Benchmarking, ranking and evaluating university performance
To better demonstrate the success of their world-class research programs, administrators at the University of Toronto needed access to a new set of evaluative metrics to affirm the university's wide-ranging influence and tremendous research productivity. With University Science Indicators, the University of Toronto can quantify its research achievements and prove its rank among leading research-intensive universities — in Canada and beyond.
Demonstrating success is a key component of the University of Toronto's efforts to attract and retain resources, recruit quality faculty and students, and maintain partnerships with the government and other research facilities. But even for such an esteemed research organization, demonstrating its achievements can be challenging.
Before 2002, the university had two primary means of evaluating its research performance: the input measure of research funding and the output measure of honors awarded to faculty. Citation analysis, a widely used method of evaluating influence in the research community, had not been used, and quantifying research influence and performance was not a regular part of their annual evaluations.
In 2002, under new leadership, the university was determined to find a new way to quantify the influence and impact of its research. It turned to University Science Indicators — an easy-to-use database of research performance measures for universities and research institutions — to help demonstrate the quality and influence of its research. The university now performs an annual study of how it ranks in both citations and publications for its key disciplinary groups.
Benchmarking, ranking and evaluating university performance at the University of Toronto: read the full case study