The 2018 edition of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), better known as the Shanghai ranking, places Pompeu Fabra University among the top 250 universities in the list, improving on the results obtained in the previous edition. As last year, it comes in the 201-300 bracket but has managed to improve its position within this range of ​​the list.

Pompeu Fabra University, which appeared in the rankings for the first time in 2009 (in the 402-501 bracket), has been scaling positions over the years, despite a slight drop in the 2016 edition, and is now in the top 250 in the 2018 edition, thus consolidating its progression.

Pompeu Fabra University appeared in the rankings for the first time in 2009 (in the 402-501 bracket) and has been scaling positions over the years

According to the ARWU, UPF, together with the Complutense of Madrid and the University of Granada, comes in second position in the Spanish State (only behind the University of Barcelona,  located in the 151-200 bracket). In the following bracket (301-400) we find the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Madrid and the University of the Basque Country.

Since 2003, the Centre for World-Class Universities and the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China) have drafted this annual report whose 2018 edition reviews the scientific and academic output of more than 1,500 universities throughout the world.

Since the ranking was created, the North American and British universities have maintained their hegemony and monopolize the top of the standings. In this edition, the podium is made up of Harvard, Stanford and Cambridge, while with regard to the top twenty institutions, sixteen are from the U.S., three from Britain and one from Switzerland.

Since its inception, the Shanghai ranking has included the top 500 universities, although this year, for the first time, it has also published the centres in the 501 to 1000 bracket within the section “ARWU World Top 500 Candidates”.

The ARWU classification, which released its rankings for each discipline a few weeks ago, is based on bibliometric indicators linked to academic and research activities, and publishes data broken down into five areas of knowledge (broad subject fields) and five fields (broad fields).

A methodology that gives great importance to distinctions and awards

The indicators used (this ranking does not evaluate scientific output and gives great importance to prizes and awards accumulated over time) and their relative value are as follows: Alumni (10%): number of former students who have a Nobel prize or Fields Medal; Award (20%): active professors with Nobel prizes or Fields Medals; HICi (20%): researchers highly cited in the ISI, considering the 21 categories into which publications are classified.

The other three indicators are N&S (20%): articles published in journals Nature and Science in the last five years; PUB (20%): scientific publications indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE); and in the ISI’s Social Science Citation Index (SSCI); and finally, PCP (10%): introducing a correction factor of the above depending on the size of the institution measured from the number of full-time equivalent teachers.