El Mercurio Ranking is divided into three sections:
1. Undergraduate Teaching Ranking,
2. a set of four rankings, where the universities are classified and ordered according to their different institutional foci:

• Group 1) Teaching Universities: lacks doctoral programs and publishes an annual average of less than 15 documents (in the last 5 years) in internationally indexed journals.
• Group 2) Teaching Universities with Projection in Research: lacks doctoral programs and publishes an annual average of 15 or more papers (in the last 5 years) in indexed journals internationally.
• Group 3) Universities of Research and Doctorates in Selected Areas: offers less than seven doctoral programs in less than three subject areas.
• Group 4) Universities of Research and Doctorates: offers seven or more doctoral programs in three or more subject areas.

3. an analysis of relevant indicators of 14 non-traditional subjects that are gaining interest among applicants.

Undergraduate Teaching Ranking considers the following indicators:
Quality of students (15%)
Average PSU Score (50%) and Average High School Grades (50%) of the cohort entered in the previous year, adjusted according to the respective enrollment percentage range that was used as a selectivity factor.
Quality of academic staff (25%)
Percentage of academic staff hired for more than half-time (50%) and percentage of academic staff with PhD (50%).
Teaching quality (40%)
Students per academic staff hired for more than half-time (20%), average number of years of accreditation of the programs, adjusted by the percentage of accredited programs (60%), percentage of retention to the second year (10%), the gap between theoretical and real duration of the program (10%).
Quality of institutional management (20%)
Years of institutional accreditation (80%), operating income per student (10%) and percentage of accredited programs (10%).

A set of four rankings, where the universities are classified and ordered according to their different institutional foci:
The methodology for 1) Teaching Universities and 2) Teaching Universities with Projection in Research is the same as the methodology for the Undergraduate Teaching Ranking described above.
The methodology for 3) Universities of Research and Doctorates in Selected Areas and 4) University of Research and Doctorates considers the indicators included in the methodology for the Undergraduate Teaching Ranking with different weights assigned: Quality of students (weight 15%), Quality of academic staff (15%), Teaching quality (30%), Quality of institutional management (15%) and some other indicators:
Quality of research (15%)
Publications per academic staff (20%), number of citations per publication (30%), percentage of projects approved in the Fondecyt regular call for proposals (25%), average resources for research assigned per academic staff with doctorates (25%).
Quality of doctorates (15%)
Percentage of accredited doctoral programs and average years of accreditation of doctoral programs (adjusted by the percentage of accredited programs), with a weighting of 50% each.

An analysis of relevant indicators of 14 non-traditional subjects that are gaining interest among applicants:
The rankings offer a look at the most relevant indicators of the academic offer available in 14 non-traditional subjects. They consider: 
Indicators of the quality of the institution and academic staff
Years of accreditation: It is the result of the career accreditation process, expressed by the number of years (from 1 to 7) that the CNA grants to them. Good indicator of the degree of compliance with certain criteria and basic quality standards required.
Real and nominal duration of the program: Measured in semesters, they indicate the real time it takes for a student to graduate, versus the time theoretically foreseen in the curriculum. 
Indicators on economic aspects
Fee: Total annual cost of a program. It allows estimating the total investment in studies by multiplying this value by the years of actual duration of the degree.
Income: Estimate of the range of gross income that the future professional will receive, on average, the fourth year after graduation from the degree. 
Employability: Percentage of professionals who receive income a year after graduation.