By Ruth A Pagell* (30 Sep 2024) Several rankings were released while I relived the past, writing RR 60. Changes include: Webometrics adding ROR (Research Organizations Registry) identity records to thousands of institutions and revising its university citation rankings SIR (Scimago Institutions Rankings) adding three new metrics to its Societal Factors US News Global modifying…
By Ruth A Pagell* (30 Jul 2024) The first part of my retrospective (RR60) is personal. It focuses on the broader picture of university rankings, their role in higher education, and the current criticisms of their shortcomings. This Addendum examines the data. It tracks the first two world rankings, the Academic Ranking of World…
By Ruth A Pagell* (29 Jul 2024) Ruth’s Rankings started in the middle of the current history of world university rankings. This is the story of how I became a player in the rankings game and the concerns I have about the future. I have tried to be a reporter rather than a critic,…
By Ruth A Pagell* (27 Mar 2024) I spent two months away from Ruth’s Rankings collaborating with a friend on a book chapter on open access that ended up being about open everything. During that time, CWTS Leiden started the new year with a new version of its rankings, using the new hot bibliometric…
(30 Jan 2024) When the Shanghai Ranking, also known as the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), was launched in 2003, Ton van Raan, director of CWTS at the time, sounded the alarm about the problematic way in which the ranking uses bibliometric data, for instance in attributing publications to universities. In response to the Shanghai…
By Ruth A Pagell* (December 18, 2023) Question: What is the best sustainability ranking? Question: Who is the most “sustainable” university I looked forward to the second edition of QS’ Sustainability rankings. It was well-timed, during the meeting of COPE-28. I was so anxious to learn as much as I could before…
By Ruth A Pagell * (27 Nov 2023) Question: Do regional rankings address some of the concerns about the current world rankings? It is fashionable to criticize the rankings (Brink). My last set of articles, Ruth’s Ranking 56 parts 1 and 2 and RR 57, focused on changes in metrics and weightings from our…
By Ruth A Pagell* (30 Oct 2023) Updated rankings are coming out faster than I can read my emails. This article reviews THE’s 2024 World rankings with new metrics. Ruth’s Rankings’ target audience is Asia/Pac. The news coming out of Asia consistently reports that China is closing the gap with the US. It is…
By Ruth A Pagell* (27 Sep 2023) Ruth’s Ranking 56 Part 1 raised concerns over existing rankings and showed how THE Impact was addressing some of them. Part 2 continues the discussion. QS 2024 World Rankings changed metrics and weightings, causing controversy over changes in countries’ performance. Nature added a new subject, Health Sciences and…
By Ruth A Pagell* (7/27/2023) 20 years ago Shanghai Rankings issued its first global ranking of five hundred universities, followed a year later by a joint venture from THE and QS, of 200 universities. (Praphamontripong). The number of rankings, countries, institutions, and the scope of the indicators has grown along with criticism of the…