Since 2007, the National Taiwan University (NTU) has developed a comprehensive ranking system for universities worldwide, evaluating their performance based on the quantity and quality of scientific publications. This system annually introduces the top 500 universities globally, and also evaluating approximately 800 leading institutions across six fields and 14 distinct subjects.
The primary objective of the NTU Ranking System is to assess institutions' scientific output, particularly their research performance, through objective and unbiased indicators. The evaluation process encompasses eight specific metrics, organized into three key axes: research productivity, research impact, and research excellence.
Research productivity, accounting for 25% of the overall evaluation, includes metrics such as the volume of articles published over the past 11 years (weighted at 10%) and the number of articles published in the most recent year (weighted at 15%). Research impact, which contributes 35%, considers citations amassed over the past 11 years (15%), citations from the last two years (10%), and the average citations from the past 11 years (10%). Finally, research excellence, comprising 40% of the total score, encompasses the H-index value from the past two years (10%), the number of highly cited articles over the past decade (15%), and the count of articles published in high-impact journals over the past two years (15%).
To qualify for evaluation, institutions must rank among the top 900 out of 4,000 establishments listed in the Essential Science Indicators database. The assessment covers various fields, including agriculture, medicine, engineering, life sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences, with specific subjects encompassing agricultural sciences, civil engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, computer science, electronic engineering, environment and ecology, geography, materials science, mathematics, mechanical engineering, pharmacology and toxicology, physics, and plant and animal sciences.
The NTU ultimately publishes a final list of the world's premier institutions based on the indicators of research productivity, impact, and excellence, alongside the eight specific measures outlined. According to the 2024 report from the "World University Paper Performance Rankings,"also known as the National Taiwan University Rankings, 21 Iranian institutions are represented among the top 1200 global universities.
Moreover, the 2024 rankings reveal that Harvard University holds the top position, achieving the highest score. Following Harvard are Stanford University, University of London, University of Toronto, University of Oxford, Johns Hopkins University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, University of Cambridge, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which occupy the second through tenth places, respectively.
Total score and rank of Iranian institutions in the World University Scientific Paper Performance Ranking System in 2024