The CWTS Leiden Ranking has always been a bit different from other university rankings. It has never sought to identify an overall ‘winner’ from amongst all the universities it features, preferring instead to offer a range of indicators and rank institutions on each one separately. It also looks beyond traditional citation measures and reputation surveys to assess concepts such as open access and gender balance.
Research assessment practices that largely rely on publication-driven assessments of research(ers) are slowly running out of steam. A remnant of a science system that is largely inward-focused and output-oriented, these assessments paint a rather monochrome picture of science that is not fit for today’s developments that reconfigure the relationship between science and society.
Since their inception in 2003, global university rankings have gained increasing prominence within the higher education landscape. Originally designed as marketing and benchmarking tools, the rankings have transformed into influential instruments for research evaluation and policymaking.
How agriculture benefits from research through extension and engagement Different sectors benefit from science in different ways. In the case of agriculture, innovations based on science often originate from providers of farmers, for example in the form of seeds or machinery. However, the diffusion or uptake of innovations is difficult, in particular for small farmers.
European and global science policy have been restructured around ‘global challenges’ and ‘research excellence’ to commit to societal impact. Our current global challenges, including climate change, destruction of nature, and increasing global inequality, require critical interrogation of the contributions and consequences of science.
El Leiden Ranking de Universidades 2023 ha sido publicado el 21 de junio del presente año. Contiene 1411 universidades de todo el mundo, incluyendo 58 de América Latina. Al abrir la página para 2023 encontramos en un listado a la Universidad de São Paulo en la posición 12 y la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México en la 98. Pero ¿qué significan estas posiciones?
Universities in the Leiden Ranking 2023 As Figure 1 shows, the number of universities in the Leiden Ranking keeps increasing. Like in the last three editions of the ranking, a university needs to have at least 800 fractionally counted publications in the most recent four-year time window to be included in the ranking. This year 1411 universities meet this criterion, 93 more than last year and 235 more than in 2020.
Imagine academic publishing that is fast, transparent, and free. Is that a pipe dream or something within reach? We already have preprint publishing (fast), open peer review (transparent), and diamond/overlay journals (free). If we could connect these disparate initiatives, would that make our dream come true? And how could this best be done? These are questions that are currently being discussed by us and others at Leiden University.
In a previous blog post we introduced the CWTS knowledge agenda 2023-2028. Building on this, in the current post we present the new focal areas in which CWTS organizes its activities.
Academic research has become increasingly complex, multidisciplinary, collaborative, and transnational. The institutions that underpin research - including communication and evaluation systems - are trying to keep up, with varying levels of success. At the same time, our society is facing major challenges, including existential global health, welfare, and sustainability issues.