This list from The Scientist is not credible.
We could start with the odd idea that science is biology and national chauvinism. The accompanying article begins with a paen to the failure of the National Institutes of Health budget to keep up with inflation and utterly misses the huge impact of the genome project … not just in new knowledge but in inflating the avenues science can pursue.
What I find odd is that some of the greatest institutions that have huge reputations for being great places to work are missing … MIT, CERN, The Plancks, Karolinska, UNC, … UW?
Of course the fault may be with who The Scientist surveyed and the questions that were asked. How did the survey balance access to great research, and collaborations versus family-care policies? The survey found that good health-care coverage was the second ranking factor, the first was “personal satisfaction.”
Some of the places on it truly do stand out … the Gladstone, La Jolla, Sherbooke, ??? Others seem to be here because they are noted for expensive PR campaigns.