TheCenter The Top American Research Universities

Part IThe Top American ResearchUniversitiesTheCenter determines the Top American ResearchUniversities by their rank on nine different measures:Total Research, Federal Research, Endowment Assets,Annual Giving, National Academy Members, FacultyAwards, Doctorates Granted, Postdoctoral Appointees,and SAT/ACT range. (The Source Notes sectionof this study provides detailed information on eachof the nine indicators.) The tables group researchinstitutions according to how many times they rankin the top 25 on each of these nine measures. The topcategory includes those universities that rank in thetop 25 on all nine indicators. The bottom category includesuniversities with only one of the nine measuresranked in the top 25. Within these groups, institutionsare then sorted by how many times they rankbetween 26 and 50 on the nine performance variables,with ties listed alphabetically. A similar methodologyproduces a second set of institutions — those ranked26 through 50 on the same nine measures.For the purpose of this study, TheCenter includesonly those institutions that had at least $20 million infederal research expenditures in fiscal year 2003. Thisis the same dollar cutoff used in our last five reports.The first two tables list each institution with themost current data available for each measure and itscorresponding national rank (i.e., rank among allinstitutions regardless of whether they are privatelyor publicly controlled). The third and fourth tablesprovide the same nine data measures but with thegroupings determined by the control rank (i.e., rankamong all private or all public institutions). Institutionsranking in the top 25 on at least one measure areincluded in the tables with the (1-25) identifier, whilethose ranking 26 through 50 are found in the tableslabeled with the (26-50) header.• The Top American Research Universities(1-25) identifies the 51 institutions (25 private, 26public) that rank in the top 25 nationally on at leastone of the nine measures.• The Top American Research Universities(26-50) identifies the 37 institutions (11 private, 26public) that rank 26 through 50 nationally on at leastone of the nine measures.• The Top Private Research Universities (1-25)identifies the 36 private institutions that rank in thetop 25 among all private universities on at least one ofthe nine measures.• The Top Public Research Universities (1-25)identifies the 48 public institutions that rank in thetop 25 among all public universities on at least one ofthe nine measures.• The Top Private and Public Research Universities(26-50) identifies the 19 private and 38 publicinstitutions that rank 26 through 50 among theirprivate or public counterparts on at least one of thenine measures.Many research universities rank highly both nationallyand among their public or private peers, andtherefore appear in more than one table. For example,of the 36 private institutions in the Top Private ResearchUniversities (1-25) table, 25 universities alsoappear in the Top American Research Universities(1-25) table.Data found in these tables may not always matchthe figures published by the original source. TheCentermakes adjustments, when necessary, to ensure that thedata reflect the activity at a single campus rather thanthat of a multiple-campus institution or state universitysystem. When data are missing from the originalsource, TheCenter may substitute another figure, ifavailable. A full discussion of this subject, and the variousadjustments or substitutions made to the originaldata, is in the Data Notes section of this report.TheCenter presents these tables, along with prioryears’ top universities, in Microsoft Excel spreadsheetson its Web site http://thecenter.ufl.edu.The Top American Research Universities 2005 Page 27