[Web4lib] Ranking Web of Universities: 2010 July edition

[Isidro F. Aguillo]

Ranking Web of World Universities: 2010 edition

The first 2010 edition of the Ranking Web of Universities is already 
available in the webometrics site (http://www.webometrics.info), 
including a larger coverage and improved methodology. The ranking 
started in 2004 analyzes more than 18,000 universities worldwide 
providing the classification for the top 8,000, many of them from 
developing countries traditionally ignored in other rankings.

The basic premise is that in the 21st century the web should reflect the 
organization, activities, research results, knowledge transfer, 
prestige, and international visibility of the universities. If the web 
performance of an institution is below the expected position according 
to their academic excellence, university authorities should reconsider 
their web policy, promoting substantial increases of the volume and 
quality of their electronic publications.

The web indicators are easy to collect and analyze and since the results 
are similar to those obtained for a few hundred universities by other 
far more complex and expensive rankings, the Ranking Web provide in this 
way the opportunity of obtaining reliable ranks for several thousand 
institutions.

The Ranking web with its large coverage allows comparisons not only 
between universities but also countries and regions, highlighting the 
role of nation building institutions that are non-research intensive 
oriented.

Academic ranking is only one of the aims of the webometrics site, as 
showing bad web policies and promoting the Open Access initiatives are 
objectives targeted explicitly.

Web presence measures the activity and visibility of the institutions 
and it is a good indicator of impact and prestige of universities. Rank 
summarizes the global performance of the University, provides 
information for candidate students and scholars, and reflects the 
commitment to the dissemination of scientific knowledge. “The university 
must seek excellence. The recognition of the institutions corresponds to 
the international community and to the economic, social and politic 
agents involved in the university activity. Nowadays, the best way to 
measure all of these acknowledgments is through the measure of the Web 
link visibility, a true virtual referendum about the university 
excellence”, said Isidro Aguillo, editor of the Ranking (Cybermetrics 
Lab – CSIC).

With respect to the results, like in previous editions, the first 
positions are occupied by North American and Canadian universities, with 
a virtual draw on first position between Harvard and MIT, followed by 
Stanford, Berkeley, etc. European universities appear still in delayed 
positions, with the first one being Cambridge ranked on the 27th place.

Regarding to results according to region, the first ones are:
• Latin America: Sao Paulo, closely followed by UNAM
• Europe: Cambridge and Oxford
• Eastern Europe: Charles University (Prague)
• Asia: Tokyo University
• South East Asia: National University of Singapore
• South Asia: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
• Oceania: Australian National University
• Africa: University of Cape Town

The Ranking Web is being elaborated by the Cybermetrics Lab is a 
research group belonging to the National Research Council (CSIC), the 
main public research organization in Spain. Since mid-nineties this 
group has designed web indicators for describing and evaluating the 
higher education and R&D sectors. The Ranking Web is widely used by 
students, scholars and directive staff of universities all over the 
world, receiving more than 4 million visitors per year.

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Isidro F. Aguillo, HonPhD
Cybermetrics Lab
CCHS - CSIC
Albasanz, 26-28, 3C1. 28037 Madrid. Spain

Ph. 91-602 2890. Fax: 91-602 2971

isidro.aguillo @ cchs.csic.es
www. webometrics.info
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