NKUA places 89th in the world and 16th in Europe, marking a big jump in global University rankings

Important distinctions lay in store for the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The product of four authoritative global University rankings, these distinctions attested once more to the international standing of NKUA and its prominence among the Higher Educational Institutions in Greece and Southeastern Europe. Standing out are the appearances of NKUA in the top 100 of global University rankings and more specifically:

1. Our University’s 89^th place in the world and 16^th place in Europe according to ‘Top Universities by Top Google Scholar Citations’. Following the latest edition of this ranking and previous years’ results, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens consolidates and enhances its place among the top 100 Universities worldwide.
2. NKUA’s 89^th place in Immunology, and 100^th place in Pharmacology & Toxicology worldwide in the ‘Ranking by Specific Subjects’ category of ‘NTU Rankings-Performance Rankings of Scientific Papers for World Universities’.
3. The climbing of the NKUA’s School of Medicine from the 101-150 bracket in 2022 to the 76-100 bracket (i.e., to the top 100 of Medical Schools worldwide) as far as the academic subject Clinical Medicine is concerned, according to the ‘Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects’. With this achievement the NKUA’s School of Medicine now ranks first among the four Greek Universities with Medical Schools on the List.
4. The inclusion of the NKUA’s School of Dentistry in the top 100 (the 76-100 bracket) of the ‘Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects’ in the subject Dentistry & Oral Sciences.It is worth noting that within 2017-2023, the School of Dentistry found itself four times in the top 100 and another three times in the 100-150 bracket.

A detailed analysis of the results

i. Top Universities by Top Google Scholar Citations

Webometrics has recently announced (24 January 2024) the results of the global ranking ‘Top Universities by Top Google Scholar Citations’. Webometrics releases this ranking twice yearly (in January and July) and relies on the number of citations received by the faculty members and researchers of an Institution. It uses Google Scholar, the most popular search engine for scholarly literature, to track citations. Data for the current ranking cover the period from 1 to 20 January 2024.

According to the results announced by Webometrics, NKUA ranks 89^th in the world and 16^th in Europe. This new (17^th) edition of the ‘Top Universities by Top Google Scholar Citations’ includes 5,565 Universities, with all 24 Greek Higher Educational Institutions on the lists (see Table 1). Apart from the previously mentioned international distinctions, NKUA ranks 1^st nationally, with 4,285,020 citations. On a regional level, i.e., in Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean, NKUA also ranks 1^st.

It is particularly noteworthy that the number of citations received by NKUA alone accounts for 28.5% of the total number of citations earned by all 24 Greek Universities included in the ranking. The total number of citations earned by all 24 Greek Universities included in the ranking is 14,999,181.

Table 1: Ranking of Greek Universities in Webometrics’ ‘Top Universities by Top Google Scholar Citations’ (January 2024)

UNIVERSITY	WORLD RANK Jan 2024	COUNTRY RANK Jan 2024	CITATIONS Jan 2024
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens	89	1	4,285,020
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki	272	2	1,910,120
University of Patras (incl. University of Western Greece)	384	3	1,306,118
National Technical University of Athens	404	4	1,220,547
University of Crete	418	5	1,179,465
University of Thessaly	472	6	1,007,389
University of Ioannina	502	7	930,610
Democritus University of Thrace	716	8	522,544
Agricultural University of Athens	889	9	366,247
University of West Attica	923	10	339,542
University of the Aegean	946	11	322,009
Athens University of Economics and Business	966	12	308,749
Technical University of Crete	1,010	13	288,164
University of Piraeus	1,266	14	179,830
Hellenic Mediterranean University	1,440	15	140,223
University of Western Macedonia	1,458	16	136,051
International Hellenic University	1,496	17	129,568
University of the Peloponnese	1,497	18	129,422
Harokopio University of Athens	1,570	19	115,875
Hellenic Open University	2,043	20	59,355
Ionian University	2,090	21	56,689
Panteion University of Political and Social Sciences	2,280	22	45,549
University of Macedonia	3,217	23	16,165
School of Pedagogical and Technological Education	4,486	24	3,930

Source: Webometrics’ Web Page

ii. Webometrics Ranking Web of Universities

The second significant distinction for the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens came from Webometrics’ ‘Ranking Web of Universities’. The findings of this rating released on 31 January 2024 indicated that NKUA came in 247^th overall (up 5 spots from 2023) out of 12,000 Universities, 55^th out of 3,483 Universities in the European Union, and 1^st out of all Greek Universities included in the ranking (see Table 2).

This ranking gives information about Universities by analyzing their Web presence and research effect. Universities are ranked based on a variety of criteria, including their online presence and visibility, the impact of their research work (as measured by the total number of citations to papers written by their faculty and researchers), and the proportion of publications that are among the top 10% most cited and influential worldwide.

Table 2: Ranking of Greek Universities and other Higher Education providers in Webometrics’ ‘Ranking Web of Universities’ (first edition of 2024)

Ranking	World Rank	University	Impact Rank	Openness Rank	Excellence Rank
1	247	National and Kapodistrian University of Athens	475	89	216
2	262	Aristotle University of Thessaloniki	266	271	327
3	423	National Technical University of Athens	545	402	531
4	569	University of Patras (incl. University of Western Greece)	720	382	754
5	688	University of Crete	1,031	416	854
6	740	University of Ioannina	1,288	501	825
7	918	University of Thessaly	1,387	471	1,190
8	1,100	Democritus University of Thrace	2,216	715	1,143
9	1,124	University of the Aegean	1,528	945	1,402
10	1,208	Harokopio University of Athens	764	1,568	2,160
11	1,436	Athens University of Economics and Business	1,351	965	2,394
12	1,514	Technical University of Crete	2,607	1,009	1,823
13	1,517	University of Piraeus	2,138	1,264	1,968
14	1,521	Agricultural University of Athens	3,779	888	1,498
15	1,596	International Hellenic University	2,981	1,494	1,667
16	1,637	Hellenic Open University	1,857	2,040	2,137
17	1,709	University of West Attica	4,266	922	1,688
18	1,930	University of Macedonia	2,137	3,203	2,412
19	2,103	University of the Peloponnese	3,740	1,495	2,477
20	2,138	University of Western Macedonia	4,457	1,456	2,301
21	2,266	Ionian University	2,460	2,087	3,115
22	2,450	Hellenic Mediterranean University	7,493	1,438	2,049
24	3,050	Panteion University of Political and Social Sciences	4,243	2,275	3,877
25	3,406	School of Pedagogical and Technological Education	6,760	4,451	3,266
27	6,897	Hellenic Army Academy	14,343	8,367	5,513
28	6,978	Athens School of Fine Arts	7,371	8,367	6,415
34	8,164	Hellenic Naval Academy	14,229	8,367	6,020
42	14,848	Higher Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessalonica	13,039	8,367	7,221
53	21,782	Higher Ecclesiastic Academy of Athens	21,194	8,367	7,221
54	21,950	Hellenic Air Force Academy	21,389	8,367	7,221
64	27,223	Merchant Marine Academy of Chios	27,111	8,367	7,221

Source: Webometrics’ Web Page

Webometrics’ Ranking Web of Universities is regarded as one of the most authoritative global University rankings because it relies on data that can be verified directly on the Web as opposed to indicators that rely heavily on interviews, questionnaires, and opinion polls, which can occasionally be biased or subjective.

iii. Performance Rankings of Scientific Papers for World Universities (NTU Rankings)

The third important distinction for the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens came from ‘Performance Rankings of Scientific Papers for World Universities’. That is one of the most significant global rankings, which evaluates the quality, quantity, and effect of academic research worldwide. NKUA obtained the highest national ranking among the eight (8) Greek Universities in the tables. On a worldwide scale, NKUA ranked 211^th (see Table 3).

Table 3: NKUA’s and 7 other Greek Universities’ ranks in ‘Performance Rankings of Scientific Papers for World Universities’ (2024)

World Rank in 2023	Country Rank in 2023	University	Score	11 Years Articles	Current Articles	11 Years Citations	Current Citations	Average Citations	H-Index	HICI Papers	Hi-Impact Journal Articles
211	1	National and Kapodistrian University of Athens	35.2	33.9	34.4	27.1	33	52.9	58.0	26.2	28.3
385	2	Aristotle University of Thessaloniki	32.0	31.5	34.8	24.7	30	46.9	48.4	22.8	26.2
551-600	3	University of Crete	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
651-700	4	Harokopio University of Athens	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
701-750	5	National Technical University of Athens	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
701-750	5	University of Ioannina
751-800	6	University of Patras	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
801-850	7	University of Thessaly	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Source: Performance Rankings of Scientific Papers for World Universities

In addition to the overall rating, NTU provides rankings by 6 fields and 27 subjects. Again, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens distinguished itself by ranking among the top Universities in 5 fields out of six. It is worth mentioning that in Medicine NKUA ranked 112^thworldwide (see Table 4).

Table 4: NKUA’s rank by field in NTU Ranking (2018 and 2023)

	Field	2023	2018
1.	Agriculture	401-450	401-450
2.	Life Sciences	219	289
3.	Medicine	112	140
4.	Natural Sciences	310-350	282
5.	Social Sciences	401-450	298

Source: Performance Rankings of Scientific Papers for World Universities

Regarding ranking by individual subjects, NKUA has been included and rated well, i.e., scored higher than 500 in 13 subjects out of 27 (see Table 5). NKUA received very high scores in Immunology (rank 89 internationally), Pharmacology & Toxicology (rank 100), and Clinical Medicine (rank 106). In Civil Engineering, Molecular Biology & Genetics, and Space Science, NKUA ranked higher than 250.

Table 5: NKUA’s rank by subject

	Subject	2023
1.	Agricultural Sciences	301-350
2.	Civil Engineering	220
3.	Clinical Medicine	106
4.	Computer Science	451-500
5.	Electrical Engineering	401-450
6.	Immunology	89
7.	Mathematics	401-450
8.	Microbiology	254
9.	Molecular Biology & Genetics	214
10.	Pharmacology & Toxicology	100
11.	Physics	255
12.	Social Sciences, General	301-350
13.	Space Science	184

Source: Performance Rankings of Scientific Papers for World Universities

‘Performance Rankings of Scientific Papers for World Universities’ rely exclusively on the following criteria: i. the number of articles produced and published by an Institution, ii. the impact of papers published by faculty members and other researchers of an Institution, and iii. the overall distinction and recognition gained by high-impact publications. Moreover, NTU Rankings consider both the short-term and the long-term research accomplishments and performance of Universities, so much so that the rank of an Institution is not influenced by a circumstantially high performance of a specific year. Rankings like this are particularly important, for they are neither influenced by resources invested to research, nor by an Institution’s educational infrastructure, or even the individual achievements of its teaching and research staff. Instead, they are a reflection of the long-standing, high-calibre and consistently productive research efforts at such Institutions of Higher Education like the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

iv. Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects

On October 27, 2023, Shanghai Jiao Tong University published the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects for Universities all around the world for the year 2023, in each broad scientific field and for particular academic subjects, as part of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). According to the Shanghai Ranking,also referred to as the Shanghai List, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens received notable distinctions in the ranking results. More specifically, the Institution for 2023 has 15 entries in the top Universities of each academic category out of a total of fifty-four (54) categories. These 15 academic subjects effectively correspond to 13 Departments of the Institution compared to 10 Departments in 2022 (see Table 6).

Table 6: ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, NKUA

	Department/School, NKUA	Academic Subject	Rank in 2023	Rank in 2022	Rank in 2021
1.	School of Dentistry	Dentistry & Oral Sciences	76-100	76-100	101-150
2.	School of Medicine	Clinical Medicine	76-100	101-150	201-300
		Public Health	151-200	151-200	151-200
		Medical Technology	301-400	301-400	201-300
3.	Department of Informatics and Telecommunications	Telecommunication Engineering	101-150	101-150	201-300
4.	Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Department of Digital Industry Technologies	Electrical and Electronic Engineering	101-150	401-500	401-500
5.	Department of Nursing	Nursing	101-150	151-200	101-150
6.	Department of Physics	Physics	151-200	151-200	101-150
		Atmospheric Science	301-400	201-300	201-300
7.	Department of Pharmacy	Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences	201-300	201-300	201-300
8.	Department of Biology	Human Biological Sciences	201-300	201-300	201-300
		Biological Sciences	301-400	301-400	301-400
9.	Department of Psychology	Psychology	301-400	301-400	–
10.-12.	Department of Primary Education, Department of Early Childhood Education, Department of Educational Studies	Education	401-500	–	–
13.	Department of Mathematics	Mathematics	401-500	401-500	–

Source: Shanghai Ranking Web Page

The following data are particularly worth mentioning:

• The NKUA’s School of Medicine climbs from ranks 101-150 in 2022 to ranks 76-100 as far as the academic subject Clinical Medicine is concerned. With this very important result the School enters the top 100 globally and also holds the top rank among the four Greek Universities with Medical Schools that are part of the List.

5. The NKUA’s School of Dentistry once again makes it to the top 100 Universities in the world, ranking 76–100 in the subject Dentistry & Oral Sciences. It should also be noted that it received an overall score of 88.6 out of 100 and performed admirably in the IC indicator (percentage of papers with international collaboration). The above-mentioned performance is outstanding and surprisingly surpasses the results of the top 8 Universities (including Harvard University, King’s College London, et al.) in the academic subject of Dentistry & Oral Sciences.Within 2017-2023, the School of Dentistry found itself four times in the top 100 and another three times in the 100-150 bracket.
6. The Department of Nursing has achieved a significant success, climbing from ranks 151-200 in 2022 to ranks 101-150. Additionally, it should be mentioned that of all Greek Universities’ Departments of Nursing, it is only the Department of Nursing of NKUA that is listed in this ranking. The Department also performed admirably in the CNCI Indicator (the ratio of citations received by a published paper to the average number of citations) ranking 8^th globally and receiving an overall score of 97.7 out of 100.
7. The Departments of Informatics and Telecommunications, Aerospace Science and Technology, and Digital Industry Technologies, made a major contribution as far as the academic subject Electric and Electronic Engineering is concerned,with the University climbing up 350 positions,from the 401-500 bracket in 2022 to the 101-150 bracket. In the subject Telecommunication Engineering, the NKUA’s Department of Informatics and Telecommunications remains in the 101- 150 bracket.
8. The Department of Physics for 2023 ranks 151-200 in the academic subject Physics, whereas in the academic subject Atmospheric Science it ranks 301-400.
9. The Department of Pharmacy ranks 201-300 in the academic subject Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.

• The Department of Biology distinguishes itself, once more, in two academic subjects, ranking 201-300 in the academic subject Human Biological Sciences, which marks its strongest performance.
• The NKUA’s Educational Studies, offered mainly by three Departments at the University (Department of Primary Education, Department of Early Childhood Education, and Department of Educational Studies) rank for the first time in the top 500, and more specifically in the 401-500 bracket.
• The Department of Psychology, which is for the second consecutive year, and second time overall, among the best in the world, ranks 301-400 in the academic subject Psychology. It should also be noted that it is the only Department of Psychology of all Greek Universities that is listed in this ranking.
• The Department of Mathematics ranks, once again, 401-500 in the academic subject Mathematics.

The outstanding accomplishments of NKUA were confirmed when HAHE President, Professor Pericles Mitkas, presented the Greek Higher Educational Institutions’ performance data in the global University rankings at a special one-day conference held on January 17, 2024, at the University of Patras (see Table 7). In the analysis that was followed, the average number of places for each Institution among the Institutions in Greece, in as many rankings as it appears, per year, was calculated. The relative position was obtained by calculating the Higher Educational Institution’s ranking order using its average value. The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens ranks 1^st among Greek Higher Educational Institutions with 1.29, up 11% from the previous year.

Table 7: Ranking of Greek Universities countrywide based on their average performance in the worldwide rankings and their relative position at the national level

Institution	2022	RANK	2023	RANK
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens	1.43	1	1.29	1
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki	2.14	2	2.43	2
University of Crete	3.43	3	3.00	3
National Technical University of Athens	3.50	4	3.43	4
University of Patras	4.33	5	4.43	5
Harokopio University of Athens	7.20	8	9.00	9
Athens University of Economics and Business	8.80	9	9.60	10

Source: ‘Greek Higher Educational Institutions in Global and National University Rankings: Data and Trends’ Presentation by the President of HAHE in the one-day conference of the University of Patras