World University Ranking Methodologies Compared

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings uses 13 performance indicators, grouped into five categories. Institutions are excluded if they do not teach at undergraduate level, or if their research output is below a certain threshold.

• Teaching (worth 30% of the overall score)
  Based on a reputation survey (15%), staff-to-student ratio (4.5%), doctorate-to-bachelor’s ratio (2.25%), doctorates-awarded-to-academic-staff ratio (6%) and institutional income (2.25%).
• Research (30%)
  Based on a reputation survey (18%), research income (6%) and research papers published per faculty member (6%).
• Research citations (30%)
  Based on the number of citations a university’s research obtains, normalized by subject area.
• International outlook (7.5%)
  Based on international-to-domestic-student ratio (2.5%), international-to-domestic-staff ratio (2.5%) and international research collaborations (2.5%).
• Industry income (2.5%)
  Based on income earned from industry, relative to the number of academic staff employed, and adjusted for PPP.

The published results can be sorted to show universities’ scores for each of the five categories, but not for the individual indicators within each category.

Also widely known as the Shanghai Ranking, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) assesses six performance indicators, all relating to research excellence. The ranking considers all institutions with Nobel Laureates, Fields Medalists, highly cited researchers, papers published in Nature or Science, or a significant number of papers indexed by the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) or Social Science Citation Index (SSCI).

• Alumni (worth 10% of the overall score)
  Based on the number of alumni of an institution who have won Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, with greater weight given to more recent recipients.
• Awards (20%)
  Based on the number of staff affiliated with an institution who have won Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics, and Fields Medals in mathematics, with greater weight given to more recent recipients.
• Highly cited researchers (20%)
  Based on an institution’s number of highly cited researchers, according to the latest list published by Thomson Reuters.
• Papers in Nature and Science (20%)
  Based on the number of papers published in these two influential journals, drawing on a four-year period. For institutions specialized in social sciences and humanities, this category does not apply.
• Papers indexed (20%)
  Based on the number of papers indexed in the Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Index in the preceding calendar year, with a double weighting for papers indexed in the Social Science Citation Index.
• Per capita performance (10%)
  The weighted scores of the other indicators, divided by the number of full-time equivalent academic staff.

The published ARWU results can be sorted to show performance in each of these six indicators.

Got more questions about any of these world university rankings? Take a look at our frequently asked questions, or ask your own in the comments below.

This article was updated in June 2017.