THOMSON REUTERS ANNOUNCES RANKING OF TOP 20 JAPANESE RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS FOR ALL FIELDS 1998-2008

University of Tokyo Retains No.1 Ranking Among National Institutes And Moves Up To No.11 In World Ranking

 

Tokyo, JAPAN — April 13, 2009 — The Healthcare and Science business of Thomson Reuters today announced the annual Top 20 ranking of Japanese research institutions for all fields based on citation data of academic papers published from January 1998 to December 2008. This includes the Top 10 ranking for each of the four fields in which Japan’s contribution is particularly significant.

Methodology:
Database used for Analysis: Essential Science IndicatorsSM
ESI is a statistical database providing data on publication and citation trends, which accumulates information on the researchers and research institutions ranked within the top 1 percent worldwide based on the number of citations received.
http://www.thomsonscientific.jp/products/esi/index.shtml

Period analyzed: 11 years from 1998-2008

Analysis:
Among world research institution rankings, only the Japanese institutions were extracted and re-tabulated in order to identify the top 20 Japanese research institutions (Table 1).  Using the 22 categories defined in Essential Science Indicators, four categories (Material Science, Physics, Chemistry and Biology/Biochemistry) were identified where Japanese institutions were ranked within the top 5 and top 10 in the world (Table 2,3,4,5).  Each table shows the domestic ranking in Japan as well as the worldwide ranking.

Table 1: General (Out of 4,102 Institutions)

Rank

World Rank

Institution Name

No. of Citations

No. of Papers

Average No. of Citations

1

11

University of Tokyo

984,934

72,683

13.55

2

30

Kyoto University

684,431

53,017

12.91

3

34

Osaka University

604,720

45,532

13.28

4

64

Tohoku University

443,396

42,914

10.33

5

80

Japan Science and Technology Agency (Independent Administrative Institution)

392,578

21,677

18.11

6

108

Nagoya University

317,667

28,496

11.15

7

120

Kyushu University

291,159

29,663

9.82

8

134

Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Independent Administrative Institution)

275,262

17,546

15.69

9

144

Hokkaido University

262,528

28,929

9.07

10

165

Tokyo Institute of Technology

243,188

25,340

9.60

11

171

National Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (Independent Administrative Institution)

234,218

25,214

9.29

12

231

University of Tsukuba

184,432

18,237

10.11

13

283

Hiroshima University

147,939

16,572

8.93

14

290

Keio University

145,162

13,630

10.65

15

298

National Institutes of Natural Science*

140,851

9,670

14.57

16

305

Chiba University

137,228

12,668

10.83

17

335

Okayama University

120,826

13,701

8.82

18

339

Kobe University

119,351

11,734

10.17

19

376

Tokyo Medical and Dental University

107,046

7,930

13.50

20

389

Kanazawa University

102,682

9,426

10.89

For Tables 2-5, please refer to PDF.
Highlights of Analysis

  • It is apparent that the overall number of both research papers and citations has been gradually increasing in the past few years, and that research output from Japan’s top research institutions has been growing more active.
  • No.1 and No.2 national rankings in all four general categories are the same as last year. In addition, there is no change in the overall ranking up to the 13th place. According to ranking by category, there is no significant change to research institutions closer to the top of the Japanese rankings.
  • The government-affiliated research institutions such as Japan Science and Technology Agency (Independent Administrative Institution), Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Independent Administrative Institution), National Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (Independent Administrative Institution) remain strong in the rankings. .
  • In terms of world ranking, the University of Tokyo has been gradually moving up since its No.19 ranking in 2002. It was ranked No.11 this year, one position up from No. 12 in 2008. Tohoku University was placed No.83 in 2002 and ranked much higher up at No. 64 this year. In addition, Keio University and  Okayama University show an outstanding improvement in their world ranking alongside the independent government agencies mentioned above.

Note to Editors:
Research papers that are cited amongst the world’s top 1%
Essential Science Indicators is used by research institutions around the world; it is a statistical analysis database for measuring research performance through publication and citation trends.  At the top of each table, 621 institutions were extracted and collected as being in the world’s top 1% based on the number of citations received. For more information on Essential Science Indicators, visit http://sciencewatch.com/about/met/.

Organizational Strategy and Institutional Ranking
The ranking of research institutions in Essential Science Indicators is generated by processing affiliation information as described by authors.  By unifying subsidiary and former organization names and reflecting this in the ranking, some research institutions can appear higher in the rankings as a whole.  It is not unusual for research institution to utilize this kind of objective data in their organizational strategy.

How to interpret a No.1 world ranking
The Max Planck institute in Germany and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are cases in point.  As a result of unifying various research institutions under the umbrella of the Max Planck Society or the Chinese Academy of Science, they rank in the top 1% of many categories in Essential Science Indicators.  Of the four categories addressed in this analysis, the Max Planck Institute maintained its world’s top ranking from the previous year in Physics, and Chinese Academy of Sciences in Materials Science and Chemistry.  However, this is the result of unifying all of the research institutions umbrellas affiliated.  It is not accurate therefore, to surmise or conclude  that the research performance of universities such as Tohoku University (in Material Science) and the University of Tokyo (in Physics), which were ranked No.1 in the world until 2004, have declined.

About this Ranking Analysis
The analysis reflects any mergers of universities or research institutions through the end of December 2008; in cases where there were multiple ranked institutions under subsidiary organization or former organization names, they were standardized under the current name of its parent organizations.  Research institutions with an asterisk in the tables indicate such standardization was applied.  Each table shows the ranking by the total number of citations received by papers published by each institution (Number of Citations).  It is also meaningful to sort the ranking data based on other criteria such as the number of papers published or the average number of citations (the number of citations per paper).  None of the rankings is absolute, but serves as a general indication as to which research institutions are producing outstanding research work that is attracting worldwide attention.

Noteworthy papers by and interviews with Japanese researchers are available through KnowledgeLink on http://www.thomsonscientific.jp/knowledgelink/esi-topics/

For 2008 Japanese Institution Rankings, please visit:
http://www.thomsonscientific.jp/news/press/esi2008/index.shtml

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