Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute of Higher Education

Ranking Methodology

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1. Mission

Many students, faculties, institutions, governments and the public in general are interested in rankings of universities for different purposes. However, the quality or reputation of universities cannot be precisely measured by mere numbers. It would be impossible to quantitatively evaluate universities worldwide, because of the huge differences of universities in the large variety of countries and the technical difficulties in obtaining internationally comparable data.

Two years ago, we decided to establish some kind of academic ranking of universities worldwide by evaluating their academic or research performance. After two years of hard work, we come up with the "Academic Ranking of World Universities - 2003". We hope the ranking will help you to compare and identify universities worldwide by their academic or research performance.

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2. Ranking Criteria and Weights

We rank universities by several indicators of academic or research performance, including Nobel laureates, highly cited researchers, articles published in Nature and Science, articles in Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Science Citation Index, and academic performance per faculty.

For each indicator, the highest scoring institution is assigned a score of 100, and other institutions are calculated as a percentage of the top score. The distribution of data for each indicator is examined for any significant distorting effect; standard statistical techniques are used to adjust the indicator if necessary.

Scores for each indicator are weighted as shown below to arrive at a final overall score for an institution. The highest scoring institution is assigned a score of 100, and other institutions are calculated as a percentage of the top score. The scores are then placed in descending order. An institution's rank reflects the number of institutions that sit above it.

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3. Definitions of Ranking Criteria

Nobel laureates. The total number of Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics between 1911 and 2002 by prize winner's affiliation. If a prize is shared by more than one winner, each winner is assigned the reciprocal of the number of winners. If a winner is affiliated with more than one institution, each institution is assigned the reciprocal of the number of institutions. Different weights are set for every ten years, the weight is 100% for laureates in 2001-2002, 90% for laureates in 1991-2000, 80% for laureates in 1981-1990, 70% for laureates in 1971-1980, and so on, and finally 10% for laureates in 1911-1920.

Highly cited researchers. The number of highly cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories in life sciences, medicine, physical sciences, engineering and social sciences. These individuals are the most highly cited within each category for the period 1981-1999.

Articles published in Nature and Science. The average number of articles published in Nature and Science between 2000 and 2002. To distinguish the order of author affiliation, a weight of 100% is assigned for first author affiliation, 50% for second author affiliation, 25% for third author affiliation, and 10% for other author affiliation. Only publications of article type are considered.

Articles in Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Science Citation Index. The number of articles cited in Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Science Citation Index. Only publications of article type are considered.

Academic performance per faculty. The academic performance scores in the above indicators divided by the number of full-time equivalent faculty. If the number of faculty for an institution can not be obtained, the original score is used for the institution. For ranking - 2003, the number of full-time equivalent faculty are obtained only for institutions in USA and China.

If you could provide us statistical information on the number of faculties of institutions in your country, we would very much appreciate.

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4. Data Sources

Nobel laureates. http://www.nobel.se.
Highly cited researchers. http://www.isihighlycited.com.
Articles published in Nature and Science. http://www.isiknowledge.com.
Articles in Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Science Citation Index. http://www.isiknowledge.com.
Number of faculty. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/eduhome.htm for institutions of USA. Statistics published by the Ministry of Education of China for institutions in China.

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5. List of Abbreviations

Abbreviations used in the names of institutions are as follows:

Other abbreviations used are as follows:

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6. Contact Persons

We have four persons in our research group of academic ranking of universities in the world. The head of the group is Professor Nian Cai LIU, other three members are Ms Li LIU, Mr. Ying CHENG and Mr. Teng Teng WAN.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please email: Ranking@sjtu.edu.cn

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