Questions and answers

How much of each university's research is written with companies, how much of that sits in sustained partnerships, how large its industry network is and how varied its partners' fields are. It uses the open scholarly record for 2021 to 2025. It does not measure research income, teaching, reputation or quality.

Every candidate university and company link was checked against the affiliation text the authors wrote themselves; 937,119 of 1,966,368 could not be confirmed and were set aside. A hand audit on 3 October 2026, before the second round of verification fixes, found 91.8% of 200 verified links correct (95% interval 88.2 to 95.5%). A fresh, stratified internal audit of this edition, after those fixes, is complete and is awaiting an independent human check of 30 items; its result will be published as a dated update. Update, 6 October 2026: two further internal audits of this edition, the second of them independent of the first, agree with the published figure; the independent audit found 92.9% of 200 verified links correct (95% interval 88.4 to 95.7%). Both were adjudicated with an AI assistant, not by a person. Both found that errors concentrate in links the open record no longer attributes to the company, so on 6 October 2026 every verified link was rechecked against the current record and 14,537 links it no longer supports (the company or the university no longer appears on the paper) were set aside before the final scores were calculated. An independent human check of 30 audit items is pending; its result will be published here as a dated update. The rules, the counts and every exclusion are on the transparency page.

Leading positions are sensitive to evidence and weighting choices. Compare the published sensitivity ranges alongside the point estimates. Every overall rank on this site carries its sensitivity range.

The index is free, public and independent. No commercial relationship with any university or company changes any position, and no one can pay to be included, excluded or moved. GRP sells an optional Industry Partnership Blueprint to universities; it is never sold or delivered before launch, it cannot change any figure, and the verification details for every university are free on its profile.

Send the evidence through the correction form (a DOI is ideal). Factual corrections and researcher opt-outs received by 17:00 BST on Tuesday 13 October are reviewed before publication on 15 October; later ones are reviewed for the record and logged publicly.

Edition 1 is built entirely from the open scholarly record, the same way for every university, and submitted data does not change it. The 2027 edition will be calculated with the same published methodology. The window for universities to submit data for it is open now: submit data for the 2027 edition.

Researchers are named only after GRP has told them directly and they have had the chance to decline. Until then a finalist shows its two organisations. Anyone can ask to be shown without a name at any time.

Following the OECD Frascati Manual, market-producing state-owned enterprises count as industry. Every such company is marked, and each profile shows the state-owned share of its industry work. Listing a company is not an endorsement, and the index takes no position on any company's regulatory or sanctions status. State-owned and state-controlled companies are not eligible for the Sector Awards (see the award eligibility screen).

Trials are shown on profiles for context, but one registry and exact name matching cover some countries far better than others, so they do not enter the Edition 1 score.

The overall score rewards breadth across partners' fields as well as volume and depth. A university that works mostly with one industry can lead that sector and still sit lower overall; the profile shows each pillar.

From verified partnerships with enough joint work in the sector, scored on volume, years active and citation impact, with caps so that one university, company group or country cannot dominate a shortlist. The winner in each category is the finalist with the highest partnership score; no panel, nomination or payment plays any part. Partnerships that do not pass the published award eligibility screen cannot be shortlisted.

The Industry Collaboration Index measures every verified university and company partnership in the open scholarly record, whoever the company is. The Sector Awards recognise partnerships with independent companies, so partnerships with state-owned or state-controlled companies, with companies or universities on UK, EU, UN or US sanctions or restricted-party lists, and with primarily defence producers are not eligible for an award, in every country alike. The Sector Awards recognise partnerships between universities and independent companies. A partnership is not eligible for an award when (1) the company or its ultimate parent is state-owned or state-controlled; (2) the company, its ultimate parent or the university appears on a UK, EU, UN or US sanctions or restricted-party list, including the US Entity List, the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies list and the Section 1260H list; or (3) the company is primarily a defence or military producer. The screen applies to every country in the same way. It affects award eligibility only: every verified partnership still counts in the index, the sector indices and each university's evidence, because the index measures the open scholarly record as it is.

The awards celebrate partnerships between universities and companies that compete in open markets. Where the state owns or controls the company, the partnership is part of public policy as much as industry collaboration, and an award would be recognising the policy. We apply the rule to every country in the same way, which is why it also covers state-owned companies in Europe, the Gulf and Latin America.

No. The rule names no country. It is a published, universal test, and Chinese universities remain fully in the index and eligible for awards with independent companies.

No. Every verified partnership still counts in the overall index, the sector indices and each university's evidence page. The screen affects award eligibility only. The index measures the record as it is; the awards are a recognition, and a recognition can carry conditions.

The UK Sanctions List, the EU consolidated financial sanctions list, the UN Security Council consolidated list and the US Consolidated Screening List (including the Entity List and the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies list), plus the US Section 1260H list. We record the list version and date for every exclusion.

3,484 of the 17,101 university and company partnerships in the award candidate pools were not eligible, because the company group or the university met at least one rule (285 company groups state-owned or state-controlled, 52 on a list, 19 primarily defence producers; 17 universities on a list; some meet more than one rule). Each one is listed internally with the list or rule that applied, and the rule is published.

Factual corrections to the evidence are accepted until 17:00 BST on Tuesday 13 October. Questions about the screen can be sent through the request page, globalresearchpartnerships.com/ici/submit; we will correct any listing that was matched in error and publish the correction.

With the index, at 09:00 BST, Thursday 15 October 2026: the finalists and the winner in each category are published together, after the corrections and opt-out window closes at 17:00 BST on Tuesday 13 October. There is no separate awards event and no judging panel. A researcher's opt-out never changes a winner; the person is simply not named.

Yes. The rankings, sector indices, finalists, company verification table and topic map are released under CC BY 4.0 at launch, with attribution to the Industry Collaboration Index, Global Research Partnerships.