QS World University Rankings methodology utilizes a citations per faculty indicator and this measure continues to make up 20% of an institution’s possible score. For the first time we have introduced a methodology, detailed here, to correct for the bias at the faculty level which favours institutions generating large volumes of citations in the life sciences in particular.
The effect of this methodology change on large universities with a comprehensive range of subject provision has been broadly neutral. This measure was designed to counteract the dominance of life science in citation count, so some universities with a strong emphasis on biomedical sciences have lost the advantage afforded by the previous approach.
