AU in the world rankings

This ranking uses a stable method that is not altered from one year to the next.

The ranking is based solely on research-related indicators, for example publication data from the health sciences, natural sciences and social sciences. It does not include data from the humanities, as this would favour universities in English-speaking countries.

The ranking measures based on six indicators:

·       Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals awarded to alumni (10%)

·       Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals awarded to employees (20%)

·       Researchers with numerous citations in twenty-one broadly defined subject areas

·       Articles published in Nature and Science (20%)

·       Publication data from Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index (20%)

·       Performance measured according to indicators above per staff researcher (10%)

The Leiden University ranking is not a traditional ranking, but instead a calculation of the influence of research (impact), as it primarily focuses on the universities’ publications.

This ranking is interesting as it isolates publication frequency within the research fields a given university is focused on. At the same time, it is based on several years of data extractions and takes the size of the universities and differences in citations patterns across fields into account.

The QS world ranking primarily measures the universities on the basis of their reputation among researchers and employers, number of citations and internationalisation.

QS measures based on six indicators:

• External researchers’ assessment of the university’s research (survey among researchers) (30%)
• Number of citations in scientific journals (20%)
• Employers’ assessment of graduates from the university (survey among employers) (15%)
• Number of students per researcher (the fewer, the better) (10%)
• Number of international students (5%)
• Number of international researchers (5%)
• Geographic dispersion of research partnerships (5%)
• Graduate impact and employment rate (5%)
• Sustainability and social outcomes (5%)

The THE ranking measures both research, teaching and knowledge transfer.

Up until 2009, Times Higher published the THE-QS-ranking in collaboration with the company QS. As of 2010, they are published as two separate world rankings.

The THE ranking measures based on 13 indicators divided into five groups:

• International Outlook (number of international students and researchers, as well as number of articles written in collaboration with foreign partners) (7.5%)
• Research (five indicators, including a questionnaire among researchers) (30%)
• Citations (average number of citations per article) (30%)
• Industry Income (calculated per researcher) (2.5%)
• Teaching (five indicators, including a questionnaire among researchers) (30%)

The US News ranking is attracting a lot of attention in the United States. It is primarily based on indicators related to research.

The ranking measures based on 13 indicators:

• Global reputation of research (12.5%)
• Regional reputation of research (12.5%)
• Publications (10%)
• Books (2.5%)
• Conferences (2.5%)
• Normalised citation impact (10 %)
• Total number of citations (7.5%)
• Number of top ten per cent publications (12.5%)
• Share of top ten percent publications (10%)
• International collaboration (5%)
• Share of publications with international collaboration (5%)
• Number of highly cited publications that are among the top one per cent most cited within their field (5%)
• Number of publications that are among the top one per cent most cited (5%)