UPWr in the 2021 CWTS Leiden Ranking

CWTS Leiden Ranking is one of the most important university rankings. Its methodology is based entirely on bibliometric indicators (Web of Science database) which are divided into disciplines. These are: biomedical and health sciences, life and earth sciences, mathematics and computer science, physical sciences and engineering, social sciences and humanities

For three years now, the ranking has presented four categories: scientific impact, collaboration, open access and gender. Year by year, the number of universities on the list increases – in 2021, there were 1,225 universities from all over the world, including 31 from Poland.

In this year's listing, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences ranked high, primarily in the field of life and earth sciences. It also excelled in the field of biomedical and health sciences, as well as physical sciences and engineering.

Scientific Impact

UPWr was ranked 331st in the world and 8th in Poland in terms of the number of publications in the field of life and earth sciences. The university's position in the world improved and its national position stayed the same in relation to the previous year. It’s also worth noting that only universities with a minimum of 100 publications in a given discipline were taken into account.

Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences ranked 450th in the world, 5th in Poland and 3rd among Polish agricultural universities (the ones higher were: Warsaw University of Life Sciences and University of Agriculture in Krakow) in the number of publications among the 10% most cited in a given field indicator.

The percentage share of these publications in all UPWr employee publications in the field of life and earth sciences places us in the top ten – 5th place in Poland (higher were: Gdańsk University of Technology and Łódź University of Technology), thus making us the best agricultural university in the country in these categories. Taking all the fields mapped by the Leiden Ranking into account we place 9th in Poland (2nd place among agricultural universities).

Open Access

Among all the indicators mentioned in the ranking, the category of Open Access and Gold Open Access deserve attention.

The number of UPWr scientists’ publications in the field of life and earth sciences, in the Open Access category, guaranteed us 419th place in the world (an improvement, compared to the previous year) and 9th in Poland.

We recorded significant increases in the Gold Open Access index (publications in reliable journals entirely in open access), compared to the previous year. Increases related to the percentage of gold publications in all university publications landed us leading positions among Polish agricultural universities:

• All sciences – 23rd in the world (17 positions higher), 2nd in Poland (1st place – Medical University of Lublin), and 1st among Polish agricultural universities.
• Biomedical and health sciences – 35th in the world (42 positions higher), 3rd in Poland, 2nd among Polish agricultural universities (1st place – SGGW in Warsaw)
• Life and earth sciences – 49th in the world (37 positions higher), 5th in Poland, 1st among Polish agricultural universities
• Physical sciences and engineering – 4th in the world (16 positions higher), 1st in Poland and among Polish agricultural universities

The average share of Open Access publications in all fields for the entire university was nearly 60%, while for Gold Open Access it was over 40%.

Collaboration

In the indicator associated with collaborating on writing publications, our university ranked 566th in the world and 8th in Poland in the field of life and earth sciences.

In terms of the percentage of publications written in collaboration, UPWr landed the following positions:

• All sciences and biomedical and health sciences – 13th place in Poland (2nd place among agricultural universities)
• Life and earth sciences – 20th place in Poland (2nd place among agricultural universities)
• Physical sciences and engineering – 16th place in Poland (2nd place among agricultural universities)

We also ranked high in the international collaboration index – 686th in the world and 10th in Poland, in the field of life and earth sciences. The percentage rate in all fields is over 70% of publications written in collaboration and nearly 30% in collaboration with foreign countries.

Gender

In terms of the number of authors of life and earth sciences publications, UPWr ranks 369th in the world and 8th in Poland. The amount of women authors in this field places us in 216th place in the world and also 8th in Poland.

UPWr ranked high in terms of the percentage of women authors in all publications:

• All sciences – 13th in the world, 8th in Poland
• Biomedical and health sciences – 52nd in the world, 14th in Poland
• Life and earth sciences – 38th in the world, 16th in Poland
• Physical sciences and engineering – 18th in the world, 13th in Poland

The average percentage of women among all publication authors in all fields at UPWr was over 50%.

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