The University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (USB) was ranked among the best Czech universities in the recently published Leiden Ranking, which compares the scientific performance of more than 1,400 universities worldwide. The ranking, which is the first time that JU has been included in the ranking, focuses on four areas: scientific impact, international cooperation, open access and gender diversity.
The University of South Bohemia ranked the best among all Czech universities in one of the ratio indicators in the scientific impact category, with 9% of its publications in the top 10% of publications in their respective fields, making it one of the leading institutions in this area. The top disciplines at the University of South Bohemia are Life and Earth Sciences. Masaryk University ranked second with 8% of the top publications, while Palacký University in Olomouc ranked third with 7.7% of the top publications.
In this respect, the University of South Bohemia also gained a significant position in the global ranking, where it was ranked 733rd. In terms of absolute number of publications in the top 10%, the best ranked Czech university is Charles University, which is ranked 349th worldwide. The Rockefeller University has the most publications belonging to the top 1% with 5% of such publications.
In terms of gender equality, five Czech universities, including the University of South Bohemia, exceeded the 30% threshold for the share of women in publishing activity. The largest representation of female authors can be found in Life and Earth Sciences and Biomedical and Health Sciences. Globally, the highest proportion of women in publications is in Polish universities, and Oslo Metropolitan University ranks first in this category with almost 60% of female authors.
In the area of international cooperation, almost all Czech universities have surpassed the 80% mark for publications produced in inter-institutional, inter-regional or international cooperation. The University of South Bohemia again stands out the most in this respect with over 90%.
In terms of open access publications, the most successful Czech university is the Czech Technical University in Prague with a share of open access publications of 62.5%. European universities, especially British schools, are the best performers in this area.
The Leiden rankings are compiled by experts from the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University and, unlike most other international rankings, do not place the ranked universities in a single overall ranking given by the combination and value of individual indicators, but allow interested parties to compare and rank the ranked institutions according to indicators relevant to them. For this year's ranking, publications from 2018-2021 registered in the Web of Science database were evaluated.
For more information on the rankings, please visit the CWTS Leiden Ranking.
