Four Korean research institutions were recognized for being in the world’s top 150 think tanks, a report showed on Tuesday.

The list released by an academic program at the University of Pennsylvania placed the government-affiliated Korea Institute for International Economic Policy at 55th.

Three other Korean institutes made the 2012 Global GoTo Think Tank Index. The Korea Development Institute took 58th place, the East Asia Institute was 65th and the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security was 79th.

On the list of non-U.S. institutes, the state-run think tank KDI ranked 15th and took third place on the list which evaluated institutes in China, Japan, India and Korea only. Asan Institute for Policy Studies came in at 5th on the same list.

The Washington-based Brookings Institution topped the ranking for the second year in a row, followed by the U.K.’s Chatham House and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the U.S.

The project gathered the opinions of 793 experts and rated think tanks by accessibility to resources, content production volume and the impact on politics and policy.

By country, the U.S. has more than 1,000 think tanks, followed by China (429) and India (269).

Korea has only 35 think tanks, while Japan hosts 108 research institutions.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)