The methodology applies five indicators to rank performance in a specific academic subject, namely -   Number of publications , Normalized Citation Impact, percentage of internationally collaborated papers,  publications in top journals, and Awards. Four of these indicators are based on Clarivate’s InCites database.

In this year’s round 1400 institutions from 80 countries made it into the league table. American universities which appeared 3857 in the listings, top the ranks with American institutions claiming 32 top positions in the 52 subjects. China follows down the line with eight institutions taking first place, and the Netherlands with five institutions in first place. The top university this year was Harvard who performed best in 15 subjects, followed by MIT who ranked best in five subjects. UK’s Oxford, and Delft University of technology as well as Wageningen University and Rotterdam’s Erasmus University claim more than one top spot in the subject ranking. Singapore with its Nanyang Technological University also claims two number one places. European universities from Germany, Austria, France and Italy are well represented in the ranking.

ShanghaiRanking began its first efforts in 2009 to rank world universities by particular subjects. Reaching 52 subjects this year the ranking has significantly grown since its start with five general subjects, and compared to seven Engineering subjects in last years edition. 

ShanghaiRanking - Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2017 (full report)