Nobel prizes lead to top ranking.

Academic Ranking of World Universities Political Sciences

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the American Political Science Review, requires hard work, explains Mikael Persson. – The best journals receive perhaps 1,500 submissions per year but only accept a few dozen articles. Writing an article that is of so high a standard that it has a chance in the tough competition takes a long time, it can take several years of work. Sometimes we are lucky and manage to publish in several high-ranking journals, sometimes it goes less well, even though the work we have done is equally good. So while we are very proud of the good ranking, we must remember that a slightly higher ranking here or there does not say much about the level of quality at the department. However, the fact that there is a positive trend where we have been high in the ranking for several years is proof that we are good. And it certainly has an impact on our ability to recruit employees and attract new students.

Also within Public Administration, which is one of the political science department's speciality fields with a majority of publications coming from there, the University of Gothenburg was ranked highest in Sweden, in 23rd place.

Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg

Difficult to measure quality

Also within Human Biological Sciences and Dentistry & Oral Sciences, the University of Gothenburg ranks highest in the country, at 23 and 33, respectively. At the same time, Biological Sciences is ranked at a creditable 36th place. – The Shanghai Ranking is the one of the major rankings where the University of Gothenburg obtained the best results. There are many reasons, but one is Arvid Carlsson's Nobel Prize in 2000, explains Magnus Machale-Gunnarsson.

HUMAN BIOLOGICAL Sciences is a broad field that includes most things to do with human biology and preclinical medicine, says Per Sunnerhagen, Deputy-Head of Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology. – Maybe it could be translated as “biomedicine.” The ranking reflects how much we publish and are cited in prestigious journals, among other things. This time our ranking is very good. It is certainly important for our reputation and our ability to attract both employees and students. But different rankings weigh different things in different ways and how a university goes up or down does not really say much about the day-to-day operations.

Magnus Machale-Gunnars-

son, analyst at the Planning and Follow-up Section, who compiled the results. He agrees that rankings must be taken with a fairly large pinch of salt. – In the Shanghai Ranking, the universities receive points for major prizes, for example. One might think it strange that the University of Gothenburg gains prestige because of Arvid Carlsson's Nobel Prize, but after all, it was only 22 years ago. It is true that prizes that were awarded more than 90 years ago are not counted, but Uppsala University still receives points for the Arne Tiselius Chemistry Prize in 1948 and Stockholm University benefits from the George de Hevesy Chemistry Prize in 1943. And Harvard's 161 Nobel Prizes are, of course, hard to top.

In the Shanghai Ranking, there are two indicators for the Nobel Prize, which together make up 30 percent of the total score. – That's a lot. For universities further down the list, a single prize plays a very important role. The University of Gothenburg currently gets 22.1 points in total and is ranked in 138th place. If we had not had the Nobel Prize, we would have received 19.2 points and ended up in 190th place.

Another way to assess quality is to use reputation surveys. Researchers get to answer questions about which universities are the best in their field, says Magnus Machale-Gunnarsson.

– IF THE FIELD IS very large, such as “medicine,” which is not unusual, it is of course impossible to answer. Often, therefore, respondents often state the most famous universities, if they answer at all; the response rate is somewhere around 5–10 percent. So while a good ranking for the University of Gothenburg is wonderful and should be celebrated, we should not get too despondent about a lower ranking on another occasion.

Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Shutterstock

Would you like to find out more? In this clip Magnus Machale-Gunnarsson provides a little more information: https://play. gu.se/media/t/0_zf09rjni