A weekly international science journal has ranked the University of Hawaii at Manoa 12th among universities internationally for earth and environmental science.

The Nature Index ranks institutions based on the number of research papers published in Nature — which describes itself as the world’s most highly cited interdisciplinary science journal — and a select group of other journals. The current rankings cover research published from November 2015 to October 2016.

In the index’s top three spots are the University of California-San Diego, the California Institute of Technology and the University of Washington. UH-Manoa ranked higher than the University of California-Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Oxford.

The university attributed its ranking to research in ocean and marine science, geology, geophysics and mineral physics and climate science.

“This is an affirmation of the exceptional research and education capabilities of the university and underlines the special role this institution plays in advancing knowledge that is of critical importance to the state, the nation, and the world — including climate, marine and terrestrial biodiversity, coastal hazards, fisheries, and marine resource management,” Michael Bruno, UH-Manoa’s vice chancellor for research, said in a statement.

Chris Ostrander, assistant dean for the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at Manoa, added: “We are situated in the center of one of the best ecosystems on the planet to conduct earth and environmental sciences research and have leveraged state and outside investment to build a world-class enterprise that quite literally couldn’t exist anywhere other than in Hawaii.”

To view the rankings, go to: 808ne.ws/natureindexmanoa.