Thomson Reuters Releases 2015 Academic Reputation Survey Findings
The 2015 report was released earlier today and is titled, Exploring Scholarly Trends and Shifts Impacting the Academic Reputation of the World’s Leading Universities. The full text is linked below.
About the Report (via TR)
This robust analysis of survey results over a five-year period (2010-2014) identifies the key trends and shifts across the global research landscape that influence an institution’s academic standing.
Exploring Scholarly Trends and Shifts Impacting the Academic Reputation of the World’s Leading Universities is fueled by the unique and comprehensive results of Thomson Reuters Academic Reputation Surveys (2010-2014), including the insights of 65,000 academics and is representative of 6,500 universities and 105 areas of study.
Highlights
The study also explores sharp regional differences and global perceptions that do not always align with an institution’s research output or strengths. For example, while responses differ within specific disciplines, participants have generally tended to identify a small number of well-recognized universities as the leaders across six major subject areas, including arts and humanities, medicine and health, life sciences, physical sciences, engineering and technology and social sciences. While the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was not regarded as highly in medicine and health, as it was within other major disciplines, this area of study was still listed within its subject mix despite the institution not having a school of medicine. This is reflective of the interdisciplinary nature of science.
Some of the study’s key findings include:
- Harvard University is the overall global leader-of-the-pack over the five-year period
- New York University (NYU) and King’s College London experienced the greatest upswing in academic reputation
- Multidisciplinary universities tend to have a stronger general reputation than specialty institutions, but a granular approach to a subject can lead to reputational excellence within that discipline
- Regional perspectives often contrast with global perception
- With some exceptions, the volume of a university’s research generally correlates with reputation, including papers co-authored with researchers in other regions
The report is organized into the following sections:
- Most Improved Universities
- Leading Universities By Subject Area
- Regional Leaders In Academic Reputation
The report also includes four case studies:
- Harvard University: A Detailed Breakdown by Subject Areas Case
- Leading Universities in Business Studies
- University of Sao Paulo: Regional Versus Global Perception and Research Output Versus Reputation
- University of Melbourne: Reputation Versus Publication
Direct to Full Text Report (11 pages; PDF)
Filed under: Academic Libraries, Journal Articles, Public Libraries, School Libraries

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.