Press release · United Kingdom edition
Global Research Partnerships
London, 26 September 2026
The first Research Collaboration Index measured 1,195 universities in 81 countries on who actually builds knowledge together. The United Kingdom placed more universities in the global top 50 than any other country, the United States included, and British universities have been saying so in public ever since.
The inaugural Research Collaboration Index (RCI) went live on 15 September, and its first edition has handed British science a result no reputation survey has ever produced. Fifteen UK universities rank in the world's top 50 for research collaboration. The United States, with around five times the population and more than three times as many universities in the cohort, placed fourteen.
The index is built entirely from open, public data: 26.8 million co-authored research records published between 2021 and 2025. There are no surveys, no submissions and nothing to lobby. It does not ask anyone what they think of a university. It measures what a university does: who it works with, in how many countries, how deep those ties run and how much the joint work is cited.
On that measure, Britain's position is not a near miss on prestige. It is a category win.
Four UK universities sit in the global top ten: Oxford at 3, University College London at 5, Cambridge at 6 and Edinburgh at 9. The index is led by the University of Hong Kong, with the National University of Singapore second, a result that reorders the familiar league tables and rewards connection rather than fame.
| World | University | Partner institutions | Countries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | University of Oxford | 1,185 | 80 |
| 5 | University College London | 1,187 | 80 |
| 6 | University of Cambridge | 1,186 | 80 |
| 9 | University of Edinburgh | 1,181 | 81 |
| 12 | King's College London | 1,161 | 81 |
| 13 | Imperial College London | 1,179 | 80 |
| 24 | University of Manchester | 1,178 | 80 |
| 25 | Queen Mary University of London | 1,161 | 80 |
| 32 | University of Birmingham | 1,174 | 80 |
| 34 | University of Glasgow | 1,167 | 80 |
| 36 | University of Southampton | 1,174 | 81 |
| 38 | University of Liverpool | 1,161 | 81 |
| 43 | University of Bristol | 1,154 | 80 |
| 45 | University of Exeter | 1,146 | 80 |
| 49 | University of Nottingham | 1,182 | 80 |
Below the famous names the British result broadens rather than thins. Queen Mary University of London ranks 25th in the world, ahead of institutions many times its size. Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Southampton, Liverpool, Bristol, Exeter and Nottingham all sit inside the global top 50.
At subject level the pattern repeats. Ten of the 26 subject rankings are led outright by a British university: Oxford in Medicine, Environmental Science, Psychology, Neuroscience and Mathematics; Cambridge in Chemistry and in Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; UCL in Physics and Astronomy, Arts and Humanities, and Earth and Planetary Sciences. Across all 26 subjects, 89 of the 260 available top ten places went to UK institutions, almost three times as many as any other country.
Reputation is what others say. Collaboration is what a university does. Britain's result shows what happens when a whole research system is built to work with the rest of the world, and it is measured from the record, not from opinion.
Daniel Llewellin, Strategic Partnerships Director, Global Research Partnerships
What has followed publication is unusual for a first edition ranking. Universities have announced their own positions, in their own words, without being asked to.
Queen Mary announced its result publicly, noting 10th place in Europe, an index score of 92.6 and a field weighted citation impact of 3.84 against a global average of 1.0, with partners at 1,161 institutions across 80 countries.
Across Queen Mary, there is a deeply engrained culture of working nationally and internationally with other researchers, local communities and industry partners to bring different experiences and ideas together.
These collaborations are vital to delivering outstanding research and so I am incredibly proud that Queen Mary has been ranked 25th in the world for our research collaborations. This ranking is not based on questionable surveys or perception that most rankings inappropriately use; it is based on reproducible open-sourced data and presents a true reflection of quality.
Professor Colin Bailey CBE, President, Queen Mary University of London Read the announcement
UEA announced a place in the top 19 per cent of the 1,195 universities assessed, with 58th in the world in Agricultural and Biological Sciences and 84th in Environmental Science, and partners at more than 1,000 institutions in 79 countries, naming Cambridge, Oxford, UCL and King's College London among them.
These results reinforce UEA's reputation as a research powerhouse, particularly in fields linked to food security, climate science, health, the arts, biodiversity and environmental change.
Over the past five years, our researchers have produced more than 17,000 co-authored publications, working with over 1,000 partner universities across 79 countries.
We work with the world's best researchers and contribute to globally pressing challenges - from understanding climate change and protecting biodiversity to improving public health and food systems.
These partnerships are essential to delivering the high-quality, internationally relevant research for which UEA is known, and this recognition reflects the global reach, impact and ambition of our research community.
Professor Julian Blow, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, University of East Anglia Read the announcement
Nottingham announced a place in the world's top 50 and the top 5 per cent globally, with 8th in Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics, 11th in Chemical Engineering and 16th in Economics, Econometrics and Finance, in the year its School of Pharmacy marks its centenary.
The biggest challenges facing society cannot be solved by any one institution, discipline or country acting alone. This analysis highlights the strength of Nottingham's global research partnerships and our ability to connect expertise, ideas and communities around the world.
It's particularly pleasing to see international recognition for areas where Nottingham has long-standing research strength, including Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of our School of Pharmacy. This recognition belongs to our researchers and partners around the world, whose willingness to collaborate, challenge one another and share ideas continues to strengthen the quality and reach of our research.
Professor Tom Rodden, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, University of Nottingham
Cambridge Judge Business School marked Professor Jaideep Prabhu's Subject Award in Business, Management and Accounting, noting that the University of Cambridge placed second in the world in that field. Read Cambridge Judge Business School's announcement
Since the index went live, universities in several countries have announced their results in their own words.
This means the university acts as a connecting link between research teams and communities from different parts of the world that would not otherwise meet without its participation.
Eva Kopecká, University spokeswoman, Comenius University Bratislava (translated from slovak) Read the TASR report (in Slovak)
I'm happy to see that our efforts to stimulate collaborations are recognized in this index
Professor Bas de Bruin, Scientific Director, Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam Read the announcement
Alongside the institutional rankings, the index named 26 Subject Award winners: individual academics, not universities. Twelve are based in the UK.
Interest has not been confined to Britain. Universities in the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and the United States have published their own results. The common thread in the reaction is that collaboration, long described as central to modern science, had never been measured directly and comparably across the whole open record.
The Research Collaboration Index is computed from the open global scholarly record for 2021 to 2025, 26.8 million co-authored research records across 1,195 universities in 81 countries, fractionally counted so that no output is double credited. Six pillars are scored: network influence, partner reach, partner country diversity, citation impact of joint work, sustained deep partnerships and international intensity. Subject indices rerun the same pillars within each of 26 fields. There are no surveys, no submissions and no votes, and the full methodology is published at globalresearchpartnerships.com/rci/methodology. The index is free, public and independent: no commercial relationship changes any position.
Global Research Partnerships is an independent research intelligence company based in London. The full results, all 26 subject rankings and every Subject Award citation are public at globalresearchpartnerships.com/rci. The index measures research collaboration standing, not reputation, teaching or overall quality. Data sources: the open scholarly record (OpenAlex) for publication and co-authorship data, with funding verified against funders' own award records, including the European Commission (CORDIS), the US National Institutes of Health and the Crossref Funder Registry. Data to June 2026. Photographs of the Subject Award winners and interview access are available on request.
Media contact: Daniel Llewellin, Global Research Partnerships, daniel@globalresearchpartnerships.com, globalresearchpartnerships.com/press
ENDS
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