The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), commonly known as the Shanghai Ranking, has been published annually since 2003 by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. It was the first global university ranking and focuses exclusively on objective academic and research performance indicators.
ARWU considers every university that has Nobel Laureates, Fields Medalists, Highly Cited Researchers, or papers published in Nature or Science, along with universities with significant output indexed in the Web of Science. Over 2,500 universities are evaluated, with the top 1,000 published.
Indicator Weights
| Category | Indicator | Code | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality of Education | Alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals | Alumni | 10% |
| Quality of Faculty | Staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals | Award | 20% |
| Highly Cited Researchers | HiCi | 20% | |
| Research Output | Papers published in Nature and Science | N&S | 20% |
| Papers indexed in SCIE and SSCI | PUB | 20% | |
| Per Capita Performance | Per capita academic performance | PCP | 10% |
For institutions specialized in humanities and social sciences (e.g. London School of Economics), the N&S indicator is not considered and its weight is redistributed to other indicators.
Indicator Definitions
Alumni (10%)
The number of alumni who have won Nobel Prizes or Fields Medals. Alumni are defined as those who obtained bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degrees from the institution. Weights are applied based on graduation period: 100% for degrees after 2011, decreasing by 10% per decade down to 10% for degrees in 1921-1930.
Award (20%)
The number of current staff who have won Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, or Economics, or Fields Medals in Mathematics. Weights are applied based on the period of the award: 100% for winners after 2021, decreasing by 10% per decade. If a prize is shared, weights are proportional to the winner's share.
HiCi (20%)
The number of Highly Cited Researchers as selected by Clarivate. Only primary affiliations are considered. If a researcher is recognized in more than one field, each field is counted separately.
N&S (20%)
The number of research articles published in Nature and Science over a five-year period (2019-2023). Authorship weights apply: 100% for corresponding author affiliation, 50% for first author, 25% for second author, and 10% for other affiliations. Only articles (not reviews or letters) are counted.
PUB (20%)
The total number of articles indexed in the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) in the Web of Science for the most recent year. A special weight of 2x is applied to SSCI papers. Only articles are counted.
PCP (10%)
The weighted scores of the above five indicators divided by the number of full-time equivalent academic staff. This normalizes for institution size, rewarding research intensity over sheer volume.
Scoring Method
For each indicator, the highest-scoring institution is assigned a score of 100, and all other institutions are calculated as a percentage of that top score. Standard statistical techniques are used to adjust for any significant distortions in data distribution. The final overall score is a weighted sum of all indicator scores, again normalized so the top institution scores 100.
Data Sources
- Nobel Prizes: nobelprize.org
- Fields Medals: International Mathematical Union (mathunion.org)
- Highly Cited Researchers: Clarivate
- Nature & Science papers and SCIE/SSCI papers: Web of Science
- Staff data: National education ministries, statistics bureaus, and university associations