The latest edition of University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) provides more evidence that Harvard’s international research dominance is slipping.

URAP is published by Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. It is a research-based rank derived from the InCites database. The six indicators in the ranking are:

Current Scientific Productivity measured by articles published in 2020

Research Impact measured by citations 2016-2020

Scientific Productivity measured by total documents 2016-2020

Research Quality measured by total article impact 2016-2020

Research Quality measured by total citation impact 2016-2020

International Acceptance measured by international collaboration 2016-2020.

These rankings tend to measure quantity of research output so the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan, and the University of Washington do particularly well. French universities seem to have profited from the restructuring of the last few years. Université Paris Saclay is now in 13th place, Université Sorbonne 18th, and Université de Paris 24th.

While Harvard continues to hang on to the first place, it is increasingly challenged by the leading Chinese universities. Shanghai Jiao Tong University is now just a single point behind Harvard for Articles and Tsinghua, Shanghai Jiao Tong and Zhejiang Universities are now in the overall top twenty with Peking just outside.