Eur. Phys. J. B (2016) 89: 69
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2016-60922-0

Regular Article

Wikipedia ranking of world universities

¹ Institut UTINAM, Observatoire des Sciences de l’Univers THETA, CNRS, Université de Franche-Comté, 25030 Besançon, France
² Laboratoire de Physique Théorique du CNRS, IRSAMC, Université de Toulouse, UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France

^a e-mail: dima@irsamc.ups-tlse.fr

Received: 29 November 2015
Received in final form: 3 February 2016
Published online: 14 March 2016

Abstract

We use the directed networks between articles of 24 Wikipedia language editions for producing the wikipedia ranking of world Universities (WRWU) using PageRank, 2DRank and CheiRank algorithms. This approach allows to incorporate various cultural views on world universities using the mathematical statistical analysis independent of cultural preferences. The Wikipedia ranking of top 100 universities provides about 60% overlap with the Shanghai university ranking demonstrating the reliable features of this approach. At the same time WRWU incorporates all knowledge accumulated at 24 Wikipedia editions giving stronger highlights for historically important universities leading to a different estimation of efficiency of world countries in university education. The historical development of university ranking is analyzed during ten centuries of their history.