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A strong global ranking is important for the University\u2019s reputation and success. Rankings provide an indication of our global standing for research and innovation, teaching, and our impact. This standing is a magnet which helps us to recruit and retain the best global talent and to build international collaborations and partnerships with universities, industry, and other organisations.<\/p>\n
Global rankings are equally important for attracting and recruiting our home and international students. Some government and other funders of international studentships will only fund students to attend leading universities based on their position in the global rankings.<\/p>\n
We have a strong position in the three major global rankings \u2013 the QS (34th<\/sup>) THE (53rd<\/sup>) and ARWU (52nd<\/sup>) and an excellent position \u00a0in the THE ranking that measure impact on the global SDGs<\/a> (2nd<\/sup>) as well as our contribution to social and environmental sustainability (QS 6th<\/sup>). However, our overall position in the three major global rankings (QS, THE, ARWU) is declining whilst competition increases, particularly from institutions in Asia.<\/p>\n Ranking methodologies are imperfect, and none measure all that we do, so we should not let them distort our plans. However, we need to focus collectively on maximising our performance.<\/p>\n We have established a Global Ranking\u2019<\/span>s Taskforce (GRT), which will target actions that could help improve our performance. Our initial focus is targeting publication and citation-based metrics because we have identified this as an area of relative underperformance compared to our strong performance in other data used in the rankings. GRT will work through the ranking cycle to:<\/p>\n We currently have lower numbers of highly cited researchers than global and UK peers, and a gap to the top 25 institutions for citation metrics, which are present in all major rankings, dominated by Scopus (powering THE and QS) and the Web of Science (ARWU) data.<\/p>\n Citation-based metrics have limitations. For example, citation counts do not directly measure research quality, article types can have different citation patterns (e.g. reviews vs. original research) while network effects and self-citation practice can influence metrics.<\/p>\n There is also an English-language bias, with lower visibility and citation of publications in other languages on average, and other EDI issues. For example, on average women receive comparable or higher citations per individual paper compared to men but accumulate fewer total citations over their careers due to lower publication rates<\/a>.<\/p>\n The University was one of the first UK signatories of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)<\/a>. \u00a0In line with DORA\u2019s recommendations we use citations data which are normalised by field over the preceding 5 years to account for disciplinary differences and effect of the age of the publication.<\/p>\n Citations-based metrics of the individual researcher are used as only one indicator among other quantitative and qualitative information to make judgements about research performance. Other quantitative measures include research funding, PGR supervision, prizes, and other esteem measures. These limitations are considered when interpreting an individual’s citations.<\/p>\n Read our Responsible Metrics statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Evidence suggests that working with the media, particularly via press releases, significantly enhances the visibility of research, which in turn correlates with increased citation rates. Using our institutional membership for Scite.ai, a list of published evidence that shows the benefits of mentioning research in a press release to improve citation rates was generated and reviewed.<\/p>\n One of the key findings is that articles receiving high online media attention, often facilitated by press releases, tend to have higher citation counts.<\/p>\n The impact of press releases extends beyond academic circles and how research is subsequently perceived in the media:<\/p>\n The interplay between media attention generated by press releases and academic citations is evident across multiple studies, highlighting the importance of effective communication strategies in the dissemination of scientific research. Self-publicity via social media and digital channels can help researchers reach new audiences, build a presence, and increase the visibility of your work.<\/p>\nGlobal Rankings: our approach<\/h2>\n
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Publication and Citation-based metrics<\/h2>\n
Responsible metrics<\/h2>\n
Media, press and digital communication<\/h2>\n
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Five actions you can take as researchers<\/h2>\n
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Townhall recording<\/h2>\n