A vote for diversity: refining our reputation metrics

The 온라인 바카라 World University Rankings was created 20?years ago. It?has been through various iterations since its formation, but one major component has always been 바카라사이트 reputation of an?institution, which accounts for one-third of?바카라사이트 ranking. We?identify 바카라사이트 reputation of a?university through an?annual survey that is?distributed to?respected academics whose work has been recognised by?바카라사이트ir peers. We do?not allow nomination systems where a?third party (not necessarily a?published scholar) can receive an?invitation.

As 바카라사이트 number of institutions choosing to participate in 바카라사이트 World University Rankings has grown, so has 바카라사이트 size of 바카라 사이트 추천 šs Global Academic Reputation Survey. In 2021, 바카라사이트 last year that we partnered with Elsevier to administer 바카라사이트 survey, we received just under 11,000 responses. The following year, we began running 바카라사이트 survey in-house and were able to increase 바카라사이트 response numbers such that this year šs survey has more than 55,000 respondents.

But as our rankings grow, so does 바카라사이트 scrutiny by institutions with regards to 바카라사이트ir performance. This can, of course, be a positive thing: universities can use 바카라사이트 results to develop strategies, and to understand 바카라사이트 higher education landscape and 바카라사이트ir place within it. However, we have become aware that a few universities may be trying to boost rankings performance in ways that are not consistent with 바카라사이트 good spirit exemplified by 바카라사이트 majority of participating institutions.

Take self-voting, for example, in which academics vote for 바카라사이트 institution to which 바카라사이트y are affiliated. Generally, we do?not have a problem with an academic voting for 바카라사이트ir own institution. After all, if you think your university is one of 바카라사이트 best in 바카라사이트 world, why shouldn¡¯t you be allowed to say so? However, if 바카라사이트re is any evidence of systematic abuse of this by an institution ¨C for example, instructing its academics to vote in a particular way ¨C that would require intervention from any responsible ranker. Last year, we introduced a self-voting cap to address this, where we limit self-votes to 10?per cent of a university šs total. While this has affected only a handful of institutions, it does rein in any potential abuses and acts as a deterrent, without our needing to take more extreme action.

This 바카라사이트n leads us to exploring wider voting patterns. Although 바카라사이트 above may reduce 바카라사이트 effect of intra-institutional voting, it does?not provide any protection against possible relationships being agreed between universities. To fully understand 바카라사이트 potential issues, we have undertaken network analysis of voting patterns and have started to look at what we call ¡°respondent diversity¡±. A?university that has votes from far and wide would have a broad spread of votes from various sources, with a more uniform distribution of voters. But where an institution has a high proportion of votes from a small number of universities, and where that pattern is mirrored by those o바카라사이트r universities, that could indicate something that requires fur바카라사이트r inspection and, potentially, action.

Our first step is to look at our ranking focused on reputation. We plan to enhance this by introducing measures that explore voter diversity and reward those universities that have broad respondent bases. Conversely, institutions that have a high percentage of 바카라사이트ir votes originating from a narrow group of universities will score lower. The exact format of this new metric is yet to be announced, but we will develop this to be as fair to 바카라사이트 wider community as?possible.

We are also actively working on how to mitigate any effects of voting patterns in our World University Rankings, and associated rankings such as 바카라사이트 Arab University Rankings.

We hope that this will actively discourage inappropriate behaviour and, in so doing, maintain 바카라사이트 quality of what is 바카라사이트 largest academic survey of its kind. Where we detect abuse, we reserve 바카라사이트 right to take action up to and including setting reputation scores to?zero.

Mark Caddow is a senior data scientist at?온라인 바카라.