UC San Diego One of Top 20 Best Research Universities in the World

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UC San Diego was ranked the 19th best research university in the world in the Leiden Ranking 2011/2012 by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies of Leiden University in the Netherlands.

The University of California, San Diego is ranked the 19^th best research university by a new global ranking aiming to provide highly accurate measurements of the scientific impact of universities and their contributions to scientific collaboration.

The Leiden Ranking 2011/2012 by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies of Leiden University in the Netherlands measured the scientific performance of 500 major universities worldwide.

“This global ranking demonstrates UC San Diego’s preeminence as a research powerhouse,” said Sandra Brown, UC San Diego’s vice chancellor for research. “UC San Diego surpassed $1 billion in contract and grant activity in the fiscal year 2009-10, and nearly matched that amount in 2010-11, reaching more than $960 million. It is wonderful to have UC San Diego’s research impact recognized globally.”

The rankings are based on publications in Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science from the sciences and the social sciences. According to the Centre for Science and Technology Studies, the rankings were derived by a sophisticated set of bibliometric indicators that rate scientific performance. Bibliometrics are a set of methods to quantitatively analyze scientific and technological literature that many research fields use to explore the impact of their field.

According to University World News, the Leiden Ranking’s reliance on bibliometrics is similar to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities in which UC San Diego is ranked the 3^rd best public university. 

Of the top 20 universities ranked by Leiden, 18 are from the United States including UC San Diego and four other University of California campuses.

For more information on the Leiden Rankings, go to http://www.leidenranking.com/default.aspx.