|
1. Ranking Criteria and Weights
We rank universities by several indicators of academic
or research performance, including alumni and staff winning Nobel
Prizes and Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, articles published
in Nature and Science, articles in Science Citation Index-expanded
and Social Science Citation Index, and academic performance with
respect to the size of an institution.
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.
|
Criteria
|
Indicator
|
Code
|
Weight
|
|
Quality
of Education
|
Alumni
of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals |
Alumni
|
10%
|
|
Quality
of Faculty
|
Staff
of an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals |
Award
|
20%
|
| Highly
cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories |
HiCi
|
20%
|
|
Research
Output
|
Articles
published in Nature and Science* |
N&S
|
20%
|
| Articles
in Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Science Citation
Index |
SCI
|
20%
|
|
Size
of Institution
|
Academic
performance with respect to the size of an institution |
Size
|
10%
|
|
Total
|
|
|
100%
|
| *
For institutions specialized in humanities and social sciences
such as London School of Economics, N&S is not considered,
and the weight of N&S is relocated to other indicators.
|
2. Definition of Indicators
Alumni. The total number of the alumni of
an institution winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals. Alumni are
defined as those who obtain bachelor, Master's or doctoral degrees
from the institution. Different weights are set according to the
periods of obtaining degrees. The weight is 100% for alumni obtaining
degrees in 1991-2000, 90% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1981-1990,
80% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1971-1980, and so on, and finally
10% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1901-1910. If a person obtains
more than one degrees from an institution, the institution is considered
once only.
Award. The total number of the staff of an institution winning
Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics and Fields
Medal in Mathematics. Staff is defined as those who work at an institution
at the time of winning the prize. Different weights are set according
to the periods of winning the prizes. The weight is 100% for winners
in 2001-2003, 90% for winners in 1991-2000, 80% for winners in 1981-1990,
70% for winners in 1971-1980, and so on, and finally 10% for winners
in 1911-1920. If a winner is affiliated with more than one institution,
each institution is assigned the reciprocal of the number of institutions.
For Nobel prizes, if a prize is shared by more than one person,
weights are set for winners according to their proportion of the
prize.
HiCi. 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 of 1981-1999. The
definition of categories and detailed procedures can be found at
the website of Institute of Scientific Information.
N&S. The number of articles published in Nature and Science
between 1999 and 2003. To distinguish the order of author affiliation,
a weight of 100% is assigned for corresponding author affiliation,
50% for first author affiliation (second author affiliation if the
first author affiliation is the same as corresponding author affiliation),
25% for the next author affiliation, and 10% for other author affiliations.
Only publications of article type are considered.
SCI. Total number of articles indexed in Science Citation
Index-expanded and Social Science Citation Index in 2003. Only publications
of article type are considered.
Size. The total scores of the above five indicators divided
by the number of full-time equivalent academic staff. If the number
of academic staff for institutions of a country cannot be obtained,
the total scores of the above five indicators is used. For ranking
- 2004, the number of full-time equivalent academic staff are obtained
for institutions in USA, China (mainland), Italy, Netherlands, Sweden,
and Belgium etc.
3. Data Sources
Nobel laureates. http://www.nobel.se.
Fields Medals. http://www.mathunion.org/medals/.
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 Academic Staff. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/eduhome.htm
for institutions in USA. Statistics published by the Ministry of
Education of China for institutions in China.
4. List of Abbreviations
Abbreviations used in the names of institutions are as follows:
Agr - Agriculture
Chem - Chemistry
China-hk - China - Hong Kong
China-tw - China-Taiwan
Coll - College
Fed - Federal
Inst - Institute
Med - Medicine
Natl or Nacl - National
Phys - Physics
Sch - School
Sci - Science
Tech - Technology
Univ - University
Other abbreviations used are as follows:
HiCi - Highly cited researchers
N&S - Nature and Science
SCI - Science Citation Index-expanded and Social Science Citation
Index
5. Acknowledgements
We (Professor Nian Cai LIU, Mr. Ying CHENG, Ms Li
LIU ) would like to express our gratitude for those who have provided
us with the number of academic staff and other useful information.
We thank all of you who have made thoughtful comments and suggestions.
The help of graduate students Ms Yuan LU, Mr. Chao LI, Mr. Jiacun
ZHANG, and Ms Xiuzhen WANG in collecting information on Nobel laureates
is also acknowledged.
6. Contacts
If you have any comments or suggestions, please email
ranking@sjtu.edu.cn
If you could provide us statistical information on the number of
academic staff of institutions in your country, we would very much
appreciate.
|
