Research Collaboration Index
A worked example using real, public data for Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (IR), ranked in the global index.  See a world-leading example (Oxford) →

The enhanced fact file

Your entire collaboration network, read like a strategist would.

Not a scorecard. A dossier that tells a university leader exactly where the strengths, the risks and the fundable opportunities are, every figure sourced from the open research record.

◇ Ranked in the Research Collaboration Index
🌍 Middle East · 38 universities benchmarked
13,850
co-authored works, 5 years
817
partner universities
68
partner countries
355
sustained deep ties
1.85
collaboration impact (FWCI)
95%
of partners non-redundant

The one-screen strategic read

Where you stand, at a glance.

The first thing a leader needs is not more data, it is a verdict. Three strengths to lead with, three challenges to manage, three opportunities to act on, each drawn straight from the network below.

Strengths
  • Strong on international and reach. Ferdowsi University of Mashhad sits in the 38th percentile for international and the 28th for reach: genuine, defensible strengths.
  • A genuine bridge, not just a hub. 74 of 78 partners (95%) are non-redundant, so it connects communities that would not otherwise meet.
Challenges
  • Influence is the softest pillar. At the 12th percentile it sits clearly below the others: the single clearest place to build.
  • Health & Medicine is the at-risk domain. World #901 for connected research, far behind the rest of the portfolio: a real gap, not a crown jewel.
  • Network concentration. The top two partner countries (IR and United States) carry about 69% of collaboration volume: depth, but a thin long tail.
Opportunities
  • Win HKU. World top-1. University of Hong Kong is top-181 globally in Life Sciences. Route: an NSFC / JSPS / A*STAR bilateral programme, or the Human Frontier Science Program.
  • Win NUS. World top-2. National University of Singapore is top-96 globally in Life Sciences. Route: an NSFC / JSPS / A*STAR bilateral programme, or the Human Frontier Science Program.
  • Convert your highest-yield tie. Xi'an Jiaotong University returns the highest impact of your partners (FWCI 4.5). Formalise it into a funded consortium to compound impact, not just volume.

Scholarly weight

The impact behind the network

Collaboration only counts if the work lands. This is the citation weight of everything produced with partners, the substance under the network.

253
h-index of the joint research base
1.3M
citations to co-authored work
1.85
field-weighted citation impact (FWCI)
13,850
co-authored works, 2021-2025
36
collaboration efficiency, impact per tie

Visualisation 1

Your collaboration profile

Seven pillars, each shown as a global percentile. The dashed ring marks the top-decile benchmark; anything inside it is a genuine, defensible strength.

Influence12th pctReach28th pctDiversity25th pctSustained20th pctImpact21st pctInternational38th pctBrokerage78th pct

Ferdowsi University of Mashhad is strongest on international (38th percentile), reach (28th) and diversity (25th). Its brokerage diagnostic shows 74 of 78 partners (95%) are non-redundant, a genuine bridge between communities rather than a wide publisher.

The pillar to watch is Influence (12th percentile), the softest of the six and the clearest place to build.

Source: the open global research record, co-authored works 2021–2025, fractional counting

The anatomy of your standing

Exactly what your position is built from

Six pillars, each weighted, combine into one standing index. Nothing is hidden: this is the entire calculation, in a single bar.

InflImpaSustReacDiveInteEach block is a pillar’s weighted contribution; together they place the university in the global ranked cohort.
Influence22% weight12th pct+2.6
Impact18% weight21st pct+3.8
Sustained18% weight20th pct+3.6
Reach16% weight28th pct+4.5
Diversity16% weight25th pct+4.0
International10% weight38th pct+3.8

Brokerage is reported alongside as a diagnostic, not folded into the score, so a university cannot inflate its standing simply by publishing widely. It measures whether you connect communities that would otherwise stay apart.

Discipline deep-dive

How you collaborate, faculty by faculty

The same network split into its four broad domains, each with its world rank for connected research and the five partners it leans on most. This is the view a dean or pro-vice-chancellor acts on.

Health & Medicine
World #901 for connected research
25/100
Top collaboration partners
Mashhad University of…310
Islamic Azad Universi…175
University of Tehran74
🇬🇧 University of Sussex49
Tehran University of …49
Life Sciences
World #446 for connected research
63/100
Top collaboration partners
Mashhad University of…291
Islamic Azad Universi…244
University of Tehran119
Shiraz University62
Tabriz University of …61
Physical Sciences & Engineering
World #500 for connected research
58/100
Top collaboration partners
Islamic Azad Universi…436
Mashhad University of…203
University of Tehran188
Tarbiat Modares Unive…146
Iran University of Sc…93
Social Sciences
World #732 for connected research
39/100
Top collaboration partners
Islamic Azad Universi…173
University of Tehran64
Mashhad University of…48
🇳🇿 University of Auckland34
Shahid Beheshti Unive…31
Source: domain-level co-authorship, partner institutions 2021–2025

Visualisation 3

Which partnerships actually pay off

Every anchor partner plotted by collaboration volume against the citation impact of the joint work. The prize quadrant is top-right: high volume and high impact. The bottom-right is the trap: a lot of output, little impact.

Joint works (collaboration volume) →Impact (FWCI) →high yieldIslamic Azad UniveMashhad UniversityTarbiat Modares UnGhent University
High yieldStandardLow yield

Xi'an Jiaotong University returns the highest impact of the set (FWCI 4.5): a consortium waiting to happen. Islamic Azad University, Tehran, by contrast, is a sizeable partner returning FWCI 1.7: worth asking what that volume is buying.

PartnerJoint worksFWCIYield
Islamic Azad University, Tehran1,144 1.7Low yield
Mashhad University of Medical Sciences784 1.8Low yield
University of Tehran444 1.8Low yield
Tarbiat Modares University222 3.5Standard
Shiraz University163 2.1Standard
Shahid Beheshti University140 2.4Standard
Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch130 3.3Standard
Tehran University of Medical Sciences107 2.3Standard
Tabriz University of Medical Sciences106 2.5Standard
Iran University of Science and Technology101 2.1Standard
Source: institution-to-institution co-authorship ledger + field-weighted citation impact

Visualisation 4

Your global reach, and where it thins out

Top partner countries

IR 3,923
🇺🇸 United States 668
🇦🇺 Australia 389
🇨🇳 China 385
🇨🇦 Canada 375
🇬🇧 United Kingdom 339
🇩🇪 Germany 280
🇫🇷 France 272

Anchor partner institutions

Islamic Azad University, Tehran 1,144
Mashhad University of Medical Sciences 784
University of Tehran 444
Tarbiat Modares University 222
Shiraz University 163
Shahid Beheshti University 140
Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch 130
Tehran University of Medical Sciences 107

The network spans 68 countries and 817 universities, but the top two carry about 69% of the volume. That concentration is where the resilience question lives.

Source: co-authorship by partner-institution country, 2021–2025

Visualisation 6

The partners to win next

Not a generic wish-list. Globally central universities you are not yet deeply partnered with, each with the reason it matters and the specific programme that would fund the collaboration.

🇭🇰 University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR · world top-1

University of Hong Kong is top-181 globally in Life Sciences. You have no joint publications yet, and it is a natural, fundable bridge in your strongest field.

Funding route: an NSFC / JSPS / A*STAR bilateral programme, or the Human Frontier Science Program

🇸🇬 National University of Singapore Singapore · world top-2

National University of Singapore is top-96 globally in Life Sciences. You have no joint publications yet, and it is a natural, fundable bridge in your strongest field.

Funding route: an NSFC / JSPS / A*STAR bilateral programme, or the Human Frontier Science Program

🇭🇰 Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR · world top-3

Chinese University of Hong Kong is top-218 globally in Life Sciences. You have no joint publications yet, and it is a natural, fundable bridge in your strongest field.

Funding route: an NSFC / JSPS / A*STAR bilateral programme, or the Human Frontier Science Program

🇺🇸 Harvard University United States · world top-8

Harvard University is top-3 globally in Life Sciences. You have no joint publications yet, and it is a natural, fundable bridge in your strongest field.

Funding route: NSF / NIH international collaboration supplements, or a Human Frontier Science Program grant

Source: network white-space analysis + funder-programme mapping

The research base

The ecosystem behind the collaboration

A partnership does not plug into a name, it plugs into a base: the affiliated hospitals, presses, institutes and archives, and the research themes where the joint work concentrates.

EngineeringAgricultural and Biological SciencesMathematicsComputer Science

Context

Your competitive set, and your signature research

Benchmarked against

The named peer group your fact file compares you to, pillar by pillar and subject by subject.

🇰🇷 Chungbuk National UniversitySouth Korea
Universitas Gadjah MadaID
🇫🇷 Université Paris 8France
🇯🇵 Kumamoto UniversityJapan
Kaohsiung Medical UniversityTW
Nanofluid Flow and Heat TransferComposite Structure Analysis and OptimizationEssential Oils and Antimicrobial ActivityStatistical Distribution Estimation and ApplicationsGeochemistry and Geologic MappingAnimal Nutrition and Physiology

From insight to action

A 90-day plan, written from the data.

The dossier ends where a strategy meeting begins: three moves, sequenced, each pointing back to a specific finding above.

0-30 days
Name the target

Adopt HKU as formal partnership targets; brief the relevant deans with the joint white-space evidence.

30-60 days
Open the funding route

Scope the specific programme for each target, and turn the Xi'an Jiaotong University tie into a consortium concept in Life Sciences.

60-90 days
Interrogate the soft spots

Address the influence gap and the health & medicine weakness; set a diversification target for the long tail; and secure an editorial feature in the reputation-survey window.

Your fact file

Claim the full fact file for Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.

Everything above is the open view. The full partner fact file goes further: every ranked subject and subfield, the complete partner ledger with yield, your named academics and their signature work, the funder-by-funder route map for each target, and this same dossier on up to ten named rivals.

Partner fact file · locked

Unlocked for partners. Confirm before 12:00, 22 July 2026 to be included at the 1 September launch.

Claim your fact file →

Free to claim and verify your data. No obligation. Your ranking is unaffected by partnership, and always will be.

Exclusive to partners

Plus this same dossier on up to 10 of your rivals.

Every partnership includes the full intelligence on your named competitive set, their strengths, their funders, their white-space, so you can see exactly where you lead and where to close the gap. Two rivals with Recognition, five with Partnership, up to ten with Flagship.

Your research, in front of 172,000 academics, with full reporting.

Partnership also places your research as editorial features in the Research Network Report, our newsletter to a verified global academic audience, timed to the reputation-survey season. Every send comes with a full performance report: opens, clicks and geography, benchmarked against the edition.

The Research Network Report

172,000
verified academic subscribers worldwide
Nov–Jan
timed to the reputation-survey season
Full report
opens, clicks and geography on every feature

See your own dossier, built for your university.

Submit your data and we will build and review your enhanced fact file with you, then show exactly how a partnership turns it into advantage, before the index goes public on 1 September 2026.

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Global Research Partnerships · globalresearchpartnerships.com/rci · Built on the open global research record and the award data of the world's major funders. Methodology.