Premium
A new approach to the QS university ranking using the composite I ‐distance indicator: Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses
Author(s) -
Dobrota Marina,
Bulajic Milica,
Bornmann Lutz,
Jeremic Veljko
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the association for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.903
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 2330-1643
pISSN - 2330-1635
DOI - 10.1002/asi.23355
Subject(s) - ranking (information retrieval) , rank (graph theory) , sensitivity (control systems) , computer science , composite number , statistics , operations research , mathematics , machine learning , engineering , algorithm , combinatorics , electronic engineering
Some major concerns of universities are to provide quality in higher education and enhance global competitiveness, thus ensuring a high global rank and an excellent performance evaluation. This article examines the Q uacquarelli S ymonds ( QS ) W orld U niversity R anking methodology, pointing to a drawback of using subjective, possibly biased, weightings to build a composite indicator ( QS scores). We propose an alternative approach to creating QS scores, which is referred to as the composite I ‐distance indicator ( CIDI ) methodology. The main contribution is the proposal of a composite indicator weights correction based on the CIDI methodology. It leads to the improved stability and reduced uncertainty of the QS ranking system. The CIDI methodology is also applicable to other university rankings by proposing a specific statistical approach to creating a composite indicator.