U of T is home to 20% of Canada’s most influential scientific minds and ranks 7th in the world for highly cited papers
The University of Toronto is a world-leader in research and innovation and is Canada’s pre-eminent research- and innovation-intensive university. Our impressive performance nationally and internationally in research and innovation is a reflection of the excellence of our faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, their collaborations with leading researchers and institutions world-wide, and our strong partnered research. Key measures of our researchers’ excellence include:
- our global and national rankings,
- their receipt of prestigious national and international honours,
- their ability to secure competitive, peer-reviewed research grants, and
- their ability to apply their knowledge in the marketplace.
Exceptional performance and reputation across a breadth of disciplines
Why do rankings matter? Global rankings tell us how we perform over time, how the world perceives our institution, and how we compare to the best institutions around the world. The most highly ranked institutions are more successful at recruiting and retaining the best and brightest faculty and students.
U of T is the only Canadian institution to be ranked in the top 35 institutions globally in all premier world rankings. We are the highest-ranked Canadian university in the international rankings based upon research field, and are one of only a handful of institutions that excel across all disciplines. U of T consistently ranks 1st among Canadian universities in a broad range of disciplines. Our consistent ranking among the world’s top research institutions, across diverse ranking systems, is a strong indicator of the broad strength of U of T research.
U of T rankings in the most prominent global rankings systems.
- Canadian Ranking
| World Rankings | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. National Taiwan University Ranking | 9 1 | 7 1 | 8 1 | 4 1 | 3 1 |
| 2. US News Best Global Universities (2016) | -- | -- | -- | 14 1 | 16 1 |
| 3. Times Higher Education World University Rankings | 19 1 | 21 1 | 20 1 | 20 1 | 19 1 |
| 4. Academic Ranking of World Universities | 26 1 | 27 1 | 28 1 | 24 1 | 25 1 |
| 5. QS World University Ranking* | 23 1 | 19 1 | 17 1 | 20 1 | 34 2 |
| 6. Thomas Reuters World's Most Innovative Universities | -- | -- | -- | -- | 38 1 |
- Based on Web of Science™ bibliometric measures including publication and citation counts, average citations per publication, h-index, highly cited publications and articles in high-impact journals [Methodology].
- Begun in 2014. Based on a series of Web of Science™ bibliometric measures, reputational surveys, and counts of PhDs awarded [Methodology].
- Based on reputational surveys, internationalization measures, average class size and metrics normalized over faculty count: PhDs awarded, publications, citations, overall institutional income and research income from all sources and industry. Bibliometric measures were from the Web of Science™ until 2014 and are now from Scopus™ [Methodology].
- Conducted by researchers at the Center for World-Class Universities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University; based on faculty and alumni who are Nobel Prize and Fields medal winners, researchers named to the Thomson Reuters Highly Cited list and Web of Science™ bibliometric measures including articles counts and additional weight given to articles in Science and Nature [Methodology].
- Based on citations normalized by faculty count, reputational surveys, average class size and internationalization. A significant methodological change was implemented with the 2015 QS overall ranking in that the citations per faculty score was segmented according to the rankings’ five faculty area as a way to equalize the influence of each [Methodology].
- Begun in 2015. Based on Web of Science™ bibliometrics and number of patents filed [Methodology].
U of T’s contributions to research in all fields are magnified by the rare breadth and depth of academic excellence concentrated on our three campuses and nine partner hospitals. Nowhere is this excellence more evident than in the major global rankings according to research field, in which U of T places no lower than 3rd in Canada and 50th in the world. U of T’s performance also stands out in many of the 40 individual subject areas encompassed within the six broad fields reported on in the global rankings. Click here to see the more detailed U of T 2015 Subject Ranking Results.
U of T 2015 major field ranking results
- World Rank
- 1 – 10
- 11 – 20
- 21 – 30
- 31 – 50
- Canada Rank
- 1 – 3
| QS 2015 | Shanghai (ARWU) 2015 | THE 2015 | NTU 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life Sciences & Medicine 12 1 | Eng & Computer Science 23 1 | Clinical, Pre-clinical & Health 11 1 | Clinical Medicine 3 1 |
| Arts & Humanities 22 1 | Clinical Med & Pharmacy 28 1 | Arts & Humanities 14 1 | Life Sciences 7 1 |
| Natural Sciences 31 1 | Social Sciences 29 1 | Life Sciences 17 1 | Social Sciences 10 1 |
| Social Sciences & Management 41 1 | Natural Sciences & Math 37 1 | Social Sciences 19 1 | Natural Sciences 28 1 |
| Eng & Tech 49 1 | Life & Agricultural Sciences 38 2 | Physical Sciences 20 1 | Engineering 39 1 |
| -- | -- | Eng & Tech 25 1 | Agriculture 39 3 |
Influential Research
U of T ranks among the top 10 most influential universities in the world on a prestigious list that also includes Harvard, UC Berkeley, Oxford, Stanford, MIT and Cambridge.
Heat Matrix Showing Rank on Top 10 Percent Cited Publications, 2010 to 2014
Numbers show ranks among all universities.
Not shown, top ranked university in Computer Science: Nanyang Technological University; Chemistry: Nanyang Technological University; Space Science: California Institute of Technology; Geoscience: University of Colorado Boulder; Mathematics: King Abdulaziz University; Engineering: Tsinghua University; Materials Science: Nanyang Technological University; Agriculture: Wageningen University and Research Center.
Data source: InCites (InCites dataset) updated Dec. 14, 2015 with Web of Science™ content indexed through Oct. 9, 2015.
Limited to articles, review articles and book chapters with at least one author affiliated with a university.
Twenty of the fields are from the Essential Science Indicators schema; Arts & Humanities is from the GIPP schema.
Analysis by the University of Toronto. InCites is available to all U of T student, faculty and staff to generate similar analyses. Access requires registering for the Web of Science under “Sign In” at the top right corner of the home page.