Initially launched in September 2010, the High Impact Universities research performance index or RPI is an Australian initiative to benchmark the research performance of world's universities. The pilot project involved a study of over 1,000 universities and 5,000 faculties worldwide. Ranked results for the top 500 are posted on the project website . The motivation for the project is to promote a move towards "simplicity, transparency, and fairness" in benchmarking or assessment exercises. The methodology is based only measurable outputs, employs standard bibliometric indicators and standard publication and citation databases (Scopus

Scopus

Scopus, officially named SciVerse Scopus, is a bibliographic database containing abstracts and citations for academic journal articles. It covers nearly 18,000 titles from over 5,000 international publishers, including coverage of 16,500 peer-reviewed journals in the scientific, technical, medical,...

).

High Impact Universities methodology

The High Impact Universities research performance index or RPI is an indication of research impact as measured by publications and citations.

The basic construct used in the RPI is the g-index

G-index

The g-index is an index for quantifying scientific productivity based on publication record. It was suggested in 2006 by Leo Egghe.The index is calculated based on the distribution of citations received by a given researcher's publications:...

(proposed by Egghe), an extension of the h-index

H-index

The h-index is an index that attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar. The index is based on the set of the scientist's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications...

 (proposed by Hirsch).

The g and h indices are essentially numerical measures of the "quality and consistency" of publications of an author or institution. These indices are usually cited for their distinct advantages such as objectivity and robustness to manipulation . Although their introduction is very recent, they have become very popular measures for assessing research impact within the academic and other communities.

The RPI for a particular university or institution is calculated with a simple three step process:

1. Calculate the g-index for each faculty of that university or institution
2. Normalize the g-score for each faculty by dividing with that of the high globally performing faculty
3. Average the normalized scores to arrive at a final RPI value for the particular university or institution

The process also produces individual faculty benchmarks for all universities and institutions surveyed via the calculated g-score indicating the "quality and consistency" of publication. Only works in the previous 10 year period are counted. Normalization of scores is necessary to transform the raw scores for the different faculties so that they can be compared on a common scale. The normalized score is also a reflection of relative performance to the best faculty in the world. The final RPI obtained by averaging is then an indication of comprehensiveness or all round relative performance which accounts equally for faculties by assigning them equal contributions to the index. The actual RPI number is a figure relative to a 'world dream team' comprising the best faculties of all universities in the world. The dream team is assigned a score of 1, and all RPI values must be between 0 and 1.

There are five standard faculties for all universities:

• Medical Sciences (covers Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacology, and Health Sciences)
• Hard Sciences (covers Pure, Natural, and Mathematical Sciences)
• Applied Sciences (covers Engineering, Computing, and Technology)
• Life Sciences (covers Life, Biological, and Agricultural Sciences)
• Human Sciences (covers Arts, Humanities, Business, and Social Sciences)

Results for 2010

Full ranked results showing the top 500 universities or institutions worldwide, along with the top 500 university faculties in each category, are posted on the project website.

The top performer in 2010 worldwide is Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 with an RPI of 0.9257. Harvard University is also the top performer in 3 of 5 faculties: Medical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Human Sciences. The University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 is the top performer in Applied Sciences. The California Institute of Technology

California Institute of Technology

The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

 also ties with the University of California, Berkeley for the top spot in the Hard Sciences.

Being an Australian initiative, the results also show the performance of Australian universities. The top performer in 2010 for Australia is the University of Melbourne

University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

 which also tops 2 of 5 faculties: Applied Sciences and Life Sciences. The University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

 is the top performer in Medical Sciences, the Australian National University

Australian National University

The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...

 is the top performer in Hard Sciences, while the University of New South Wales

University of New South Wales

The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

is the top performer in Human Sciences. Notably, the Australian National University is placed 6th in the country, based on the results of the independent study looking at performance over a 10-year window, marking a significant departure from their presumed number one standing.

Discussion

The project authors emphasize that their proposed methodology accounts only for research performance. Other contributions such as teaching are not directly measured. The authors further emphasize that their assessment is focused only on measurable outputs and cite this reason for not considering other factors. They also note the contrast between their proposed approach and that of other popular approaches which often attract criticism for subjective factors or arbitrary weightings.