According to the "2023-2024 World Field Rankings" released by the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) Research Laboratory at Middle East Technical University (METU), the number of Turkish universities ranking in at least one scientific field has increased from 84 to 88 compared to the previous year.

The URAP Research Laboratory's 2023-2024 field rankings list the world's top universities across 78 different scientific fields, highlighting their strengths and areas for improvement.

The rankings assess universities based on their academic performance over the past five years, including the impact of their publications, total documents, citations and international collaboration metrics.

Articles with over 1,000 authors were not included in the evaluation.

This year, 2,534 universities from 118 countries appeared in at least one field ranking.

China maintains its top position with 405 universities ranked in at least one field. The U.S. follows with 308 universities, while India rises to third place with 129 universities, Japan drops to fourth with 123 universities.

According to the URAP report, Chinese universities lead in 31 out of 78 fields, while U.S. universities are in the top 24 fields, and the U.K. and the Netherlands follow with 10 and 6 fields.

Harvard University continues to lead globally, ranking first in 21 out of 78 fields, Tsinghua University from China excels in 14 fields, Oxford University from the U.K. ranks first in seven fields, making it the third-best university globally, while the University of Amsterdam from the Netherlands ranks first in five fields, placing it fourth.

Türkiye has increased its number of universities appearing in field rankings this year, with 88 universities featured compared to 84 last year, Turkish universities are prominently ranked in 45 out of the 78 fields listed.

The fields in which Turkish universities excel the most are medicine and engineering. This year, 83 Turkish universities have achieved rankings in medical and health sciences, while 39 universities are listed in engineering. Turkish universities also made the rankings in chemistry (30 universities), technology (26), biology (23), mathematics (17), physics (15) and surgery (12).

Istanbul Technical University leads

The URAP report shows that Istanbul Technical University (ITU) ranks in 27 scientific fields, leading among Turkish universities, Middle East Technical University (METU) and Hacettepe University are each ranked in 21 fields, Ankara University is ranked in 17 fields, and Istanbul University is listed in 16 fields.

Other notable rankings include Koç University, Yıldız Technical University and Gazi University with 15 fields each; Atatürk University with 14 fields; Fırat University, Ege University and Bilkent University with 11 fields each; Boğaziçi University and Near East University with 10 fields each; Karadeniz Technical University with nine fields; and Istanbul-Cerrahpaşa, Marmara, Selçuk, and Erciyes universities with eight fields each.

Specific field achievements

ITU ranks 58th in polymer science, 136th in water resources, 181st in architecture, 149th in marine sciences, 159th in civil engineering and 166th in artificial intelligence.

Hacettepe University achieves 140th in pediatrics, 141st in dentistry and 279th in education.

METU is ranked 232nd in education, Ankara University ranks 168th in dentistry and 237th in pediatrics.

Istanbul University is ranked 155th in dentistry, 187th in pediatrics and 255th in clinical neurology.