Bibliometric Study

University ranking systems aim to promote academic excellence by providing an objective, transparent and easily understandable tool to universities, students and the academic world. However, to date, and although many university ranking systems were introduced since the creation of the Shanghai Ranking in 2003, no ranking was designed for schools of public health. Therefore, a team of public health researchers affiliated with the SSPH+ developed the first academic ranking designed for schools of public health, the Public Health Academic Ranking (PHAR). The PHAR includes 11 bibliometric indicators covering 4 categories (productivity, quality, accessibility for readers, international collaboration) that purely assess the research field of public health, ranks a total of 26 schools worldwide, and allows for the first time the ranking of “virtual schools” of public health (such as the SSPH+) which were previously unaccounted by traditional ranking systems. Future improvements to this pilot project include the integration of other evaluation domains and of non-bibliometric indicators.