Freiburg, 11.10.2024
The University of Freiburg is ranked fifth in the top 10% of publications in the research areas of ‘Biomedical and Health Sciences’ and sixth in ‘Life and Earth Sciences’.
The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at the Dutch University of Leiden released the results of its University Ranking 2024 Open Edition. The ranking compares universities worldwide based on published papers and reviews from 2019 to 2022.
In Germany, the University of Freiburg ranks 10th in terms of the total number of publications. In terms of the number of publications that are among the top 10% of the most frequently cited publications in Germany in a subject area, the University of Freiburg ranks eighth across all subjects, and ninth in the share of top 10% most cited publications in relation to the total number of its publications. During the period evaluated, scientists at the University of Freiburg published almost 82% of their publications with partners from other research institutions, nations or industry. The share of Open Access publications is around 76%.
Selected top positions:
In the research field of ‘Biomedical and Health Sciences’, the University of Freiburg is ranked sixth in terms of the total number of publications. In terms of the number of top 10% and top 1% of the most cited publications, it ranks fifth in this area, seventh and ninth in terms of its share of all publications. In terms of the number of collaborative, international and Open Access publications, it ranks eighth.
The ‘Life and Earth Sciences’ at the University of Freiburg are ranked sixth in terms of the number of top 10% most cited publications, and seventh in terms of their share of all publications.
In the research field ‘Mathematics and Computer Sciences’, the University of Freiburg is ranked eighth in terms of citation rate according to the specific subject.
In terms of the proportion of publications with industry collaboration, the research fields of Mathematics and Computer Science, Physical Sciences and Engineering, and Social Sciences and Humanities rank fifth, 10th and eighth.
The University of Freiburg explicitly welcomes the new Open Edition of the renowned CWTS Leiden Ranking, which was introduced in January 2024. The Open Edition is based on full transparency and focuses on data from freely accessible sources such as the bibliographic database OpenAlex, an open and free dataset for scientific publications and associated metadata, and uses only open-source algorithms to calculate bibliographic indicators. As a result, this ranking is an extremely valuable step in the transition of the scientific system towards Open Science and in providing open, accessible and transparent metrics for universities worldwide. It offers a new perspective on research performance and focuses on broader inclusivity and accessibility of data, enabling institutions worldwide to assess their position with greater transparency.
The CWTS-Ranking Open Edition will exist alongside the traditional CWTS-Ranking, which, as in previous years, is based on bibliographic data from Clarivate Analytics’ proprietary Web of Science database.
In total, the current CWTS Leiden Ranking 2024 Open Edition compares the research strength of 1,507 higher education institutions (of which 57 are German universities) from 72 countries based on their publications from 2019 to 2022. It assesses scientific publications in three categories: scientific influence, collaboration with other institutions, and Open Access.