University Ranking by Academic Performance is a research based global ranking that uses objective publicly available data. It has been published since 2010 by the Informatics Institute at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.
These rankings therefore provide a reliable picture of current research capabilities although they do not engage directly with teaching, learning or third missions.
The methodology is based on six indicators:
- Current Scientific Productivity; Articles over a one-year period (21%)
- Research Impact; Citations over a four-year period (21%)
- Scientific Productivity; Total Documents over a four-year period (10%)
- Research Quality; Total Article Impact over a four-year period (18%); Total Citation Impact over a four-year period (15%)
- International Acceptance; International Collaboration over a four-year period (15%).
This year’s table shows Harvard in the lead for all indicators, followed by Zhejiang University which was 56th in 2013. There are, however, nine Mainland Chinese universities in the top twenty.
The rankings also show that Saudi universities, led by King Saud University, King Abdulaziz University, and King Khalid University are performing very well. Canada, Australia and France are also well represented.