Press release · United States edition
Global Research Partnerships
London, 26 September 2026
The first Research Collaboration Index places 27 US universities in the global top 100, more than any other country, and ranks 223 American universities in all. Harvard is eighth in the world and Stanford tenth.
The inaugural Research Collaboration Index (RCI), which measured 1,195 universities in 81 countries on who actually builds knowledge together, has given the United States the deepest bench in the world. Twenty seven American universities rank in the global top 100, and 223 are ranked overall, both the largest totals of any country.
Harvard University ranks eighth in the world and Stanford University tenth. Yale is 17th, UC San Diego 18th, Duke 21st, and the University of Washington, Columbia and UCLA follow inside the top 30. Fourteen US universities sit inside the global top 50, one fewer than the United Kingdom.
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 reputation votes and no submissions. It measures who a university works with, in how many countries, how deep those ties run and how much the joint work is cited.
Across the 26 subject rankings, US universities hold 31 of the 260 top ten places. Stanford University leads the world in Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics. Harvard ranks third in the world in Immunology and Microbiology, and Johns Hopkins third in Nursing. UC Berkeley places inside the world top ten in Engineering, Computer Science, Chemistry, Materials Science and Energy.
| World | University | Partner institutions | Countries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Harvard University | 1,184 | 81 |
| 10 | Stanford University | 1,171 | 81 |
| 17 | Yale University | 1,169 | 81 |
| 18 | University of California San Diego | 1,151 | 81 |
| 21 | Duke University | 1,159 | 81 |
| 26 | University of Washington | 1,166 | 81 |
| 27 | Columbia University | 1,158 | 81 |
| 29 | University of California, Los Angeles | 1,174 | 81 |
| 33 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 1,160 | 79 |
| 35 | University of California, Berkeley | 1,159 | 79 |
| 40 | Cornell University | 1,173 | 81 |
| 41 | Johns Hopkins University | 1,169 | 81 |
| 44 | New York University | 1,159 | 81 |
| 46 | University of Michigan | 1,175 | 81 |
| 61 | University of California, San Francisco | 1,114 | 81 |
The index also rewards the quality of joint work. Stanford, MIT and UC Berkeley each post a field weighted citation impact above 4.0 against a global average of 1.0, placing all three in the top 2 per cent of the cohort on that measure.
The result is a picture of a research system whose strength is its depth: the collaborations that matter are spread across public and private universities from coast to coast, not concentrated in a handful of names.
No country has more universities in the global top 100 for collaboration than the United States. That depth is the story. American research is at its best when it is working with the rest of the world, and for the first time that can be measured, openly, university by university.
Daniel Llewellin, Strategic Partnerships Director, Global Research Partnerships
The University of Arizona was among the first American universities to announce its result. Ranked 111th in the world, it described itself as first in the US Southwest and in the Big 12 for international research collaboration. Read the University of Arizona's announcement
Since the index went live, universities in several countries have announced their results in their own words.
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.
Professor Colin Bailey CBE, President, Queen Mary University of London Read the announcement
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.
Professor Julian Blow, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, University of East Anglia Read the announcement
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
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.
Professor Tom Rodden, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, University of Nottingham
Alongside the institutional rankings, the index named 26 Subject Award winners: individual academics, not universities, chosen for the collaborations their work anchors. Three are based in the United States.
The index will be refreshed annually. Every university's full profile, partner list and subject positions are free to read at globalresearchpartnerships.com/rci.
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
The Collaboration and Funding Blueprint
Your institution's collaboration network, funding evidence and partner opportunities, mapped in one document. Three options, one document, from the team behind the index. Sample Blueprints are open to read.
See the Blueprint packages → Open the samples →