New Methodology Measures 500 Universities’ Scientific Ranking

The new Leiden Ranking 2011/2012 measures the scientific impact and collaboration of 500 major universities worldwide. The new university scientific ranking system is based on 25 years of bibliometric work done at the Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) of Leiden University. The system aims to provide measurements that are less subjective than those of other methods. For example, the Leiden Ranking does not use surveys and data provided by the universities themselves to determine a school’s scientific rank.

You can find the full list of 500 top scientific universities in the world on the Leiden Ranking’s website, but some of the top 20 include Harvard (3), UC Berkley (8), UCSF (10), Columbia (17), UC San Diego (19), and UCLA (20).

In terms of methodology, the Leiden Ranking 2011/2012 uses impact indicators and collaboration indicators to determine which universities’ scientific rankings are the highest. The use of these indicators aims to provide a much more transparent way to rank the best scientific institutions. Here are the main criteria used in the Leiden Ranking 2011/2012:

Impact indicators

• Mean citation score (MCS). The mean number of citations of a university’s publications.
• Mean normalized citation score (MNCS). The mean number of a university’s publication citations, normalized for differences in field, year of publication, and document type.
• Proportion top 10% publications (PP_{top 10%}). The proportion of a university’s publications that, compared with other similar publications, are among the top 10% most frequently cited.

Collaboration indicators

• Proportion collaborative publications (PP_collab). The proportion of a university’s publications that have been written with one or more other organizations.
• Proportion international collaborative publications (PP_{int collab}). The university’s publications that have been written by people in two or more countries.
• Mean geographical collaboration distance (MGCD). The mean geographical collaboration distance of a university’s publications, where the geographical collaboration distance of a specific publication is the largest distance between two addresses mentioned in the publication’s address list.
• Proportion long distance collaborative publications (PP_{>1000 km}). The proportion of a university’s publications that have a geographical collaboration distance of more than 1000 km.

Harvard ranked number 3 in the Leiden Ranking 2011/2012

(Image courtesy of Wikimedia)

Some of the criteria in the 2011-12 Leiden Ranking that differ from past years include an impact indicator based on the proportion of top 10% publications, collaboration indicators based on distance, fractional counting of collaborative publications, and the possibility of excluding non-English language publications. The reason for this potential exclusion of non-English publications is that these publications can only be read by a small part of the scientific community, and therefore are unlikely to receive the same number of citations as publications written in English.

Of the top 20 ranked scientific universities, 18 are from the United States and two are from Switzerland. Many of the institutions in the top 20 feature life sciences trade shows hosted by Biotechnology Calendar, Inc., which is a full-service science research events and marketing company.  If you are interested in attending a trade show at Harvard (Leiden Ranking 3), UC Berkley (8), UCSF (10), Columbia (17), UC San Diego (19), or UCLA (20), please click on one of the links for more information about our shows.