Leiden Ranking Open Edition 2024 – Australian results

By Tim Winkler
January 30, 2024

The CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition relies on data from the OpenAlex database and provides a multidimensional view of university performance – with indices across collaboration, scientific impact and open access.

It is important to note that these numbers are higher than those in the publications index because of the fractional counting approach on the impact metric. In the publications impact table, the ranking divides through by the proportional contribution of each institution. So, for example, the University of Melbourne has 17,743 “full paper equivalents” in the impact ranking and a total of 44,906 listed in the collaboration ranking, measuring papers the University is affiliated with.

Scientific Publication rankings

Total publication rankings

This list reflects which universities produced the most research papers between 2018 and 2021, as measured in the OpenAlex catalog.

CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition – Publications 2018-21

	University	Number of Publications	No. of outputs in top 10% by citation	Proportion of outputs in top 10%
1	University of Melbourne	17743	2409	13.6%
2	University of Sydney	17535	2237	12.8%
3	Monash University	15437	2120	13.7%
4	University of Queensland	14394	1909	13.3%
5	University of New South Wales	13713	1981	14.4%
6	University of Adelaide	7208	913	12.7%
7	University of Western Australia	7056	828	11.7%
8	Australian National University	6533	823	12.6%
9	Deakin University	6182	823	13.3%
10	Griffith University	6112	734	12.0%
11	University of Technology Sydney	6040	973	16.1%
12	Curtin University	5624	747	13.3%
13	Queensland University of Technology	5574	671	12.0%
14	Macquarie University	5237	691	13.2%
15	RMIT University	5185	769	14.8%
16	University of Wollongong	4654	610	13.1%
17	University of Newcastle	4292	473	11.0%
18	University of Tasmania	3903	432	11.1%
19	La Trobe University	3821	462	12.1%
20	Flinders University	3582	381	10.6%
21	West Sydney University	3374	397	11.8%
22	University of South Australia	3284	371	11.3%
23	Swinburne University of Technology	3066	453	14.8%
24	James Cook University	2584	285	11.0%
25	Murdoch University	1804	191	10.6%
26	Edith Cowan University	1754	257	14.7%
27	University of Canberra	1554	183	11.8%
28	University of New England	1533	146	9.5%
29	Charles Sturt University	1517	123	8.1%
30	University of Sunshine Coast	1407	115	8.2%
31	University of Southern Queensland	1335	187	14.0%
32	Victoria University	1194	144	12.1%
33	Ctr Queensland University	1164	128	11.0%
34	Australian Cath University	1020	177	17.4%

Rankings of the highest proportion of quality research

The ranking lists which universities produce the highest proportion of highly-cited research papers in Australia during this period. It is important to note that the ranking also provides a ‘stability interval’ – essentially providing information about the confidence levels for each statistic.

CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition – Publications 2018-21 ordered by Proportion of outputs in top 10%

	University	Number of Publications	No. of outputs in top 10% by citation	Proportion of outputs in top 10%
1	Australian Cath University	1020	177	17.4%
2	University of Technology – Sydney	6040	973	16.1%
3	RMIT University	5185	769	14.8%
4	Swinburne University of Technology	3066	453	14.8%
5	Edith Cowan University	1754	257	14.7%
6	University of New South Wales	13713	1981	14.4%
7	University of Southern Queensland	1335	187	14.0%
8	Monash University	15437	2120	13.7%
9	University of Melbourne	17743	2409	13.6%
10	Deakin University	6182	823	13.3%

Collaborations rankings

Number of Collaborations

CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition – Collaborations 2018-21

This list is ordered by number of publications involving collaboration by an Australian University during this period.

	University	Number of Publications involving collaboration	No. of outputs involving collaboration	Proportion of outputs involving collaboration
1	University of Melbourne	44906	38986	86.8%
2	University of Sydney	41799	35395	84.7%
3	Monash University	41245	36434	88.3%
4	University of Queensland	37188	32469	87.3%
5	University of New South Wales	35491	30889	87.0%
6	University of Western Australia	20399	18317	89.8%
7	University of Adelaide	17886	15321	85.7%
8	Australian National University	16743	14109	84.3%
9	University of Technology Sydney	15552	13600	87.4%
10	Curtin University	14997	13110	87.4%

Proportion of Collaborations

CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition – Collaborations 2018-21 ordered by proportion of outputs that are collaborations.

	University	Number of Publications	No. of outputs involving collaboration	Proportion of outputs involving collaboration
1	Australian Cath University	3342	3004	89.9%
2	University of Western Australia	20399	18317	89.8%
3	University of Canberra	4267	3806	89.2%
4	Monash University	41245	36434	88.3%
5	James Cook University	7002	6171	88.1%
6	Edith Cowan University	4937	4321	87.5%
7	University of Technology Sydney	15552	13600	87.4%
8	Curtin University	14997	13110	87.4%
9	University of Queensland	37188	32469	87.3%
10	La Trobe University	10312	8994	87.2%

Open Access rankings

Number of Open Access publications

CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition – Open Access 2018-21

This list is ordered by number of open access publications by an Australian University between 2018 and 2021.

	University	Number of Publications	No. of outputs that are Open Access	Proportion of outputs that are Open Access
1	University of Melbourne	44906	29756	66.3%
2	University of Sydney	41799	24438	58.5%
3	Monash University	41245	23681	57.4%
4	University of Queensland	37188	20212	54.4%
5	University of New South Wales	35491	19212	54.1%
6	University of Western Australia	20399	12342	60.5%
7	University of Adelaide	17886	9666	54.0%
8	Australian National University	16743	10953	65.4%
9	University of Technology Sydney	15552	9305	59.8%
10	Curtin University	14997	8536	56.9%

Proportion of Open Access publications

CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition – Open Access 2018-21

This list is ordered by the proportion of open access publications by an Australian University between 2018 and 2021.

	University	Number of Publications	No. of outputs that are Open Access \	Proportion of outputs that are Open Access
1	Queensland University of Technology	13831	9215	66.6%
2	University of Melbourne	44906	29756	66.3%
3	Australian Natl University	16743	10953	65.4%
4	Griffith University	13715	8565	62.4%
5	James Cook University	7002	4304	61.5%
6	University of Western Australia	20399	12342	60.5%
7	University of Tasmania	9599	5755	60.0%
8	University of Technology Sydney	15552	9305	59.8%
9	Victoria University	2791	1658	59.4%
10	University of South Australia	7749	4536	58.5%

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