Ural Federal University: UrFU Is Ranked 7th and 8th in Ecology and Earth Sciences by Expert Ranking
Ural Federal University is ranked seventh and eighth in Ecology and Earth Sciences in the ranking of publication and invention activity of Russian universities, which was compiled by the Expert analytical center. The authors of the ranking focused on the ability of universities to generate and commercialize inventions, so the main emphasis was placed on scientific publications in first quartile journals and successes in patenting activities.
The calculations of publication activity were based on four meaning blocks: “quality of growth,” “relevance,” “scale,” and “excellence. Invention activity was measured on the basis of three blocks: “initial conditions”, “quality” and “demand”.
As a result, for the second year in a row, UrFU was ranked 8th in the “Earth Sciences” category. At the same time, the university’s overall score in this category rose from 48.4 to 50.5. The score for “quality of growth” was 59.1, “demand for scientific activity” was 50.1, “scale” was 36.8 and “excellence” was 56.1.
In the “Ecology” category, UrFU moved up by one point over the year, from 8th to 7th place. The overall score for the year increased from 62.8 to 70.6. The “quality of growth” score was 76.0, “demand for scientific activity” was 58.9, “scale” was 77.7, and “excellence” was 69.8.
It should be noted that the study of publication and inventive activity of Russian universities is a part of the project of comprehensive analysis of universities, which the Expert analytical center began in 2016 in connection with the 5-100 program, launched in 2012. As the authors of the ranking note, in eight years, the universities participating in the 5-100 program have shown strong dynamics of publication activity. Thus, if in 2012 about 45 thousand articles were published in the international database Scopus, then in 2020 – 125 thousand articles. The share of Russia in scientific publications has more than doubled, from 1.6% to 3.5%; the country’s contribution to the most highly cited articles has increased from 0.8% to 1.8%.