Quality publications and international cooperation result in further UP success in rankings

Outstanding publications and active cooperation with international researchers – these are the assets of Palacký University Olomouc, as confirmed by the international CWTS Leiden Ranking 2018, which has evaluated almost one thousand universities. Thanks to high quality articles in the top 5% of highly cited publications, UP won out even over Charles University in Prague and Masaryk University in Brno, ranking number one on the national level. In the category of publications based on international collaboration, UP placed at number 99 in Europe and 126 in the world, being exceeded domestically only by Czech Technical University in Prague.

“The results in the ranking are very pleasing, since just like in the previous years, our university has been able to maintain its dominant position on the national level in the category of most cited publications in several disciplines, which among other things confirms our emphasis on research. Mainly our progress made in international cooperation deserves acknowledgement, because we have advanced fifty positions upwards in the global comparison in the humanities and social sciences. So this is proof that even the humanities and social sciences significantly grow in their creative performance. This is a positive signal especially with respect to the future strategy of science and research at UP for the period after 2021, which we are currently elaborating,” said UP Rector Jaroslav Miller. 

Great impact of Olomouc scientists

In addition to the overall placement of UP among the five per cent of the most cited works in all fields, UP scientists in particular disciplines also performed very well. In the ranking according to PP TOP 1% with no minimal publication output, UP ranked among the Czech universities best in the field of Physical Sciences and Engineering, where it ranked 139th in Europe and 317th in the world. The university did equally well in the field of Life and Earth Sciences, ranking 171st in Europe and 402nd in the world.

Abundant international contacts are a big advantage

The extensive international cooperation of scientific teams also bore fruit, even in the social sciences. UP scored above all in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities, where it jumped to 32nd place in Europe and 68th in the world in the evaluation of publications resulting from international collaborations. In the global comparison, however, UP improved year-on-year by 50 positions in this respect. In the domestic comparison, Palacký University ranked first in Physical Sciences and Engineering (59th place in Europe and 75th in the world) and also in Life and Earth Sciences (119th place in Europe and 143rd in the world).

“One of the important achievements is also our second place among Czech universities in the field of international cooperation, where we placed behind CTU, which proves that even a university outside the capital is able to significantly cooperate abroad and that foreign partners are interested. The emphasis on internationalisation is one of the pillars of our long-term objective, it is part of two main strategic goals, and the gradual systematic steps in establishing quality conditions for education and teaching of foreign students and staff prove that we are advancing in the right direction in this respect,” said Hana Marešová, Vice-Rector for Strategic Planning and Quality at UP.

This international ranking listed almost one thousand universities, out of which seven were Czech. The ranking is conducted on the basis of the Web of Science database for the years 2014–2017. Unlike other rankings, it does not rely on reputation surveys and the quality of education at institutions. Evaluation is being made in four areas; in addition to the traditional Scientific Impact and Collaboration, new areas have been introduced this year: Open Access Publishing and Gender Diversity. UP is successful even in the new indicator of Open Access Publishing, being number one in the country and 277 in the world.

More detailed information is available here.