Webometrics Ranking of World Universities

The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as Ranking Web of Universities, is a ranking system for the world's universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web content (number of web pages and files) and the visibility and impact of these web publications according to the number of external inlinks (site citations) they received. The ranking is published by the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) located in Madrid.

The aim of the Ranking is to improve the presence of the academic and research institutions on the Web and to promote the open access publication of scientific results.[1] The ranking started in 2004 and is updated every January and July. As of 2021 it provides Web indicators for more than 31,000 universities worldwide.[2]

The Webometrics Ranking of Business Schools is a similar ranking of the world's Business Schools.

Objectives

The Webometrics University Ranking is a ranking system based on university web presence, visibility and web access.[3] This ranking system measures how strongly a university is present in the web by its own web domain, sub-pages, rich files, scholarly articles etc.[3] The central hypothesis of this approach is that web presence is a reliable indicator of the global performance and prestige of the universities and as such, is an indirect way to measure all the university missions (teaching, research, transfer). Although the Web is universally recognized as one of the most relevant tools for scholarly communication, it is still very rare these indicators are used for the evaluation of the scientific research and the academic performance of universities. Webometric indicators are provided to show the commitment of the institutions to Web publication.

A research paper in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Scientometrics found "reasonable similarities" between the Webometrics rankings and other prominent university rankings despite using a very different set of features to determine each university's rank. These similarities were increased when the comparison was limited solely to European universities.[4]

Top universities are publishing millions of pages produced by dozens of departments and services, hundreds of research teams and thousands of scholars. Strong web presence informs of a wide variety of factors that are clearly correlated with the global quality of the institution: widespread availability of computer resources available, global internet literacy, policies promoting democracy and freedom of speech, competition for international visibility or support of open access initiatives, among others.

Impact

In Namibia, the Webometrics list is frequently used in public interaction, particularly with respect to the country's two main state-funded institutions of tertiary education, the University of Namibia and the Polytechnic of Namibia.[5][6]

The 2009-2011 rankings have received significant press coverage and individual rankings have been published on the websites of universities in countries in the Middle East,[7] East Asia,[8][9] Europe,[10] Canada[11] and Africa.[12]

The Webmometrics data were referred to as a reference point to achieve better online visibility and performance of higher education institutions.[13][14]

Structure and contents

There are pages for several regional Rankings:

- Universities. The main worldwide list of 30000 universities build from a catalog of various institutions is also offered as regional lists:

  • USA & Canada
  • Europe, including Turkey, Caucasus & Israel
    • Central & Eastern Europe
  • Asia, excluding the Middle East
    • South East Asia
    • South Asia, Indian Subcontinent
  • Arab & Persian World (North Africa & Middle East)
  • Africa
  • Latin America: Central, South America & Caribbean
  • Oceania

Authorship

The Webometrics Ranking is produced by the Cybermetrics Lab, a unit of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the main public research body in Spain. The Lab acts as an Observatory of the Science and Technology on the Web. Isidro F. Aguillo is the head of the Laboratory and the editor-in-chief of the Rankings.

Notes and references
  • Rankings by Webometrics in this article are licensed CC-BY 2.5 which permits reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. All relevant terms must be followed.
  1. "In The Know: Webometrics Ranking of World Universities". Philippine Daily Inquirer. 6 September 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  2. "Methodology". Webometrics Ranking of World Universities. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  3. "Webometrics ranking". webometrics.info. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  4. Aguillo; et al. (February 23, 2010). "Comparing university rankings". Scientometrics. Akadémiai Kiadó, co-published with Springer Science+Business Media B.V., Formerly Kluwer Academic Publishers B.V. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  5. Enos Kiremire (21 August 2009). "African University Ranking Sub-Saharan Africa: (July 2009: University of Namibia)". New Era. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012.
  6. Enos Kiremire (12 March 2010). "Unam could move to top 10". New Era. Archived from the original on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
  7. "Webometrics' Ranking Reflects King Saud University's Significant International Presence". King Saud University. 2 August 2011. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  8. "Webometrics Web Ranking 2011: National Taiwan University Top In Asia". Asian Scientist. 2 August 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  9. "NCKU Ranks 80th in Webometrics Ranking of World Universities". National Cheung Kung University. 20 February 2011. Archived from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  10. Technology, Warsaw University of. "The Warsaw University of Technology in "Webometrics Ranking of World Universities"". Warsaw University of Technology (in Polish). Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  11. "Université de Montréal among Webometrics Ranking of World Universities". Universite de Montreal. 17 February 2009. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  12. Peterking Quaye (1 March 2011). "Liberian Universities appearance in Webometrics ranking of World's Universities". Shout Africa. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  13. Cooper, Timothy (2014-10-27). "Australian universities' online visibility met with criticism in new Webometrics rankings". SI News. Study International. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  14. Khamala, Dorothy Flora; Makori, Elisha O.; Njiraine, Dorothy Muthoni (December 2018). "Webometrics Ranking and Its Relationship to Quality Education and Research in Academic Institutions in Kenya". Library Philosophy and Practice. Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. eISSN 1522-0222.
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