1. The US News New Best Global Universities ranking by subject – main assumptions and analysis of first results Robert J. Morse, Chief Data Strategist U.S. News & World Report A Road to Academic Excellence - Russian Universities in Rankings by Subject Moscow, Russia / April 9. 2015

2. About U.S. News & World Report For 80 years, U.S. News & World Report has been a publisher of news and information that empowers people to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives. The U.S. News team has been ranking higher education institutions in the U.S. for more than 30 years.

3. Other rankings U.S. News has become the authoritative leader and credible source for data, rankings and research across many different products and resources.

4. U.S. News: Academic Rankings and Data Projects Most recent 12 months in 2014 & 2015  Best High Schools & Best STEM High Schools: April 2014  Best Online Programs for Military Veterans: May 2014  Community Colleges Directory and Search: June 2014  Best Colleges: September 2014  Best Colleges for Military Veterans : September 2014  Best Global Universities- 10/28/2014  Arab Region Universities Rankings 11/4/2014  Best Online Programs: January 2015  Best Graduate Schools: March 2015

5. Record Traffic and Exposure on Education section at www.usnews.com  Best Colleges launch (September 9, 2014) – 1.47 million unique visitors; 13.6 million page views to the Education section – Traffic up 2x over launch in September 2012  Full Year 2014 –the Education section on USNWR.com had generated over 63 Million unique visitors and 460 Million page views  Best Global Universities received 7.4 million PVs from over 1 million unique visitors in Q4 2014  March 2015: 50 million page views + 7 million unique visitors

6. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ Inaugural U.S. News Best Global Universities rankings launched on www.usnews.com on October 28, 2014. The Best Global Universities rankings are powered by data from Thomson Reuters InCites TM research analytics solutions.

7. U.S. News started publishing the Best Colleges rankings more than 30 years ago which spawned national and global rankings. Natural extension for U.S. News to do a global ranking.Best Colleges The Best Global Universities rankings can help put global trends into context * Large number of students exploring options outside their own borders. * Universities are competing globally for best students, faculty and research dollars * Give prospective students the tools to accurately compare universities globally, regionally and within their own country, as well as by field of study. Best Global Universities rankings – Why is U.S. News doing them?

8. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ Weights and ranking factors were developed by U.S. News Methodology focused on institution’s research performance using 10 factors: global and regional reputation, bibliometric indicators and school level data

9. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ The first step in producing these rankings involved creating ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ​ a pool of 750 universities that was used to rank the top 500 schools. To be included in the 750 A.Institution had to first be among the top 200 universities in the results of Thomson Reuters' global reputation survey. B.Next, an institution had to be among those that had published the most total number of ​ articles during the 2008-2012 recent five years using Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science, de- duplicated with the top 200 from the reputation survey. This meant that any stand-alone graduate schools, including the Rockefeller Institute of New York and University of California—San Francisco, were eligible to be ranked and were included in the ranking universe.

10. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ Best Global Universities rankings include: Top 500 Universities worldwide in 49 countries Four regional rankings - Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe and Latin America 11 country rankings – of the top institutions in: Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom Top 100 universities in 21 subjects in such key fields as chemistry, clinical medicine, computer science, economics and business, engineering, environment/ecology, mathematics and physics.

11. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ

12. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities -- Countries

13. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings The 10 ranking factors and weights used in overall Best Global Universities rankings. Ranking indicator Weight Global research reputation12.5% Regional research reputation 12.5% Publications12.5% Normalized citation impact 10% Total citations 10% Number of publications that are among the 10 percent most cited 12.5% Percentage of total publications that are among the 10 percent most cited 10% Number of Ph.D.s awarded 5% Number of Ph.D.s awarded per academic staff member 5%

14. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Best Global Universities Best Global Universities -The Top 20 2015 Best Global Top 500 Universities NameCountryRegionOverall Rank Harvard UniversityUnited StatesNorth America1 Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited StatesNorth America2 University of California--BerkeleyUnited StatesNorth America3 Stanford UniversityUnited StatesNorth America4 University of OxfordUnited KingdomEurope5 University of CambridgeUnited KingdomEurope6 California Institute of TechnologyUnited StatesNorth America7 University of California--Los AngelesUnited StatesNorth America8 University of ChicagoUnited StatesNorth America9 Columbia UniversityUnited StatesNorth America10 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited StatesNorth America11 Imperial College LondonUnited KingdomEurope12 Princeton UniversityUnited StatesNorth America13 University of MichiganUnited StatesNorth America14 University of TorontoCanadaNorth America14 University of WashingtonUnited StatesNorth America14 Yale UniversityUnited StatesNorth America17 University of California--San DiegoUnited StatesNorth America18 University of PennsylvaniaUnited StatesNorth America19 Duke UniversityUnited StatesNorth America20

15. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ Top 11 countries account for 77 percent of the Top 500 2015 Best Global Universities Rankings Country Counts Country Number of universities in top 500 Percent of universities in top 500 U.​S.13426.8% Germany428.4% United Kingdom387.6% China275.4% Italy234.6% France224.4% Australia193.8% Canada193.8% Japan173.4% Netherlands132.6% Spain122.4% South Korea112.2% Sweden102.0%

16. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ 2015 Best Global Country Counts by Country in Top 500 & Subject Rankings CountryNumber of Universities in Top 500Number of Universities in Top 500 and Subjects Denmark46 Greece45 India44 New Zealand44 Norway44 Portugal44 South Africa45 Czech Republic33 Iran34 Ireland33 Chile22 Poland22 Russian Federation22 Singapore23 Argentina11 Croatia11

17. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to determine and rank the 21 Subjects The Thomson Reuter’s Essential Science Indicators schema is the organization structure that is used for the Best Global Universities Subject Rankings. Essential Science Indicators comprises 22 subject areas in science and social sciences and is based on journal assignments. Essential Science Indicators uses the Web of Science’s 12,000 journals.

18. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to determine and rank the 21 Subjects Arts & Humanities journals are not included in the Essential Science Indicators Each journal is found in only one of the 22 subject areas and there is no overlap between categories which can facilitate a simpler analysis. U.S News did not rank one of the 22 Essential Science Indicator subject fields: Multidisciplinary

19. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings The 21 subjects in the Best Global Universities Subject rankings Agricultural Sciences Biology & Biochemistry Chemistry Clinical Medicine Computer Science Environment/Ecology Economics & Business Engineering Geosciences Immunology Material Sciences Mathematics Microbiology Molecular Biology & Genetics Neuroscience & Behavior Pharmacology & Toxicology Physics Plant & Animal Science Psychology/Psychiatry Social Sciences and Public Health Space Science

20. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to determine and rank the 21 Subjects The next step in producing the Best Global Universities Subject rankings was to create the universe of universities to determine the top 100 in each of the 21 subject fields. The top 250 universities that had published the most papers in that subject area in the 2008-2012 time period were included in the ranking universe for each subject area.

21. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to determine and rank the 21 Subjects As a result, there were many cases when an institution that had a strong focus on a certain subject was ranked in the top 100 in a subject ranking but was excluded from the overall Best Global Universities rankings encompassing the top 500 universities worldwide. In total, there were 59 universities and one country, Romania, that were in the subject rankings but not the overall top 500 rankings.

22. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to determine and rank the 21 Subjects U.S. News tailored the subject ranking methodology to the different publication characteristics of the soft sciences and mathematics compared with the hard sciences. The soft sciences are computer science; economics and business; engineering; and social sciences and public health in addition to math; all others are hard sciences. School-level data on number of Ph.D.s awarded and number of faculty were not available at the subject level and therefore not included in the subject rankings methodology.

23. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to determine and rank the 21 Subjects The use of citation analysis within the hard sciences is well established. However, in the soft sciences the relationship between citations and performance is less clear. There are a number of reasons for this. First, unlike the hard sciences, journal articles are often not the main method of communication of research, and citation rates to the articles may be low. Second, in the social sciences and economics and business, when a scholar cites another work, it is frequently a point of debate or discussion. This is in contrast to the hard sciences, where the reason for citing another work is usually one of utility or influence.

24. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to rank the 21 Subjects: The soft sciences are computer science; economics and business; engineering; and social sciences and public health in addition to math; all others are hard sciences. Ranking indicator Weights used for soft sciences Weights used for hard sciences Global research reputation12.5% Regional research reputation12.5% Publications 17.5%15% Normalized citation impact7.5%10% Total citations 12.5%15% Number of highly cited papers - top 10% most cited 17.5%15% Percentage of highly cited papers in top 10% most cited 10% International collaboration 10%

25. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ 2015 Best Global Ranking Indicators and Weights Used PapersCitations Research Power # of Documents in top 10% Percent of Documents in Top 10% International collaboration (relative to country) Global Reputation Local Reputation # of PhD's awarded PhD Awarded to Faculty RatioTotal Overall12.510 12.510 12.5 55100 Agricultural Sciences151015 10 12.5 XX100 Biology & Biochemistry151015 10 12.5 XX100 Chemistry151015 10 12.5 XX100 Clinical Medicine151015 10 12.5 XX100 Computer Science17.57.512.517.510 12.5 XX100 Environment/Ecology151015 10 12.5 XX100 Economics & Business17.57.512.517.510 12.5 XX100 Engineering17.57.512.517.510 12.5 XX100 Geosciences151015 10 12.5 XX100 Immunology151015 10 12.5 XX100 Material Sciences151015 10 12.5 XX100 Mathematics17.57.512.517.510 12.5 XX100 Microbiology151015 10 12.5 XX100 Molecular Biology & Genetics151015 10 12.5 XX100 Neuroscience & Behavior151015 10 12.5 XX100 Pharmacology & Toxicology151015 10 12.5 XX100 Physics151015 10 12.5 XX100 Plant & Animal Science151015 10 12.5 XX100 Psychology/Psychiatry151015 10 12.5 XX100 Social Sciences and Public Health17.57.512.517.510 12.5 XX100 Space Science151015 10 12.5 XX100

26. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to determine and rank the 21 Subjects To arrive at a school's rank in each of the 21 subjects, the subject ​ scores were calculated using a combination of the weights and z-scores for each of the eight indicators used in each subject ranking. In statistics, a z-score is a standardized score that indicates how many standard deviations a data point is from the mean of that variable. This transformation of the data is essential when combining diverse information into a single ranking because it allows for fair comparisons between the different types of data.

27. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to determine and rank the 21 Subjects Several of the indicators were highly skewed, so the logs of the original values were used. These indicators that were logged were: Publications Total citations Number of publications that are among the 10 percent most cited Global research reputation Regional research reputation This log manipulation rescaled the data and allowed for a more normalized and uniform spread across each of the indicators.

28. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to determine and rank the 21 Subjects In order to calculate a school's subject score, the calculated z- scores for each of the eight indicators were weighted using the weights described earlier. U.S. News determined the weights based on our judgment of the relative importance of the ranking factors and in consultation with bibliometric experts. The subject score was calculated by summing the school's weighted values for the eight indicators in that subject. The minimum score from the pool of 250 schools was then subtracted from each of the scores in order to make zero the lowest possible score.

29. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings Methodology used to determine and rank the 21 Subjects The scores were then rescaled by multiplying the ratio between the overall performance of each university in that subject and the highest-performing university by 100. This forced the scores to fall on a 0-100 scale, with the highest- performing school earning a subject score of 100. The 250 schools in each of the 21 subject areas were then numerically ranked in descending order from 1 to 250 based ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ on their weighted subject score. Each school's subject score was rounded to one decimal place in order to increase variance between scores and to minimize the occurrence of ties. U.S. News published the top 100 ranked schools in each subject.

30. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ Best Global: Top Ranked Universities in the 21 Subjects SubjectUniversity NameCountry Agricultural SciencesWageningen University and Research CenterNetherlands Biology & BiochemistryHarvard UniversityUnited States ChemistryUniversity of California--BerkeleyUnited States Clinical MedicineHarvard UniversityUnited States Computer ScienceMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States Economics & BusinessHarvard UniversityUnited States EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States Environment/EcologyUniversity of California--BerkeleyUnited States GeosciencesCalifornia Institute of TechnologyUnited States ImmunologyHarvard UniversityUnited States Material SciencesMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States MathematicsUniversity of California--BerkeleyUnited States MicrobiologyHarvard UniversityUnited States Molecular Biology & GeneticsHarvard UniversityUnited States Neuroscience & BehaviorHarvard UniversityUnited States Pharmacology & ToxicologyHarvard UniversityUnited States PhysicsMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States Plant & Animal ScienceCornell UniversityUnited States Psychiatry/PsychologyHarvard UniversityUnited States Social Sciences and Public HealthHarvard UniversityUnited States Space ScienceCalifornia Institute of TechnologyUnited States

31. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ Top Countries in 21 Subject Rankings 2015 Country Counts for Best Global Universities Subject Rankings Country Number of Schools Ranked in SubjectsPercent of Schools Ranked in Subjects United States83839.90% United Kingdom2049.71% China1105.24% Germany1085.14% Canada904.29% Netherlands884.19% Australia844.00% France693.29% Japan673.19% Switzerland622.95% Sweden462.19% Spain371.76% Hong Kong351.67% Italy311.48% South Korea311.48% Belgium271.29% Denmark271.29% Taiwan221.05% Singapore200.95% Israel170.81%

32. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ 2015 Country Counts for Best Global Universities Subject Rankings Country Number of Schools Ranked in SubjectsPercent of Schools Ranked in Subjects Israel170.81% Brazil130.62% Finland130.62% South Africa80.38% Austria70.33% Norway70.33% Iran60.29% Portugal50.24% Ireland40.19% Czech Republic30.14% India30.14% Russian Federation30.14% Greece20.10% Malaysia20.10% New Zealand20.10% Saudi Arabia20.10% Thailand20.10% Mexico10.05% Poland10.05% Romania10.05% Serbia10.05% Turkey10.05% Total2100100%

33. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ Top Universities by Subject 2015 Best Global: Most Ranked Universities in the 21 Subjects UniversityTotal Rankings Harvard University21 University of Toronto21 University of Wisconsin--Madison21 Cornell University20 Imperial College London20 Stanford University20 University of California--Davis20 University of California--Los Angeles20 University of California--San Diego20 University of Cambridge20 University of Michigan20 University of Minnesota--Twin Cities20 University of Oxford20 University of Washington20 University of British Columbia19 University of California--Berkeley19 Columbia University18 Ohio State University18 University of Tokyo18 Massachusetts Institute of Technology17 Pennsylvania State University17 University of Chicago17 University of Florida17 University of Manchester17 Yale University17

34. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ 2015 Best Global: Most Ranked Universities in Russia UniversityRankings Lomonosov Moscow State University196 Saint Petersburg State University433

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41. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ Plans that are being considered for the next U.S. News Best Global Universities rankings to be published in 2015 1.Expand the number of universities that are being ranked overall and in each subject area. 2.Adding more granular subjects that are currently parts of the 21 broader subject areas

42. LIFE’S DECISIONS MADE HERE. Best Global Universities rankings FAQ Thoughts to consider about improving or becoming ranked in the U.S. News Best Global Universities rankings 1.International collaboration on papers 2.Publish in the peer reviewed journals that are included/indexed in the Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science so number of publications reaches threshold number to part of ranking universe 3.Become more visible globally