The questions universities ask us

Reputation rankings measure opinion: what a sample of academics or employers say. Citation rankings measure impact: how often work is cited. Neither measures collaboration: who a university actually builds knowledge with, and how central it sits in the global research network. The Research Collaboration Index measures exactly that, from the record of co-authored research itself. It is not a competitor to those measures; it captures a dimension they were never designed to see, and it correlates only loosely with them, which is the point.

No. The index is computed from the open scholarly record on a fixed, published method, and is identical for every university, partner or not. Nothing a university pays for touches its score or position. A partnership licenses the intelligence report, the Connected Research Institution mark, editorial features and academic memberships, never the result. This is set out in full in our independence charter, and it is the foundation of the index's credibility.

The collaboration measures are built from the open global scholarly record (published under a CC0 public-domain dedication): 26.8 million co-authorship records across 1,195 universities and 81 countries, 2021 to 2025. Funding is drawn from the European Commission's CORDIS database and, for national research grants, from the funders' own open award records (for example the tri-agency in Canada and the Australian Research Council). Every figure in the index is traceable to its named source so it can be independently checked. The full method is published on our methodology page and is reproducible.

The index is built entirely on open, licence-clean public data (the open scholarly record CC0, CORDIS and national funders' open datasets); it uses no proprietary or purchased third-party ranking data. A partnership is a straightforward annual licence with a single contract, and we can accommodate a university system or consortium under one agreement. Personal data is handled under UK GDPR; outreach is on a legitimate-interest basis to institutional contacts, and any individual can opt out at any time. We are happy to complete a supplier or data-processing questionnaire.

The GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform, a partner service for universities that opens on Monday 19 October 2026. It sets your university beside the peers you choose across both GRP indices: the universities and companies your peers work with that you do not, live funding calls matched to your strengths, the EU projects your peers have won and a brief ready for your executive. It cannot change any university's score or position. Enquire, and the GRP team will confirm availability and pricing for your university: request first access.

Two ways, both free and with no obligation. You can submit your institution's data for review: we verify it, check it against your university's record, and come back to you with your enriched standing and the next step. Or simply start a conversation with our team, no committee and no contract required. Either lets you see the value before deciding, and you can see what the GRP Partnership Intelligence Platform does in the meantime: it is a separate partner service, and the GRP team confirms availability and pricing with each university.

The complete ranking, with every university's exact position, was published on 15 September 2026 with a coordinated global launch. It is free and public, and every university can see its exact rank, score and collaboration profile.

Yes. The scholarly record occasionally mis-attributes affiliations, and we ran a verification window before the 15 September 2026 launch. If something looks off on your results page, tell us and we will check it against the source and correct any genuine error. Accuracy is in everyone's interest, and a correction never depends on a partnership.