Uppsala University still in top 100 in 2026
Uppsala University continues to be ranked among the world’s top 100 universities in the ARWU 2026 (the Shanghai Ranking). Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt, Uppsala University.
Uppsala University remains in the top 100 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, which lists the world’s leading universities. Although the University has dropped one place since last year, it is once again ranked as the second-best Swedish university after Karolinska Institutet (KI).
Uppsala University has dropped one place in this year’s list and is ranked 94th, whilst KI is ranked 41st. Lund University and Stockholm University are ranked within the 100–150 range, whilst the University of Gothenburg is ranked within the 150–200 range.
The top Scandinavian university is the University of Copenhagen, ranked 34th. The world’s top three universities remain the American universities Harvard University, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Publication and citation data as sources
The Shanghai Ranking comprises six different indicators, all of which are linked to research. Higher education institutions do not submit any data themselves; instead, the sources are publication and citation data from Web of Science, Nature and Science, official lists of Nobel Prizes and other awards, etcetera.
"The ranking measures research excellence with a focus on engineering, natural sciences and medical sciences. Uppsala University has seen a decline in the ‘Publication’ and ‘PCP’ (per capita publication) indicators, which measure the number of publications in general, but has improved in the ‘Nature and Science’ indicator for the fourth year running and this year achieved the highest score of all Swedish higher education institutions in that indicator. Uppsala University has also made progress in the ‘Highly Cited (HiCi)’ indicator, which is positive, even though it remains the indicator in which the University achieves its lowest scores", says Emma Östlund, Controller at the Planning Division, Uppsala University.
The HiCi indicator is based on Clarivate’s annual list of the most Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) within their respective disciplines. The five researchers from Uppsala University featured on the list are: Dan Andersson (Microbiology), Tommy Cederholm (Clinical Medicine), Therese Pettersson (Social Sciences), and Morteza Ghobakhloo and Susanna C Larsson (both in Cross-Field).
Johan Ahlenius