Proposals for Reforming Journal Metrics

27 May 2019

There has been considerable discussion of the role of bibliometrics in the assessment of research and international ranking systems. It was noted that the current impact factor is based on citations which do not reflect the various journal functions. A document by Paul Wouters, Leiden University, Cassidy R Sugimoto, Indiana University, Vincent Larivière, University of Montreal, Marie E McVeigh, Institute of Scientific Information, Bernd Pulverer, EMBO Journal, Sarah D Rijcke, Leiden University, and Ludo Waltman, Centre for Science and Technology Studies University of Leiden, has proposed the creating of a new set of journal metrics.The comment published in Nature developed from a 2017 workshop in Leiden and argued that metrics should reflect the recognised functions of journals: registration of claims to original research, curation, evaluation, dissemination and archiving.

Reuters European Rankings

The latest table from Reuters Top 100: Europe’s Most Innovative Universities shows little change from last year. The top university is the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in the Flanders region of Belgium. Overall, the most innovative European universities are found in France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Kazakhstan “Top-20”+ ranking

23 May 2019

National ranking of demand of higher educational institutions in Kazakhstan was published by the Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating (IAAR). The ranking is based on adherence to Berlin principles such as transparency, objectivity, verifiability and availability of information sources. It is focused on the quality of educational programs in areas of staff training. Taking into account requests from universities, Kazakhstan "TOP-20" has been carried out, based on quantitative methods of calculation, which allows universities to demonstrate the diversity of educational programs.

Closing remarks by IREG President Luiz Claudio Costa at IREG 2019 Conference in Bologna

Closing remarks by IREG President Luiz Claudio Costa at IREG 2019 Conference in Bologna

Dear Friends,

The IREG 2019 Conference, Rankings: a challenge to Higher Education? will soon conclude. It was a great honor to spend the past three days with friends from different countries, universities and organizations. With your participation the Conference successfully finished all its sessions. On behalf of IREG, I would like to extend our highest respect and most sincere gratitude to the joint efforts of all participants, panelists, rectors, rankers. Please receive our congratulations to the success of this high–level Conference.

Leiden Ranking Introduces Open Access and Gender Indicators

15 May 2019

The Leiden Ranking, published by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University, has included data about scientific publications for several years. This year’s ranking contains lists relating to scientific impact, collaboration, gender and open access publication. The last two are new additions. The scientific impact lists show that Asian, especially Chinese, universities are producing an increasing percentage of the world’s scientific output. Although Harvard still holds first place for total publications there are now nine Chinese, one Korean and one Japanese university in the top twenty.

Robert Morse and Jan Sadlak receive IREG honorary medals

13 May 2019

At the closing session of the IREG 2019 Conference in Bologna on 10 May 2019, Luiz Claudio Costa, President of IREG Observatory presented medals of Honorary IREG Observatory Member to the two outstanding members of the ranking community:

  • Robert J. Morse, Chief Data Strategist at US News & World Report and pioneer in the field of professional university ranking
  • Jan Sadlak, former President of IREG Observatory (2009 – 2018) and international expert on higher education

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