Rankings

International rankings do not offer a complete picture of the quality of universities.

Worldwide rankings attract considerable attention when they are published, both within and outside universities. It is important to realise, however, that they offer only a very limited, sometimes imperfect and even misleading picture of the quality of a university as a whole.

The Leiden Centre for Science and Technology Studies has therefore formulated ten principles for the design, interpretation and use of rankings (document in Dutch).

See also this article by Universiteiten van Nederland (in Dutch) on international rankings, which takes a critical look at world university rankings.

ARWU Ranking

The ARWU Ranking is concerned only with research results. More than 1,000 universities worldwide are compared and the best 500 appear in the rankings. The main criteria for inclusion are the number of Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals awarded to staff and alumni, and the number of researchers at the university who have high citation scores. Publications in journals such as Nature and Science also important criteria. In 2022, Leiden University is in place 101-150.
ARWU ranking

THE World University Rankings

Times Higher Education (THE) has published the THE World University Rankings since 2004. Until 2010 this was in collaboration with the QS higher education research agency. The THE World University Ranking produces a top 200 of the world’s best universities based on 13 indicators. The institutions themselves provide the data for the THE ranking. The ranking is also largely based on a reputation survey among international scholars.

Worldwide, Leiden University is in 2024 in 73^rd place.
THE World University Rankings

Ranking by subject

THE Reputation Ranking

As well as the World University Ranking, the Times Higher Education (THE) magazine also publishes a ranking based on the reputation survey that it distributed among scholars. Only the top 100 are indicated in the ranking. Leiden is in the 81 - 90 range (2022).
THE Reputation Ranking

QS World University Rankings

The QS Ranking is compiled annually on the basis of a survey among a large number of academics and a study among employers. The ranking takes account of the quality of teaching and academic publications, as well as the staff-student ratio and citations. 

In the ranking of the best universities in the world, Leiden University is in 141^st position. 

QS World University Rankings

QS World University Rankings by Subject

In addition to the overall ranking, QS also releases a number of rankings by research field (in 2023, five broad subject areas and 54 subjects). These are based on a combination of academic and employer reputation, plus two publication and citation indicators. The weighting varies by discipline.

In the broad subject areas, Leiden University is ranked 36 worldwide for Arts & Humanities and 98 for Life Sciences & Medicine. For Social Sciences & Management, Leiden ranks 126 and for Natural Sciences 128.

It is also possible to compare universities by specific discipline. Depending on the discipline, the first 50, 100 or even 150 universities in this comparison are assigned a specific place in the ranking. For the following research fields, QS places Leiden University in the top 25:

 QS World University Rankings by Subject

CWTS Leiden Ranking

The Leiden Ranking charts the academic performance of 1,400 major universities throughout the world. Using a group of refined bibliometric indicators, the ranking aims to make an accurate measurement of the degree to which we collaborate with other universities. In the CWTS Leiden Ranking 2020 Leiden University is ranked 89^th worldwide, and 5^th in the Netherlands.
CWTS Leiden Ranking

Reuters Top 100: Europe's Most Innovative Universities

In the ranking of innovative European universities published by Reuters, Leiden was in 14^th position (in 2019), first in the Netherlands.
Reuters Top 100