Record participation for new Interdisciplinary Science Rankings

More than 700 universities across the world will be ranked in the inaugural Times Higher Education Interdisciplinary Science Rankings (ISR) later this month.

A total of 749 universities from 92 countries and territories will be included in the ranking, reflecting the growing consensus that the world’s pressing problems can be solved only with insights from a range of scholarly fields.

The ranking – a project in association with Schmidt Science Fellows – measures university performance in three areas: inputs (funding); process (measures of success, facilities, administrative support and promotion); and outputs (publications, research quality and reputation).

The large number of entrants is the highest ever for an inaugural THE ranking. The first THE Impact Rankings, published in 2019, had 556 ranked institutions from 80 countries and territories. In the latest 2024 edition, this had grown to 2,152 institutions from 125 countries and territories.  

Billy Wong, principal data scientist at THE, said that, before collecting any data, THE and Schmidt “conducted many engagement events with leaders in higher education”.

“There is a high level of enthusiasm for applying interdisciplinary research to unlock the potential of joining up learnings from multiple fields,” he said. “Many higher education leaders reflected on the fact that the world’s biggest challenges, from climate change to food security, can only be solved by combining the expertise across disciplines. This enthusiasm translates directly to the high level of participation in the inaugural Interdisciplinary Science Rankings.”

The country with the largest number of ranked universities is India with 65, followed by Turkey with 45. Russia and the United States are the third highest in terms of entrants with 38 universities each.

Development of the ISR began in 2020, when THE and Schmidt Science Fellows – which is funded by former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy Schmidt – began engaging universities and scientific bodies to identify obstacles to interdisciplinary science. In 2022, a series of round tables were held in Europe, Asia and North America to establish the value and utility of a ranking.

A preliminary analysis, published last year, found that universities were not walking the talk on interdisciplinary science, with about a third of participating global universities failing to reward staff for cross-disciplinary research or to measure the success of such work.

The Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2025 will be published on 21 November. Join the Interdisciplinary Science Forum in Washington, DC.

Register to take part in the Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2026.