Department of Chemistry

 RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The University of California, Riverside was recognized this week as one of the top 150 universities in the world with the release of the annual Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Overall, UCR was placed in the 101–150 range among the 500 ranked schools. The survey, which uses transparent methodology and reliable data and bills itself as “the most trustworthy precursor of global rankings of the world’s top 500 universities,” does not provide numerical rankings outside the top 100 schools.

Other highlights included a ranking of 59^th in the world in papers published in the publications Science and Nature, with the measurement being taken over a five-year-period. UCR was ranked 78th in the category of “highly cited researchers,” which takes 21 different subject categories into consideration.

“The ARWU rankings, and other similar rankings about scientific impact such as the Leiden Ranking, indicate that UC Riverside is flourishing in its fundamental mission as a research university,” Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Dallas Rabenstein said.

“Our students benefit through exposure to top researchers who enhance the quality of their education. Our community and society as a whole benefits through continued work addressing pressing social challenges,” he added.

UCR received high rankings in several broad subject fields, including:

• 76–100 in life & agricultural science
• 101–150 in engineering/computer science
• 101–150 in natural sciences and math

In narrower subject fields UCR ranked:

• 51–75 in chemistry
• 101–150 in physics
• 151–200 in computer science.

According Assistant Executive Vice Chancellor William Kidder, the rankings also shows areas where the university can improve.

“For example, one area that we should see improvement in the future is an increase in our proportion of graduate students, which is consistent with our UCR 2020 Strategic Plan,” Kidder said.

Earlier this year, UCR was ranked 35th overall in the Leiden Rankings, an annual survey by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University that measures per capita scientific impact.