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Too much noise in the Times Higher Education rankings

Author

Listed:
  • Fred L. Bookstein

    (University of Vienna
    University of Washington)

  • Horst Seidler

    (University of Vienna)

  • Martin Fieder

    (University of Vienna)

  • Georg Winckler

    (Rectorate of the University of Vienna)

Abstract

Several individual indicators from the Times Higher Education Survey (THES) data base—the overall score, the reported staff-to-student ratio, and the peer ratings—demonstrate unacceptably high fluctuation from year to year. The inappropriateness of the summary tabulations for assessing the majority of the “top 200” universities would be apparent purely for reason of this obvious statistical instability regardless of other grounds of criticism. There are far too many anomalies in the change scores of the various indices for them to be of use in the course of university management.

Suggested Citation

  • Fred L. Bookstein & Horst Seidler & Martin Fieder & Georg Winckler, 2010. "Too much noise in the Times Higher Education rankings," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 85(1), pages 295-299, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:85:y:2010:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-010-0189-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-010-0189-5
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ludo Waltman & Clara Calero-Medina & Joost Kosten & Ed C.M. Noyons & Robert J.W. Tijssen & Nees Jan Eck & Thed N. Leeuwen & Anthony F.J. Raan & Martijn S. Visser & Paul Wouters, 2012. "The Leiden ranking 2011/2012: Data collection, indicators, and interpretation," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(12), pages 2419-2432, December.
    2. Johan Lyhagen & Per Ahlgren, 2020. "Uncertainty and the ranking of economics journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 2545-2560, December.
    3. Johannes Sorz & Wolfgang Glänzel & Ursula Ulrych & Christian Gumpenberger & Juan Gorraiz, 2020. "Research strengths identified by esteem and bibliometric indicators: a case study at the University of Vienna," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1095-1116, November.
    4. Varshavsky, Alexander & Komkina, Tatiana, 2011. "Analysis of two main university rankings," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 23(3), pages 57-78.
    5. Massucci, Francesco Alessandro & Docampo, Domingo, 2019. "Measuring the academic reputation through citation networks via PageRank," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 185-201.
    6. Kuang-hua Chen & Pei-yu Liao, 2012. "A comparative study on world university rankings: a bibliometric survey," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(1), pages 89-103, July.
    7. Fredrik Niclas Piro & Gunnar Sivertsen, 2016. "How can differences in international university rankings be explained?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 2263-2278, December.
    8. Alan Peter Matthews, 2012. "South African universities in world rankings," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(3), pages 675-695, September.
    9. Hernández-Escobedo, Quetzalcoatl & Perea-Moreno, Alberto-Jesús & Manzano-Agugliaro, Francisco, 2018. "Wind energy research in Mexico," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 719-729.
    10. Vicente Safón, 2019. "Inter-ranking reputational effects: an analysis of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE) reputational relationship," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(2), pages 897-915, November.

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