June 25, 2001
UCSC ranked second worldwide in physical sciences research
By Tim Stephens
UCSC is the second most influential university in the world in the physical sciences,
according to rankings of research universities and other institutions published recently
by the British newspaper the Guardian.The rankings are based on an analysis
of scholarly publications from 1994 to 1998.
Data for the study were provided by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI),
based in Philadelphia. ISI bases its analyses on the long-standing tradition of scholarly
citations. When researchers publish a journal article, they must cite previous papers
by other authors that set the stage for their work. Generally, a paper garners more
citations when scientists accept the work as important and well done. ISI analysts
consider the average number of citations per paper, or the "citation impact,"
as the most objective way to gauge the quality of a department's or an institution's
research.
ISI maintains databases of journals and keeps track of how often research papers
are cited in other publications. The Guardian used ISI's data to evaluate
the research quality of institutions in Britain, Canada, Germany, and the United
States. ISI's data indicate that scholars in those countries are the top producers
of research papers.
The physical sciences include chemistry, physics, geosciences, mathematics, and engineering.
The top-ranked institution in the physical sciences, according to the Guardian,
is the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Rockefeller University, Harvard
University, and Brandeis University round out the top five.
"While some may find our ranking of number two in the world for our physical
sciences impact surprising, it is consistent with similar rankings we have received
for many years," said David Kliger, dean of natural sciences. "What should
be surprising is that so few people know about our strong programs in the physical
sciences and that this ranking continues to surprise so many people," he added.
Since 1980, UCSC has consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally in ISI studies.
An analysis released by ISI last year found that UCSC ranked first in the field of
astrophysics among the top 100 federally funded U.S. universities. In addition to
its top-ranked Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UCSC is home to the highly
respected Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics
and a branch of the University of California's Institute
of Geophysics and Planetary Physics.
