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Deciphering the US News and World Report Ranking of US Chemistry Graduate Programs

Author

Listed:
  • Masaru Kuno

    (University of Notre Dame
    University of Notre Dame)

  • Mary Prorok

    (University of Notre Dame)

  • Shubin Zhang

    (University of Notre Dame)

  • Huy Huynh

    (University of Notre Dame)

  • Thurston Miller

    (University of Notre Dame)

Abstract

The US News & World Reports (US News) regularly publishes highly influential rankings of graduate programs in the sciences. These rankings are exclusively based on reputational surveys sent to a small subset of faculty experts in a given discipline, namely Directors of Graduate Studies and Department Chairs. No other quantitative metric is used to establish a graduate program’s rank. If reputation alone establishes US News rank, what quantifiable metrics underlie it? The question is an important one when considering that these rankings are widely consulted within higher education circles. These can impact a particular program’s ability to attract top faculty, graduate students, and other researchers who directly contribute to the program’s collective publication, citation, and funding profiles. In this study, we focus on US News’ most recently published peer assessment scores for chemistry graduate programs and establish seven departmental and institutional metrics that correlate with these scores. We find that central to US News rank is a chemistry program’s research visibility and impact as quantified by the median career h-index of its tenured and tenure track (T/TT) faculty, departmental T/TT size, and per capita research expenditures. These three predictor variables account for approximately 84% of the total variability in reported average peer assessment scores. When prestige indicators such as institutional membership in the American Association of Universities and percentage T/TT faculty membership in the US National Academy of Sciences are included, over 88% of the variability in average peer assessment score is accounted for. In whole, a seven-variable statistical model we develop explains nearly 91% of the variability in US News’ average peer assessment scores, which form the basis for its ranking of graduate US chemistry programs. We also explore the possibility that an anchoring effect influences reputational scores by analyzing how rank change complementary cumulative distribution functions evolve with time, following release of the initial 1994 US News and World Reports chemistry graduate program rankings. We find that the likelihood of rank changes increase with time with a t $$_\text {1/2}$$ 1/2 of $$\sim$$ ∼ 20 years.

Suggested Citation

  • Masaru Kuno & Mary Prorok & Shubin Zhang & Huy Huynh & Thurston Miller, 2022. "Deciphering the US News and World Report Ranking of US Chemistry Graduate Programs," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(5), pages 2131-2150, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:127:y:2022:i:5:d:10.1007_s11192-022-04317-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-022-04317-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lokman I. Meho & Kiduk Yang, 2007. "Impact of data sources on citation counts and rankings of LIS faculty: Web of science versus scopus and google scholar," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 58(13), pages 2105-2125, November.
    2. Izzat Alsmadi & Z. W. Taylor & Joshua Childs, 2020. "U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings: Which institutional metrics contribute to sustained stratification?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(3), pages 1851-1869, September.
    3. Themis Lazaridis, 2010. "Ranking university departments using the mean h-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 82(2), pages 211-216, February.
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