03 Sep 2008

Australian Universities Ranked Among The Top 50 Most Cited Research Institutions In The World

Australian Universities Rank Within the World’s Top 50 for 2003-2007 Period in Four of 22 Categories

Sydney, AUSTRALIA, September 3, 2008 – Universities in Australia are ranked amongst the world’s top 50 most frequently cited research institutions over a period of five years from January 2003 to December 2007.  According to data derived from the Essential Science Indicators^SM (ESI) database of the Scientific business of Thomson Reuters, Australian universities are ranked among the world’s top 50, appearing in four of 22 categories, namely Geosciences, Environment/Ecology, Psychiatry/Psychology and Social Sciences. Environment/Ecology and Social Sciences are two fields in which more than one Australian university is represented within the top 50.


The ranking derived from ESI below shows up to five Australian universities that appeared in each of the four  categories along with their world standing. This shows a marked improvement over the data for the earlier time period of 1998-2002 when only two Australian universities were ranked in the world’s top 50, namely Australian National University in Geosciences and University of New South Wales in Psychiatry/Psychology.


Ranking of the universities is based on the total number of citations of their published research papers from January 2003 to December 2007 in high-standard international scholarly journals, and is considered as evidence of their academic excellence. This objective approach differs from that used in other university rankings, most of which are consolidated based on multiple aspects of university research and education using both subjective and objective criteria.  


Essential Science Indicators is a resource that enables researchers to conduct ongoing, quantitative analyses of research performance and track trends in science. Covering a multidisciplinary selection of over 11,000 journals from around the world, this in-depth analytical tool offers data for ranking scientists, institutions, countries, and journals.  This unique and comprehensive compilation of science performance statistics and science trends data is based on journal article publication counts and citation data from Scientific databases. Available as a 10-year rolling file, ESI covers 10 million articles in 22 specific fields of research, and is updated every two months.

The tables below show data for subject categories in which Australian universities are placed within the top 50 most frequently cited institutions.  The tables show all Australian universities which are ranked in the top 100.  The analyses for this ranking looked only at the performance of universities in Australia and excluded all other Australian research institutions.  
  

 

Environment/ Ecology
University	Papers	Citations	World Rank	Percentile
University of Queensland	611	3399	41	8.7
James Cook University, Queensland	356	3303	44	9.4
Macquarie University	195	2634	73	15.6
Australian National University	389	2323	84	17.9

 

Geosciences
University	Papers	Citations	World Rank	Percentile
Australian National University	1009	6219	25	6.3

  

 

Psychiatry/ Psychology
University	Papers	Citations	World Rank	Percentile
University of Melbourne	686	3615	46	13.2
University of New South Wales	699	3608	47	13.5
University of Queensland	730	2846	65	18.7

 

 

Social Sciences, General
University	Papers	Citations	World Rank	Percentile
University of New South Wales	593	2103	42	7.2
University of Sydney	773	1976	46	7.9
University of Queensland	784	1688	62	10.6
University of Melbourne	679	1163	98	16.8
Australian National University	617	1159	99	16.9

 

In summary, with the collating of all 22 fields, the following eight Australian universities are placed in the top 10% of research institutions worldwide.

 

All Fields

University	Papers	Citations	World Rank	Percentile
University of  Melbourne	14025	83522	84	2.2
University of Sydney	14487	79069	95	2.5
University of Queensland	12736	68115	119	3.2
University of  New South Wales	10559	55319	162	4.3
Australian National University	9003	52301	176	4.7
Monash University	9841	50908	186	4.9
University of Western Australia	7957	42140	226	6.0
University of Adelaide	6241	30094	315	8.4

 

Said Dr. Berenika Webster, Strategic Business Manager, Australia & New Zealand, Scientific business of Thomson Reuters, “The size of the institutions and their research focus need to be taken into account when interpreting the results.  Big universities tend to dominate rankings based on straight publication or citation counts.  Therefore, it is good to see a few universities, other than the Group of 8, ranked in the top 50.  James Cook University of Northern Queensland and Macquarie University are ranked in the top 50 in the Environment/Ecology category.”


“The ranking result derived from ESI reflects the significant citation impact of Australian universities over the past five years,“ said Mr. Jeroen Prinsen, Director of Australia and New Zealand for Scientific. "Methodological consistency is the key to maintaining statistical validity, particularly in research evaluation.  As the leading global provider of authoritative information to research communities, we are committed to ensuring the integrity of our information in research evaluation.”


The Scientific business of Thomson Reuters provides information and knowledge to accelerate research, discovery and innovation.   Our authoritative, accurate and timely information is essential for drug companies to discover new drugs and get them to market faster; researchers to find relevant papers and know what’s newly published in their subject; and businesses to optimize their intellectual property and find competitive intelligence.  We create the research platforms and services of the future that will power our customers toward business and personal success. Scientific information solutions can be found at scientific.thomsonreuters.com  


About Thomson Reuters
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