International Activities Committee – June 12, 2014 University Rankings: An overview of research indicators used in rankings instruments Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, 2014

Institutional Rankings of Interest  QS (Quacquarelli Symonds)  THE (Times Higher Education)  ARWU (Academic Ranking of World Universities)  Maclean’s  Research Infosource

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, Institutional Rankings of Interest  Each instrument has its own indicators to measure academic performance  Indicators generally fall into four categories: 1. Reputation 2. Research Performance 3. Student/Faculty Composition 4. Other/Miscellaneous

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, Research Performance  Research Input – income/expenditures (Maclean’s, Research Infosource, THE)  Research Output – number of papers published (ARWU, Research Infosource, THE)  Research Impact – number of citations (ARWU, QS, Research Infosource, THE)

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, Research Performance: “Input” InstrumentIndicator Placement Among U15 Research InfosourceTotal sponsored research income12 th THEResearch income per academic staffNot published Maclean’sTotal research spending per full-time faculty13 th Research InfosourceTotal research income per full-time faculty position13 th Maclean’s Social sciences & humanities (SSHERC) grants per full-time faculty 14 th Maclean’s Medical/Science (NSERC & CIHR) grants per full- time faculty 13 th THEResearch income from industry per academic staff3 rd

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, Research Performance: “Input”

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, Research Performance: “Output” InstrumentIndicator Placement Among U15 Research InfosourceTotal number of publications15 th ARWUTotal number of papers15 th THE Academic papers per academic and research staff Not published Research Infosource Total number of publications per full-time faculty 15 th ARWU Total number of papers published in Nature and Science 14 th THEInternational co-authorshipsNot published

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, Research Performance: “Output”

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, Research Performance: “Impact” InstrumentIndicator Placement Among U15 Research Infosource Probability of being cited based on the journal which an paper is published on (Average Relative Impact Factor) 15 th THENormalized average citations per paper15 th QSCitations per faculty15 th ARWU Number of highly cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories 10 th ARWU Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes & Fields Medals 7 th ARWU Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes & Fields Medals Tied for 4 th

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, Research Performance: “Impact”

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, Data Sources  Most data for research indicators are obtained from third-party sources: Thomson Reuters’ Web of ScienceCAUBO Elsevier’s ScopusTri-Agency Source Rankings QSTHE ARWUMaclean’s Research Infosource Bibliometrics and public/third-party sources 20%38.5% 100%80%100% Reputational surveys 50%33% 20% Data provided by institutions 30%28.5%

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, Moving Forward…  Better/easier ways to access data/results from ranking instruments (e.g. Ranking Dashboard)  Integrate Ranking Strategies into institutional planning, decision making and communication activities where appropriate  Explore the possibility of a Rankings Task Force to increase our understanding of how rankings work and how the U of S can improve in each instrument

Institutional Planning and Assessment| June 12, For More Information Contact: Troy Harkot Director of Institutional Effectiveness IPA Website: