Citations are a major component of university rankings, but a large raw citation count does not automatically translate into a high rank. Ranking systems calculate research impact differently and adjust for discipline, institutional size and the nature of cited work.
In brief: QS assigns 20% to Citations per Faculty, measuring citation intensity relative to academic staff. THE assigns 30% to Research Quality, divided among Citation Impact, Research Strength, Research Excellence and Research Influence.
Why do rankings use citations?
A citation indicates that research has been used, discussed or built upon by other scholars. It is therefore one proxy for research influence, but it is not a complete measure of quality.
How does QS use Citations per Faculty?
In the current QS World University Rankings, Citations per Faculty carries a 20% weight under Research and Discovery.
QS divides institutional citations by the number of faculty members to account for different institutional sizes. This means the metric measures citation intensity rather than raw citation volume alone.
THE uses four research-quality metrics
In THE World University Rankings 2027, Research Quality accounts for 30% and is divided into:
- Citation Impact 15%
- Research Strength 5%
- Research Excellence 5%
- Research Influence 5%
THE therefore looks beyond average citation counts to examine typical research strength, the volume of world-leading output and whether research is recognised by influential papers.
Why must citations be normalised by field?
Citation cultures vary substantially across disciplines. Biomedical and natural-science papers may attract citations more quickly and in greater volume than humanities research. Raw counts would therefore favour some fields.
Ranking systems use field normalisation or field-weighted approaches to make comparisons fairer.
Do more citations always mean better research?
No. Papers may attract citations because they are reviews, methodological standards, highly topical, controversial or frequently criticised. Citation indicators should be read together with publication quality, discipline and other research metrics.
Why can a university publish a lot but score modestly on citations?
High publication volume does not guarantee high impact per paper. A smaller institution with a high share of influential research may outperform a larger institution on research-quality metrics.
How should readers interpret citation metrics?
- Check the exact metric name.
- Check whether field normalisation is used.
- Understand how institutional size is handled.
- Check the publication and citation window.
- Read citations alongside research excellence, reputation and productivity.
Conclusion
Citations are evidence of scholarly influence, but modern rankings increasingly look beyond simple counts. QS and THE illustrate two different approaches to defining research impact.
Official sources
Verified: 5 November 2026