Research

ARWU Ranking Methodology

A focus on research of an international quality and the fostering of an outstanding research culture have positioned UWA as one of the best universities in Australia and in the top 150 in the world.

About the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)

The ARWU first appeared in 2003. Although there have been some changes in the criteria used to rank universities, the ranking methodology has been fairly consistent since 2005.
Key 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
ARWU 179 115 120 127 113 112 110 96 91 88 87 96 91
Key 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
ARWU 179 115 120 127 113 112 110 96 91 88 87 96 91

Performance Indicators

Value Indicator
Alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, with the value declining over time since the winner's graduation (100 year time limit) 10 percent
Staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals with the value declining over time since the award was granted (100 year time limit) 20 percent
Highly-cited researchers affiliated to the institution on the Thomson Reuter's Highly Cited website in 21 broad subject categories 20 percent
Articles published in Nature and Science over a five year window, weighted for the position of the institution in list of affiliations 20 percent
The number of articles and published proceedings papers listed in the Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index for the previous calendar year 20 percent
The per capita academic performance (on the indicators above) of an institution 10 percent

While the ARWU provides a list of the top 500 universities world wide, only the top 100 are provided with a ranked position. The remaining institutions are ranked in bands of either 50 or 100.

However, as the ARWU provides a score for each indicator for all 500 universities, we are able to determine the ranked position of all institutions to a high degree of accuracy.

Broad Subject Area Rankings

In recent years, along with many other ranking systems, the ARWU has branched out and now produces a number of broad subject area rankings and more refined subject field rankings. However, only the top 200 universities are listed, and individual ranked positions are limited to the top 50.

The methodology for subject rankings also departs somewhat from the ARWU. Rather than a Nature and Science score, the 'Percentage of papers published in top 20% journals' in the field/discipline are used. Also, the per capita academic performance indictor has been removed, and the value of staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals has been reduced to 15 percent.

For the Engineering field, a new indicator, 'Total engineering-related research expenditures' has also been introduced, which replaces the Award and Alumni criterion for Nobel Prizes and the Fields Medal.

ARWU Broad Subject Area UWA's 2016 Rank
Life and Agricultural Sciences 24
Clinical Medicine & Pharmacy 51-75
Social Sciences 76-100
Natural Sciences & Mathematics 201+
Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences 201+

Subject Rankings

In 2017, a new subject ranking was introduced, which expanded the subjects ranked from 5 to 52 and changed the methodology used to determine the rankings.

Indicators Definition
PUB PUB is the number of papers authored by an institution in an Academic Subject during the period of 2011-2015. Only papers of 'Article' type are considered. Data are collected from InCites database. Papers in different Web of Science categories are grouped into relevant Academic Subjects (Classification of Web of Science Categories into Academic Subjects).
CNCI Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI) is the ratio of citation of papers published by an institution in an Academic Subject during the period of 2011-2015 to the average citation of papers in the same category, of the same year and same type. A CNCI value of 1 represents world-average performance while a value above 1 represents performance above the world average. Only papers of 'Article' type are considered. Data are collected from InCites database.
IC International collaboration (IC) is the number of publications that have been found with at least two different countries in addresses of the authors divided by the total number of publications in an Academic Subject for an institution during the period of 2011-2015. Only papers of ‘Article’ type are considered. Data are collected from InCites database.
TOP TOP is the number of papers published in Top Journals in an Academic Subject for an institution during the period of 2011-2015. Top Journals are identified through ShanghaiRanking’s Academic Excellence Survey or by Journal Impact Factor. In 2017, 94 top journals selected by the Survey are used in rankings of 33 Academic Subjects. The list of the top journals can be found here. For Academic Subjects that do not have journals identified by the Survey, the JCR top 20% journals are used. Top 20% journals are defined as their Journal Impact Factors in the top 20% of each Web of Science category according to Journal Citation Report (JCR) 2015, and then aggregated into different Academic Subjects. Only papers of ‘Article’ type are considered. In the Academic Subject of Public Health, although a top journal is selected by the Survey, there is no ‘Article’ type paper on it, therefore we use JCR top 20% journals instead.
AWARD AWARD refers to the total number of the staff of an institution wining a significant award in an Academic Subject. Staff is defined as those who work full-time at an institution at the time of winning the prize. If a researcher was retired at the time of winning the award, we count the institution where the researcher’s last full-time academic position was at. The significant awards in each subject are identified through ShanghaiRanking’s Academic Excellence Survey. The list of the significant awards in each subject can be viewed here.

If a winner is affiliated with more than one institution at the time of winning the award, each institution is assigned the reciprocal of the number of institutions. If the award is awarded to more than one winner in one year, weights are set for winners according to their proportion of the prize. Different weights are set according to the periods of winning the prizes. The weight is 100% for winners in 2011-2015, 75% for winners in 2001-2010, 50% for winners in 1991-2000, and 25% for winners in 1981-1990.
Subject Weight (%) UWA
2017 Rank
PUB CNCI IC TOP AWARD
Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
201-300
Biotechnology
31.3
31.3
6.3
31.3
201-300
Chemical Engineering
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
201-300
Civil Engineering
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
201-300
Computer Science & Engineering
23.8
23.8
4.8
4.8
42.9
151-200
Electrical & Electronic Engineering
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
151-200
Energy Science & Engineering
23.8
23.8
4.8
47.6
201-300
Environmental Science & Engineering
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
16
Marine/Ocean Engineering
31.3
31.3
6.3
31.3
9
Mechanical Engineering
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
101-150
Mining & Mineral Engineering
31.3
31.3
6.3
31.3
7
Water Resources
31.3
31.3
6.3
31.3
76-100
Life Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
31.3
31.3
6.3
31.3
14
Biological Sciences
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
30
Human Biological Sciences
31.3
31.3
6.3
31.3
151-200
Veterinary Sciences
23.8
23.8
4.8
47.6
151-200
Medical Sciences
Clinical Medicine
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
42
Medical Technology
31.3
31.3
6.3
31.3
151-200
Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
51-75
Public Health
31.3
31.3
6.3
31.3
51-75
Natural Sciences
Earth Sciences
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
51-75
Ecology
31.3
31.3
6.3
31.3
22
Geography
31.3
31.3
6.3
31.3
76-100
Mathematics
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
201-300
Physics
23.8
23.8
4.8
23.8
23.8
401-500
Social Sciences
Economics
36.6
12.2
2.4
24.4
24.4
201-300
Education
41.7
13.9
2.8
41.7
76-100
Finance
48.4
16.1
3.2
32.3
201-300
Hospitality & Tourism Management
48.4
16.1
3.2
32.3
51-75
Management
41.7
13.9
2.8
41.7
101-150
Psychology
41.7
13.9
2.8
41.7
101-150