The research ranking rankers rate is out, with more data than a Senate preference count

What this is: The Leiden University research rankings are based on statistics on articles in the 80 per cent of publications included in the Web of Science database which are considered “core journals.”

The what and the how: Leiden ranks on a range of variables, including top rated citations in different bands. There are also rankings for publications by author gender and open access. In essence there is more data here to make Antony green. Anomalies there are but at least Leiden does not include asking people for an opinion of research performance.

Trends take time: Given the nature of the data Leiden reflects trends, not one-off events and year on year there is not much movement, with just five Australian universities in the global top 100 this year, same as last, but there s movement. UTS improved its position in maths and IT, up over 50 places since 2017.

And Curtin rises, again: Curtin U continues its rise in the new Leiden data, making the top 200 this year, up from 316 last and 355 in 2017.

In 2013 Curtin U was in the 400-500 bracket of the Academic Ranking of World Universities. Last year it cracked the top 200, ranking ninth in Australia.

Back in 2016 Vice Chancellor Terry explained Curtin’s research development strategy; support early and mid-career researchers to nurture stars, broaden research capacities and encourage knowledge transfer, (CMM August 1 2016). It’s still working.

ANZ universities in this year’s global 963 for all sciences are:

Uni Melbourne 30, Uni Sydney 32, Uni Queensland 36 , USW 55, Monash U 65, UWA 165, Uni Adelaide 173, Uni Auckland 195, ANU 205, Curtin U 284, Uni Otago 295, Griffith U 305,  QUT 331, Deakin U 336, Uni Newcastle 346, Uni Wollongong 361, Macquarie U 404, Uni Tas 455, RMIT 456, UTS 460, Uni SA 494,  Flinders U 519, La Trobe U 562, James Cook U 563, Massey U 599, Western Sydney U 692, Swinburne U 733, Victoria U of Wellington 754, Uni Canterbury 764, Murdoch U 833,  UNE 938.

Last year they were:

Uni Syd 30, Uni Melb 33, Uni Queensland 37, UNSW 58, Monash U 64, UWA 151, Uni Adelaide 169, Uni Auckland 199, ANU 201, Uni Otago 284, Curtin U 316, Griffith U 325, QUT 349, Deakin U 358, Uni Newcastle 361, Uni Wollongong 369, Macquarie U 419, Uni SA 471, Uni Tas 473,  UTS 476, RMIT 480, Flinders U 516, James Cook U 549, La Trobe U 575, Massey U 590, Western Sydney U 609, Uni Canterbury 735, Victoria U of Wellington 736, Swinburne U 739, Murdoch U 876 and UNE 936