University of Toronto outranks Berkeley and UCLA in research output
The University of Toronto (U of T) has taken the top spot in research output among publicly funded universities in North America.
U of T was awarded the first-place score of 75.1 in the August 2026 edition of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU); UCLA followed in fourth with 59.8, and Berkeley in ninth with 52.0.
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ARWU determines the research output score (PUB) based on the number of papers a university's researchers have indexed in two major databases: the Science Citation Index-Expanded and the Social Science Citation Index.
The PUB score is one of six factors applied by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy in the academic and research ranking components of the report, which assessed over 2,500 universities worldwide.
Overall, U of T, located in Ontario, was the only Canadian school that scored high enough to go head-to-head with major American state schools.
When averaging together all *six indicators to calculate an overall research and academics score, U of T scored placed sixth, with the other spots all being taken by flagship American state schools.
U of T ranked 13th worldwide for research and academic performance, up from 14th place in last year's rankings.
*The six indicators used to determine a university’s rank include:
- Alumni (10%): Number of an institution's alumni who have won Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals.
- Award (20%): Number of an institution's staff who have won Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics, and Fields Medals in mathematics.
- HiCi (20%): Number of Highly Cited Researchers at the institution, as identified by Clarivate.
- N&S (20%): Number of research articles published in Nature and Science.
- PUB (20%): Total number of papers indexed in the Science Citation Index-Expanded and the Social Science Citation Index.
- PCP (10%): Per capita academic performance of an institution.
This is the 23rd edition of the ARWU rankings, published on August 15, 2026.
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