by ANGEL CALDERON

Now in its fourteenth consecutive edition, the CWTS Leiden Ranking was released on June 2, including 1,225 universities; 49 more than the 1,176 in 2020. This ranking is produced by the Center for Science and Technology at Leiden University in the Netherlands. It derives a set of impact and collaboration measures, but it does not produce an overall rank.

Leiden uses data from Clarivate’s Web of Science and is entirely reliant on bibliometric metrics, unlike other ranking schemas like QS, Times Higher Education, or Best Global, which require institutional input or are reliant on reputational surveys.

The period for those Wed of Science publications used is 2016 to 2019. Citations are counted until the end of 2020 in the indicators where applicable. As I commented in CMM last year, any impact of the pandemic on bibliometric-specific rankings like Leiden will not be felt until 2022. This is because rankings reflect past performance and time lag between investment (or lack of) and attainment of outcomes.

Australian performance in geopolitical context

There are now 32 Australian universities included in the ranking, with the inclusion of the University of the Sunshine Coast, compared to 26 in 2019 or 23 in 2015. Australian universities continue to march on the global stage.

To put it in perspective, Australia is eleventh in the number of universities included in the Leiden ranking, behind India and Iran (32 and 38 respectively). China has the largest number of institutions included (221 or 17 more than last year) and the United States with 200 (two more than last year).

The same countries are ranked first to eleventh this year in the overall number of universities included in the ranking compared to last year.

As a national system, Australia stands out in this ranking because it outperforms other systems in overall representation. 74 per cent of Australian universities are included in the Leiden Ranking compared to 51 per cent for Germany, 42 per cent for the United Kingdom, 8 per cent for China and 7 per cent for the United States.

The strong presence of Australian universities reflects the homogenisation of Australia’s higher education and the legacy of the Dawkins reforms from thirty years ago. These reforms made research and research training a key feature of what constitutes a university in Australia.

Scope of indicators

The Leiden Ranking contains two categories of metrics. There are 13 measures designed to assess scientific impact, such as the number and proportion of publications which are in the top 1 per cent, 5 per cent, 10 per cent and 50 per cent most frequently cited.

There are 11 measures designed to assess extent to which there is scientific collaboration. An example of such measure is the number and the proportion of a university’s publications co-authored with industry organisations.

Over the past three years, the Leiden Ranking has also included several measures to reflect the extent to which institutions have embraced open access publishing.  It has also included a set of measures designed to measure gender balance.

A useful tool for improvement

The Leiden Ranking has evolved in terms of metrics and country coverage. These are positive developments as an expanded coverage of researchers’ endeavours can assist universities to measure effectiveness and impact of their research strategies.

The 2021 edition includes institutions from 69 countries compared to 65 in the 2020 edition and 48 countries in the 2015 edition. In fact, the first edition of the Leiden Ranking in 2008 covered the top 100 and the 250 largest universities in Europe as well as the top 100 and the 250 largest universities worldwide.

Even though the leading research-intensive universities from high-income economies continue to shine in this and all other global rankings, this ranking is a useful tool to aid universities and governments to forge a way forward for greater collaboration and stronger partnerships in addressing the United Nations’ sustainable development 2030 agenda.

Furthermore, this ranking can be a useful to strengthen quality of education and research endeavours in educational systems in need. For example, this ranking recognises institutions with increased collaboration with industry as well as those institutions with increased proportion of women authoring papers.

Top performers

Every Australian university included in this ranking can validly claim success. This is because there are 24 indicators of scientific impact and collaboration, plus several indicators of open access publishing and gender diversity. In addition, the Leiden ranking contains breakdowns for the five main fields of science.

Let us see how Australian universities perform in selected measures of impact.

* total number of publications: there are five Australian universities in the world’s top 100. These are, Uni  Melbourne, Uni Sydney, Uni Queensland, Monash University and UNSW Sydney. Four universities are ranked in the 101-300 range and eight are ranked in the 301-400 range. On this measure alone, 17 Australian universities are included in the world’s top 400

* total citation count: the same 17 universities which rank in the world’s top 400 for publications appear in this 400

* mean normalised citation score: there are only three Australian universities which rank in the world’s top 100, UTS, Australian Catholic University and Swinburne University. There are 12 more in the 101-200 range and another seven between 201-300. For a variety of reasons, the normalisation process enhances the standing of Australian universities.

Let us see how Australian universities performed in selected measures of collaboration.

* proportion of publication co-authored with one or more other organisations: four Australian universities rank in the world’s top 100., Australian Catholic U, Edith Cowan U, UWA and Swinburne University. Eight more are ranked in the 101-200 range. Overall, 28 Australian universities are ranked in the world’s top 400.

* proportion of international collaboration: UTS is the only Australian university which is ranked in the world’s top 100. There are six more in the 101-200 range. Overall, 27 universities are in the top 400.

* proportion of publications co-authored with industryNo Australian university is in this  top 400. However, nine universities are in the top 400 for number of publications co-authored with industry.

What’s next

Next week, QS will release its World University Rankings. This will be an important release. Last year Australian universities experienced a small but noticeable decrease in the reputation surveys but improved on the basis of higher citations per faculty score.

 Angel Calderon is principal advisor, planning and research at RMIT

 

Global rank of Australian universities in the 2021 Leiden Ranking
Selected measures of impact
Institution Number of publications Total citation count Mean normalized citation score Proportion of publications in
Top 1% Top 10% Top 50%
Australian Catholic University 1184 1004 58 99 65 66
Australian National University 220 214 146 180 157 169
Charles Sturt University 1132 1175 834 782 798 833
Curtin University 268 247 192 141 176 218
Deakin University 323 310 235 204 226 243
Edith Cowan University 1091 922 183 68 121 297
Flinders University 537 537 426 409 344 531
Griffith University 305 278 215 191 270 276
James Cook University 602 539 164 85 168 247
La Trobe University 529 528 385 479 308 334
Macquarie University 368 392 206 237 232 215
Monash University 53 57 134 129 124 128
Murdoch University 844 829 483 206 523 608
Queensland University of Technology 331 298 250 229 246 178
RMIT University 397 324 157 106 158 159
Swinburne University of Technology 701 540 81 43 104 146
University of Adelaide 199 144 136 148 145 177
University of Canberra 1201 1112 382 411 356 571
University of Melbourne 29 46 133 157 147 135
University of New England 974 1042 654 629 649 763
University of New South Wales 58 59 124 146 123 109
University of Newcastle 356 358 331 441 238 337
University of Queensland 41 48 127 113 133 139
University of South Australia 543 482 317 526 316 279
University of Sydney 34 55 137 134 144 182
University of Tasmania 469 459 342 299 302 324
University of Technology, Sydney 384 290 56 64 58 81
University of the Sunshine Coast 1131 1142 581 469 542 578
University of Western Australia 192 218 256 271 265 263
University of Wollongong 365 246 149 298 135 166
Victoria University, Melbourne 1095 879 227 390 130 240
Western Sydney University 596 576 254 282 202 357
Source: https://www.leidenranking.com/
Table compiled by AJ Calderon, using the Excel file made available online.

 

Global rank of Australian universities in the 2021 Leiden Ranking
Selected measures of collaboration
Institution Number of collaborative publications Percentage of collaborative publications Percentage of international publications Number of publications with industry Percentage of publications with industry
Australian Catholic University 792 37 390 1029 1023
Australian National University 174 289 125 339 829
Charles Sturt University 986 311 439 921 719
Curtin University 217 196 192 354 757
Deakin University 268 243 347 519 924
Edith Cowan University 796 66 262 847 755
Flinders University 471 373 477 485 530
Griffith University 290 481 400 559 979
James Cook University 497 172 268 573 684
La Trobe University 392 155 504 633 918
Macquarie University 297 293 299 495 845
Monash University 26 135 273 87 621
Murdoch University 717 195 363 627 412
Queensland University of Technology 284 265 288 447 805
RMIT University 369 405 285 442 648
Swinburne University of Technology 527 92 156 650 765
University of Adelaide 156 240 275 223 551
University of Canberra 1027 211 507 995 834
University of Melbourne 21 231 304 48 500
University of New England 939 541 451 929 802
University of New South Wales 46 350 272 122 673
University of Newcastle 327 434 336 455 744
University of Queensland 34 342 257 82 577
University of South Australia 447 203 369 545 708
University of Sydney 25 286 296 74 611
University of Tasmania 397 300 300 450 595
University of Technology, Sydney 285 113 93 438 772
University of the Sunshine Coast 923 119 392 921 770
University of Western Australia 116 72 171 206 568
University of Wollongong 314 287 187 477 782
Victoria University, Melbourne 1003 262 350 993 842
Western Sydney University 466 166 303 697 909
Source: https://www.leidenranking.com/
Table compiled by AJ Calderon, using the Excel file made available online.

 


Subscribe

to get daily updates on what's happening in the world of Australian Higher Education