2026-07-03T16:26:49Zhttps://docta.ucm.es/rest/oai/requestoai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/1376112026-06-23T23:57:29Zcom_20.500.14352_14col_20.500.14352_15
Docta Complutense
author
Sánchez Jiménez, Rodrigo
author
Halevi, Gali
author
Guerrero Bote, Vicente P.
author
Moya Anegón, Félix de
2026-06-23T10:12:26Z
2026-06-23T10:12:26Z
2026-06-10
Rodrigo Sánchez-Jiménez, Gali Halevi, Vicente P. Guerrero-Bote, Félix De-Moya-Anegón, Beyond university rankings: Classifying national higher education systems through SIR performance concentration, Journal of Informetrics, Volume 20, Issue 3, 2026, 101839
10.1016/j.joi.2026.101839
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/137611
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2026.101839
This study classifies National Higher Education Systems (HES) based on the concentration of institutional performance, utilizing data from 5,051 universities in the SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR). The paper addresses the limitation of traditional rankings which, by focusing on elite institutions, fail to capture systemic health or the internal distribution of performance. To this end, it proposes and operationalizes the HES Index, a metric based on concentration analysis that compares the global standing of institutions with their relative national position. The results identify four country level performance distribution models (ranging from distributed excellence to concentration in lower tiers) and classify the systems into six clusters differentiated by size, concentration, and public/private composition. The analysis reveals a strong positive correlation between the HES Index and the Human Development Index (r = 0.685), suggesting that distributed excellence is linked to higher socioeconomic development. It also concludes that a strategic dilemma exists between concentrating resources to enhance international visibility and fostering cohesive systemic excellence. The HES Index is validated as a robust diagnostic tool for policymakers to assess the morphology and competitiveness of their systems beyond institutional averages.
eng
Attribution 4.0 International
Beyond university rankings: Classifying national higher education systems through SIR performance concentration
journal article
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URL
https://docta.ucm.es/bitstreams/2be2c58b-75c9-4a51-8bd6-793e208184c4/download
File
MD5
d90d0214ad021aa5f7c4811059963c33
1319902
application/pdf
Beyond_university_rankings.pdf