Scopus Chosen by US News & World Report for Arab Region Ranking

On Tuesday, November 4, at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar, U.S. News & World Report, a leading U.S.-based publisher of education analysis and rankings, unveiled the inaugural Best Arab Region Universities rankings.

We’re pleased to announce that U.S. News' Best Arab Region Universities rankings, which focus on institutions’ academic research, are based on research data from Scopus and metrics powered by SciVal!

The ranking methodology weighs factors that measure research productivity and performance, using a variety of bibliometric indicators such as publications and citations. Each ranked Arab region university has a profile page on usnews.com displaying contact information and detailed ranking indicators. The overall rankings include 91 universities in 16 countries; there are also separate rankings in 16 subject areas, including key fields such as computer science, engineering, medicine, mathematics and social sciences.

Using the ‘Affiliation Search’ feature in Scopus, you can learn more about each institution’s research output. According to U.S. News & World Report, three universities in Saudi Arabia claim the top spots: with King Saud University taking the No. 1 spot, followed by King Abdulaziz University at No. 2 and King Abdullah University of Science & Technology at No. 3. Cairo University in Egypt is ranked at No. 4, followed by the American University of Beirut in Lebanon at No. 5.

Our position on rankings is similar to our position on the use of research metrics: a single metric provides a simple, clear point of reference that can be used as a benchmark, but it is the combination of multiple metrics (combined with qualitative data and references) that provide the most useful input into making informed decisions. We believe that university rankings alone do not solve the complex problem of where and what a prospective student should study (or where academics should work). Rankings can, however, play a useful role in choosing where to study by offering comparative data that would otherwise not be available.