The Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities (NTU Rankings) is a ranking of world universities compiled by
National Taiwan University
National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...
annually since 2012.
This publication ranks world
universities
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
by a certain criteria of
scientific paper volume, impact, and performance output. The ranking was originally published from 2007 to 2011 by the
and has been published since 2012 by the
National Taiwan University
National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...
. It uses bibliometric methods to analyze and rank the scientific paper performance. In addition to the overall ranking, it includes a list of the top universities in six fields and fourteen subjects.
The rankings were introduced in 2007. The original ranking methodology favored toward universities with
medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...
s. In 2008, HEEACT began publishing a "Field Based Ranking" including six fields:
agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
and
environmental sciences (AGE),
clinical medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
(MED),
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
,
computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...
, and
technology
Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...
(ENG),
life sciences
This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...
(LIFE),
natural sciences
Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...
(SCI), and
social sciences
Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
(SOC).
In 2010, HEEACT began publishing subject rankings in fields of various field of science and technology. Science fields are divided into
physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
,
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
,
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, and
geosciences
Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...
. Technology fields are split up into
electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
,
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
,
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...
,
chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...
(including
energy
Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...
and
fuel
A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work (physics), work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chem ...
s),
materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries.
The intellectual origins of materials sci ...
, and
civil engineering
Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...
(including
environmental engineering
Environmental engineering is a professional engineering Academic discipline, discipline related to environmental science. It encompasses broad Science, scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiolo ...
).
HEEACT ended the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities Project in 2012. Due to disagreement about ranking results, the Taiwanese education authorities announced that the government would no longer support the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan to do this ranking.
Methodology
The HEEACT rankings used the following criteria:
* Research productivity (weighed 20%)—The number of published articles of the last 11 years (10%) and the number of articles of the current year (10%).
* Research impact (weighed 30%)—Number of
citations of the last 11 years (10%), the number of citations of the last two years (10%), and the ''average'' number of citations of the last 11 years (10%).
* Research excellence (weighed 40%)—The
h-index
The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...
of the last two years (20%), the number of highly cited papers (15%), and the number of articles of the current year in high-impact journals (15%).
Quantitative data were drawn from
Science Citation Index
The Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) is a citation index owned by Clarivate and previously by Thomson Reuters.
It was created by the Eugene Garfield at the Institute for Scientific Information, launched in 1964 as Science Citation Index ( ...
(SCI) and
Social Sciences Citation Index
The Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) is a commercial citation index product of Clarivate Analytics. It was originally developed by the Institute for Scientific Information from the Science Citation Index. The Social Sciences Citation Index is ...
(SSCI). The data were
normalized by faculty number to account for different institution sizes. The indicators used in this methodology highly emphasized research quality (80% of the performance score) and short-term research performance (55% of the score).
The current NTU rankings use the following criteria:
* Research productivity (weighed 25%)—The number of published articles of the last 11 years (10%) and the number of articles of the current year (15%).
* Research impact (weighed 35%)—Number of
citations of the last 11 years (15%), the number of citations of the last two years (10%), and the ''average'' number of citations of the last 11 years (10%).
* Research excellence (weighed 40%)—The
h-index
The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...
of the last two years (10%), the number of highly cited papers (15%), and the number of articles of the current year in high-impact journals (15%).
HEEACT World University Rankings (Top 50)
HEEACT World University Rankings (Top 20 by field)
Agriculture
Clinical Medicine
Engineering
Life Sciences
Natural Sciences
Social Sciences
HEEACT World University Rankings (Top 20 by subject)
Physics (includes Astronomy and Space Science)
Chemistry
Mathematics
Geosciences
Electrical Engineering
Computer Science
Civil Engineering (including Environmental Engineering)
Mechanical Engineering
Chemical Engineering (including Energy & Fuels)
Materials Science
Commentary
The Australian higher education indicated that the 2007 performance ranking of scientific papers for world universities produced by HEEACT is a useful addition to the present world university ranks because of its rigorous method and robust results, which are made possible by its more modest scope. There are more comments on the HEEACT rankings. The senior research fellow of Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China, Wu Yi-shan, claimed that the HEEACT ranking is the best ranking system he has ever seen. Wu indicated that the HEEACT ranking considers both long-term and short-term performance of a university. The idea of combining long-term and short-term ranking indicators is a pioneering thought. Richard Holmes posted on University Ranking Watch and noted: "Although the Shanghai rankings show a high correlation with other rankings (based on a tiny sample of US universities) the HEEACT rankings from Taiwan do somewhat better." Vice-president Research for the University of Toronto, Professor Paul Young, remarked that "the HEEACT rankings are relatively new, they are an important and methodologically robust measure of the quantity and quality of research performed by universities around the world." The dean of academic affairs at National Taiwan University, Chiang Been-Huang, stated that "2009 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities by HEEACT are conducted based on objective figures."
[Kao, Y.L. (2009]
NTU ranks 26th in Webometrics Ranking of World Universities
Retrieved Aug 5, 2009)
See also
*
College and university rankings
College and university rankings order higher education institutions based on various criteria, with factors differing depending on the specific ranking system. These rankings can be conducted at the national or international level, assessing inst ...
*
Academic Ranking of World Universities
The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...
*
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...
*
QS World University Rankings
The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...
*
Webometrics Ranking of World Universities
The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as Ranking Web of Universities, is a ranking system for the world's universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web content (number of web page ...
*
Global University Ranking
Notes and references
{{University ranking systems
University and college rankings
Science and technology in Taiwan