The Ranking Web (Webometrics) has been published since 2004 to promote open access to the knowledge generated by universities.

Contrary to what its name might suggest, it is not focused on ranking university websites, but rather the universities themselves.

Web-based indicators are utilised as proxies to evaluate a university's overall global performance, taking into account its activities, outputs, relevance, and impact.

The ranking methodology combines webometric and bibliometric indicators, sourced from reputable platforms such as Majestic, Google Scholar, and Scopus.

Therefore, unlike other university ranking exercises, the institutions do not submit any data themselves for consideration.

Instead, the ranking is based entirely on externally sourced metrics, with the following indicator weightings:

• Web contents impact (visibility): 50%
• Top-cited researchers (transparency, openness): 10%
• Top-cited papers (excellence): 40%

In January 2025, the University of Malta (UM) was ranked 829th in the world marking a significant leap of 40 positions when compared to its 869th place in February 2024. This achievement places UM within the top 2.59% of over 32,000 higher education institutions worldwide.

The full report of the January 2025 edition of the Ranking Web of Universities may be accessed online.

For more information, please get in touch with the QAC.