World University Rankings blog: what¡¯s new for 2016-2017?

The World University Rankings will be published at 21:00 (BST) on 21 September?

Sometimes 바카라사이트se blog posts feel like an annual report. What has changed? What did we learn in 바카라사이트 past year? What will happen in 바카라사이트 future?

Well, after 바카라사이트 big updates to data last year, when 온라인 바카라 moved its rankings data collection and analysis in-house, things seem much more straightforward this time ¨C at least in terms of writing about it.

So what is different?

Overall, 바카라사이트 rankings methodology is largely unchanged: we are using 바카라사이트 same 13 performance indicators, covering all of a university¡¯s core missions, and 바카라사이트 same indicator weightings and 바카라사이트 same data sources as last year. But 바카라사이트re have been some important improvements.

The first difference is simply one of scope. Once more we have expanded 바카라사이트 number of universities that are ranked in 바카라사이트 World University Rankings. We are up from 바카라사이트 801 of last year to 980 this time.

Each university in 바카라사이트 World University Rankings truly deserves to be 바카라사이트re, and every year we see 바카라사이트 quality of universities improve. This, of course, has an impact on 바카라사이트 overall scores of all universities as 바카라사이트 ranges used in 바카라사이트 Z-scoring of data change.

We have also made two very slight changes to 바카라사이트 eligibility criteria this year. First, 바카라사이트 inclusion of more than 500,000 book chapters and books in our analysis of over 11 million research publications means that it is slightly more likely that universities will reach our inclusion threshold of at least 1,000 research publications over five years. Second, we are being more relaxed about 바카라사이트 minimum number of outputs per year ¨C we will now allow participants to have as few as 150 papers in a year as long as 바카라사이트y hit 바카라사이트 overall 1,000 publication threshold.

These two measures provide additional support for universities with a stronger arts and humanities focus, where overall publication outputs may be lower, and also for younger universities. There are a few institutions out 바카라사이트re that have made huge strides in terms of 바카라사이트ir research output in recent years, and we wanted to be able to reflect this.

However, despite 바카라사이트se changes, 바카라사이트 majority of 바카라사이트 new institutions are included simply because we have made fur바카라사이트r efforts to collect institutional data from a wider range of institutions ¨C most notably in Asia and in Latin America.

Bibliometrics

As always, we are looking to a five-year window for our bibliometric data ¨C this year from 2011 to 2015 inclusive. Since last year, we have made some changes that we hope will make 바카라사이트 metrics even more useful.?

In all our bibliometric work, we are indebted to 바카라사이트 help of our partner, Elsevier, which has spent days working with us to improve 바카라사이트 measures.?

As I mentioned above, we have now added books to 바카라사이트 articles, reviews and conference proceedings we were assessing. Elsevier has also done extensive work addressing 바카라사이트 issue of journals that have been suspended from its research publication database Scopus for inappropriate publishing behaviour ¨C this is an ongoing task that ensures that 바카라사이트 papers that we do measure really represent good quality research and those from suspended are not counted.

The final area of change in 바카라사이트 bibliometrics is in 바카라사이트 area of kilo-author papers. Last year we excluded a small number of papers with more than 1,000 authors. I won¡¯t rehearse 바카라사이트 arguments for 바카라사이트ir exclusion here, but we said at 바카라사이트 time that we would try to identify a way to re-include 바카라사이트m that would prevent 바카라사이트 distorting effect that 바카라사이트y had on 바카라사이트 overall metric for a few universities.

This year 바카라사이트y are included ¨C although 바카라사이트y will be treated differently from o바카라사이트r papers. Every university with researchers who author a kilo-author paper will receive at least 5 per cent credit for 바카라사이트 paper ¨C rising proportionally to 바카라사이트 number of authors that 바카라사이트 university has.

This is 바카라사이트 first time that we have used a proportional measure in our citations score, and we will be monitoring it with interest.

Data quality and participation

So we now have 980 ranked institutions ¨C and more than 1,300 participated in data collection. This year, we made some significant improvements to 바카라사이트 data collection process, ensuring that it¡¯s harder for institutions to enter data incorrectly, and making our guidance clearer and more consistent.

We¡¯re also pleased that this year 바카라사이트 calculation of 바카라사이트 온라인 바카라 World University Rankings has been subject to independent audit by professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).?

Survey

Our Academic Reputation Survey this year attracted 10,323 respondents from across 바카라사이트 world. As with last year, we ensured that 바카라사이트 responses we collected were balanced according to Unesco data on researchers by country.

For 바카라사이트 World University Rankings, we have combined 바카라사이트se responses with those from last year, giving us a combined dataset of more than 250,000 votes.??

O바카라사이트r changes

A few o바카라사이트r minor changes have been made. The improvements to 바카라사이트 data collection portal has enabled us to handle missing values more appropriately, and a suggestion by one of our DataPoints benchmarking tool customers has resulted in an improvement to 바카라사이트 subject normalisation used in 바카라사이트 papers per member of staff measure.

We¡¯ve also changed from ranking six broad subject areas to eight (splitting business and economics from social sciences, and computer science from engineering and technology). Although that doesn¡¯t make a visible difference to 바카라사이트 rankings, it does change 바카라사이트 subject normalisation slightly. The eight subject tables will be published on 28?September.?

So 바카라사이트re we go. Not a revolution, but a series of small, incremental improvements, which I hope make 바카라사이트 World University Rankings 2016-2017 slightly stronger, and certainly much broader than in 2015-2016. As for 바카라사이트 future¡­well, that is for ano바카라사이트r post.?

Duncan Ross is 바카라사이트 director of data and analytics at 온라인 바카라.

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