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Ranking Criteria and Ranking Methodology of
Academic Rankings of World Universities (ARWU)

Ranking Criteria and Weights

Ranking indicators include alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes, Fields Medals and Turing Awards, Highly Cited Researchers, papers indexed in Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). A new indicator, the percentage of papers published in the top 20% journals of each field, was introduced.

For each indicator, the highest scoring institution is assigned a score of 100, and other institutions are calculated as a percentage of the top score. The distribution of data for each indicator is examined for any significant distorting effect and standard statistical techniques are used to adjust the indicator if necessary.

Scores for each indicator are weighted to arrive at a final overall score for an institution. The highest scoring institution is assigned a total score of 100, and other institutions are calculated as a percentage of the top total score. The scores are then placed in descending order.

Definition of Indicators

Indicator	Definition
Alumni	indicates the total number of the alumni of an institution winning Fields Medals in Mathematics, Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry and Economics and Turing Awards in Computer Science. Alumni are defined as those who obtain bachelor, Master’s or doctoral degrees from the institution. Different weights are set according to the periods of obtaining degrees. The weight is 100% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1991-2000, 80% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1981-1990, 60% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1971-1980, 40% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1961-1970, and finally 20% for alumni obtaining degrees in 1951-1960. If a person obtains more than one degrees from an institution, the institution is considered once only.
Award	indicates the total number of the staff of an institution winning Fields Medals in Mathematics, Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry and Economics and Turing Awards in Computer Science. Staff is defined as those who work at an institution at the time of winning the prize. Different weights are set according to the periods of winning the prizes. The weight is 100% for winners in 2001-2009, 80% for winners in 1991-2000, 60% for winners in 1981-1990, 40% for winners in 1971-1980, and finally 20% for winners in 1961-1970. If a winner is affiliated with more than one institution, each institution is assigned the reciprocal of the number of institutions. For Nobel Prizes, if a prize is shared by more than one person, weights are set for winners according to their proportion of the prize.
HiCi	indicates the number of highly cited researchers in twenty categories defined and provided by isihighlycited.com. These highly cited researchers are assigned to relevant subject fields according to the category which they belong to. If a researcher is listed in more than one category, his/her weight for each category is the reciprocal of the number of categories listed
PUB	indicates the total number of papers indexed by Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Index in 2008 and 2009. Only publications of 'Article' and 'Proceedings Paper' types are considered. Each paper published by an institution is assigned into relevant subject fields according to journals the paper was published in (Classification of Journal Categories). If a paper is published in a multi-assigned journal (which is assigned to more than one ISI category), it is divided into related groups.
TOP	indicates the percentage of papers published in the top 20% journals of each subject field. Top 20% journals are defined as their impact factors in the top 20% of each ISI category according to Journal Citation Report, 2009. Papers in the top journals of each ISI category are then aggregated into subject fields and the TOP is calculated as the number of papers in the top 20% journals of a particular subject field to that in all journals of the field. A threshold was set for the minimum number of papers in each subject field for calculating TOP indicator. The threshold was defined as 10% of the average number of papers by the top three institutions in each subject field. If the number of papers of an institution does not meet the minimum threshold, the TOP indicator is not calculated for the institution and its weight is relocated to other indicators. Only publications of 'Article' and 'Proceedings Paper' types are considered.

Indicators and Weights for ARWU - SUBJECT

Code	Weight	Mathematics	Physics	Chemistry	Computer Science	Economics/Business
Alumni	10%	Alumni of an institution winning Fields Medals in Mathematics since 1951	Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Physics since 1951	Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Chemistry since 1951	Alumni of an institution winning Turing Awards in Computer Science since 1951	Alumni of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Economics since 1951
Award	15%	Staff of an institution winning Fields Medals in Mathematics since 1961	Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Physics since 1961	Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Chemistry since 1961	Staff of an institution winning Turing Awards in Computer Science since 1961	Staff of an institution winning Nobel Prizes in Economics since 1961
HiCi	25%	Highly cited researchers in Mathematics category.	Highly cited researchers in Physics and Space Science category.	Highly cited researchers in Chemistry category	Highly cited researchers in Computer Science category	Highly cited researchers in Economics/Business Category
PUB	25%	Papers Indexed in Science Citation Index-Expanded in Mathematics fields	Papers Indexed in Science Citation Index- Expanded in Physics fields	Papers Indexed in Science Citation Index- Expanded in Chemistry fields	Papers Indexed in Science Citation Index- Expanded in Computer Science fields	Papers Indexed in Social Science Citation Index in Economics/Business fields
TOP	25%	Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals of Mathematics fields to that in all Mathematics journals	Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals of Physics fields to that in all Physics journals	Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals of Chemistry fields to that in all Chemistry journals	Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals of Computer Science fields to that in all Computer Science journals	Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals of Economics/Business fields to that in all Economics/Business journals

Definition of Subject Fields

Institutions are ranked in five subject fields, including Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Sciences and Economics/Business.

Selection of Universities

The ranking list for ARWU - SUBJECT includes every institution that has any Nobel Laureates, Fields Medals, and Highly-Cited Researchers. In addition, major universities of every country with significant amount of papers indexed by Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) are also included. In total, more than one thousand institutions have been actually ranked in each subject field.

Data Sources

Indicator	Data Source
Nobel laureates	http://nobelprize.org/
Fields Medals	http://www.mathunion.org/medals/
Turing Awards	http://awards.acm.org/
Highly cited researchers	http://www.isihighlycited.com/
Journal Citation Report, 2009.	http://www.isiknowledge.com/
Papers indexed in Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Index	http://www.isiknowledge.com/