Inside Northern Illinois University's largest research partnership: University of Chicago

Behind Northern Illinois University's research output sits a defining relationship: 355 co-authored works with University of Chicago (United States) in the five years to 2025, the university's single largest collaboration.

It anchors an unusually connected research base: 760 collaborating institutions across 65 countries, producing 5,190 joint works over the window, with international co-authors on 30% of output.

The collaborative work travels: its field-weighted citation impact stands at 2.77, where the world average is 1.0.

The Research Collaboration Index, the first global account of how universities actually collaborate, publishes its first full edition on Tuesday 15 September at 09:00 UK.

Every figure derives from the open global research record and is checkable at source.