shanghai ranking2010

http://www.arwu.org/index.jsp

Academic Ranking of World Universities 2010 (“Shanghai

Ranking”): overview of methodology; Irish university scores

Niamh Brennan, TCD, August 14th 2010

Methodology: http://www.arwu.org/ARWUMethodology2010.jsp

The Methodology for the Field Ranking is Different

Methodology: http://www.arwu.org/ARWUFieldMethodology2010.jsp

Institution Year Position Regional National Alumni

Awards

10%

Current

staff

awards

20%

Staff

listed in

ISI HiCi

20%

No. of

articles in

Nature &

Science

20%

No. of

articles in

SCI & SSCI

20%

Per capita

performance

10%

TCD 2010 201-

302

75-123 1 13.1 14.1 7.2 10.5 30.3 16.1

TCD 2009 201-

302

80-125 1 13.4 14.1 7.3 10 29.9 16.8

TCD 2008 201- 80-124 1 13.7 14.1 7.3 9.1 29.3 21.1

TCD

TCD 2008 201-

302

80-124 1 13.7 14.1 7.3 9.1 29.3 21.1

TCD 2007 203-

304

81-123 1 14.4 14.1 7.4 9.6 27.1 15.5

TCD 2006 201-

302

79-122 1 14.8 14.1 7.7 11 28.5 16.5

TCD 2005 201-

302

80-123 1 15.4 14.4 0 11.9 27.4 14.8

TCD 2004 201-

302

- 1 15.4 14.4 0 13.2 27.1 13.9

TCD 2003 201-

302

- 1 15.4 14.4 0 13.2 27.1 13.9

UCDInstitution Year Position Regional National Alumni

Awards

10%

Current

staff

awards

20%

Staff

listed in

ISI HiCi

20%

No. of

articles in

Nature &

Science

20%

No. of

articles in

SCI & SSCI

20%

Per capita

performance

10%

UCD 2010 303-

401

126-

170

2 0 0 7.2 10.3 35.3 16.4

UCD 2009 303-

401

126-

170

2-3 0 0 7.3 6.5 33.4 16

UCD 2008 303- 125- 2-3 0 0 7.3 5.4 32 15.3UCD 2008 303-

401

125-

168

2-3 0 0 7.3 5.4 32 15.3

UCD 2007 303-

401

124-

172

2 0 0 7.4 7.2 29.2 14

UCD 2006 303-

401

123-

171

2 0 0 7.7 9.1 30 14.7

UCD 2005 303-

401

169-

205

2 0 0 0 9 29.7 13.2

UCD 2004 404-

502

- - 0 0 0 9.0 27.3 8.1

UCD 2003 401-

450

- - 0 0 0 10.3 27.1 9.4

UCCInstitution Year Position Regional National Alumni

Awards

10%

Current

staff

awards

20%

Staff

listed in

ISI HiCi

20%

No. of

articles in

Nature &

Science

20%

No. of

articles in

SCI & SSCI

20%

Per capita

performance

10%

UCC 2010 401-

500

169-

204

3 0 0 19.1 9.3 22.3 12.3

UCC 2009 303-

401

126-

170

2-3 0 0 16.2 5.9 23 13.7

UCC 2008 303- 125- 2-3 0 0 16.3 3.7 24 13.5UCC 2008 303-

401

125-

168

2-3 0 0 16.3 3.7 24 13.5

UCC 2007 403-

500

173-

208

3 0 0 14.8 0 23 12.3

UCC 2006 401-

500

172-

207

3 0 0 15.4 3.5 22.3 12.4

UCC 2005 401-

500

169-

205

2-3 0 0 13.6 3.5 22.5 11.3

UCC 2004 404-

502

- - 0 0 15.1 3.9 21.8 9.1

UCC 2003 351-

400

- - 0 0 14.5 4.5 21.7 10.2

Researchers listed in ISI

HighlyCited (HiCi) = 20% of score

HiCi is a free database available at: http://hcr3.isiknowledge.com/home.cgi

Complete list of HiCi Researchers in Ireland

N.B. While inclusion in HiCi is based upon citations, HiCi lists the current

institutional affiliation of a researcher – NOT the researcher’s institutional affiliation

at the time of publication. It presents ‘Quality of Faculty’ by individual researcher

rather than collectively by institution, and by individual current researcher rather than by overall

Institutional quality of research. Thus, if a researcher meeting HiCi criteria has written all of

his/her highly-cited papers while working in University A and makes a mid-career move to

University B, then he/she will be listed in HiCi under University B.

While valid in one sense, this should not be confused with the more usual method of

indicating research quality/impact by the institution (and country) of affiliation at the time of

publication. In terms of rankings this measure could be open to manipulation, as wealthier

Institutions could attempt attract late-career researchers, effectively ‘buying’ higher scores in

this ranking.

IssuesIndicators

• Alumni awards – bias in favour of older institutions

• HiCi – see slide 14. Extraordinarily high score (20%) for this relatively weak

indicator of ‘Quality of Faculty’.

• Nature & Science papers – bias towards SME institutions; measures number of papers (not citations per paper, or papers per staff FTE) = bias towards larger institutions with more staff.

• Publications

– measures number of papers (not citations per paper or papers per capita) – biased towards larger institutions with more staff

– Unlikely to have adequately identified variant addresses = inadequate search results giving overall lower figure

– Does not Include Arts & Humanities Citations index at all.– Does not Include Arts & Humanities Citations index at all.

– Usual concerns regarding TR coverage of AHSS.

• Per capita performance

– source of this data for Ireland is unclear

– Not convinced this balances the other scores

Overall: while attempts have been made to achieve balance in this ranking by using the per capita score and by redistributing the Nature and Science Score for specialist arts and humanities or economics and social science institutions (such as the LSE), it remains very difficult for smaller – or newer - multidisciplinary universities to score highly using this methodology

The high quality of Irish universities’ research performance is better seen when citations per paper (i.e. impact) are measured, overall and field by field. The internationally recognised impact of Irish university-based research and the extraordinary performance of our researchers in recent years is almost completely concealed in this ranking…

Top 20 Countries in All Fields 2009*

In 2008 Ireland appeared in the ‘Top

Countries in All Fields’ list for the first

time.

Currently at 20th place in the world,

we have moved up from 36th in the

world in 2003

The number of research papers produced in the EU

has increased by over 100%

Source: National Science Indicators (Thomson Reuters)

Over the same period, the number of research papers

produced in Ireland has increased by over 300%


In terms of research impact, Ireland has come

from behind to match the European average…


… and Ireland now outstrips the European

cumulative citation impact

Average cumulative citations to cumulative papers 1981-2007


Similarly, Ireland’s research impact has exceeded the

world average over the past 10 years, and is rising…

World

Baseline

Impact (cites per paper) relative to world average: Baseline=1.0

Baseline


OECD average

GERD Intensity 2005

As % of GDP

While Irish research funding has

increased, it was still below the EU-

27 average in 2005* and 2006*. The

excellence of Ireland’s research

performance can be seen when our

research impact is compared with

research expenditure internationally.

* the latest figures available from

OECDSource: OECD SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND

INDUSTRY SCOREBOARD 2007http://fiordiliji.sourceoecd.org/pdf/sti2007/922007081e1-

EU average

Ireland

shanghai ranking2010

Education