Wednesday, June 3rd 2026 - 08:01 UTC
Professor Dame Jane Francis (Director of BAS) and Oliver Darke (Director of Operations, Engineering and Infrastructure) representing the UK at ATCM in Japan
A major new analysis has confirmed the UK’s British Antarctic Survey (BAS) as the world’s leading center for Antarctic and Southern Ocean research. This was revealed during the Antarctic treaty Consultive Meeting, ATCM, recent May meeting in Japan that convened Antarctic Leaders and government official from across the world.
In effect the Antarctic Research Trends Report 2025, which analyzed scientific publications indexed in the Scopus database between 2016 and 2024, found that BAS produced more Antarctic-related research papers than any other single institution globally. The paper also shows that in 2022-24, BAS led the world in publishing in high-quality journals, and that across 2016-2023 the UK had the highest field-weighted citation impact of any nation.
The findings reinforce BAS’ institutional standing as a global leader in polar and climate science at a pivotal moment for Antarctic governance, as nations debate environmental protection, climate policy and scientific cooperation across the continent.
