. The CAS was ranked sixth in the Nature Publishing Index 2013 Global Top 200, up eight positions from the previous year. The University of Tokyo was ranked eighth in the global list and second in the Asia-Pacific region. The CAS published 165 articles in Nature journals in 2013. University of Science and Technology of China, affiliated with the CAS, ranked 57th in the global list and tops Chinese universities on the list. Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, all in the United States, were the top three on the global list. The Nature Publishing Index ranks institutions according to the number of primary research articles they publish in the Nature journal, regarded as the pre-eminent platform for publication of international research.