UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State ranks No. 52 in the world among research universities according to U.S. News and World Report's inaugural "Best Global Universities" for 2015, which focuses on universities' academic research and reputation.
The overall rankings include 500 universities in 49 countries. For its methodology, U.S. News relied on data and metrics provided by Thomson Reuters InCites on such indicators as global and regional reputation; impact of scholarly citations and publications; international collaboration; and numbers of research faculty and doctoral graduates.
U.S. News said it focused specifically on schools' academic research and reputation overall and not on individual undergraduate or graduate programs, separating these rankings from the publication's annual national lists of best colleges and best graduate schools.
Penn State also is ranked globally in such listings as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and Center for World University Rankings.