In a just released Nature Nature China Index 2014, IAP was ranked the third in "researcher efficiency" among all 114 CAS insitutes.

According to the report, "IAP is by far the biggest contributing institute in earth and environmental sciences. The 48-year-old establishment has 44 articles (WFC = 18) in the index, most of which were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. This is not an area of strength for CAS in the index in general, nor indeed for Chinese science overall. In fact, IAP accounts for one-quarter of CAS's WFC in earth and environmental sciences. There are three major contributors at IAP researching vastly different areas: Tao Wang, who published two articles (WFC = 1.5) on the palaeoclimate; Zhenghui Xie, who published two articles (WFC = 1.2) on satellite measurements of surface solar radiation; and Tianjun Zhou, who published two articles (WFC = 1.1) on long-term changes in the troposphere."

For the full report, please refer to http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v516/n7531_supp/full/516S56a.html