The Academic Ranking of World Universities

TLDR

The ranking assigns universities based on academic performance using indicators such as major awards, highly cited researchers, top‑journal publications, and per‑capita output, while addressing methodological issues like quantitative versus qualitative assessment, institutional diversity, language bias, award selection, and technical challenges of defining institutions and attributing publications. The online Academic Ranking of World Universities has attracted worldwide attention. Shanghai Jiao Tong University is highlighted, with a link to its English website.

Abstract

Shanghai Jiao Tong University1 1. Read about this key university in China at ⟨http://www.sjtu.edu.cn/www/english/⟩. has published on the Internet an Academic Ranking of World Universities that has attracted worldwide attention. Institutions are ranked according to academic or research performance and ranking indicators include major international awards, highly cited researchers in important fields, articles published in selected top journals and/or indexed by major citation indexes, and performance per capita. Methodological problems discussed here include quantitative versus qualitative evaluation, assessing research versus education, the variety of institutions, the language of publications, selection of awards, etc. Technical problems such as the definition and naming of institutions, the merging and splitting of institutions, and the search for and attribution of publications are discussed.