What the SCImago Institutions Rankings Are
The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) are an annual ranking of universities and research institutions produced by SCImago Lab, a Spanish research group associated with CSIC and several Spanish universities. First published in 2009, the ranking is built entirely on Scopus bibliometric data and web indicators.
Unlike QS or THE, SIR covers not only universities but also research councils, hospitals, government agencies, and companies — any institution with sufficient research output.
What the SCImago Institutions Rankings Rank
The ranking orders research-producing institutions worldwide — several thousand entities across five institutional sectors: higher education, government, health, non-profit, and private.
Institutions enter automatically once their Scopus-indexed output crosses a threshold; there is no application or survey.
Core Inputs Used by the SCImago Rankings
Indicators are grouped into three dimensions:
- Research (50%) — publication output, normalized citation impact, international collaboration, and high-quality journal share, all from Scopus
- Innovation (30%) — patent output and the share of publications cited in patents, from patent databases
- Societal impact (20%) — web visibility and inbound links to the institution’s web domain
How SIR Scores Are Calculated (High-Level)
The calculation is a fixed-weight composite of bibliometric and web indicators:
- Each indicator is computed from Scopus, patent, and web data, then normalized across institutions.
- Dimension scores combine under the fixed 50/30/20 weighting.
- The composite determines the overall order; per-dimension rankings are published alongside it.
Conceptual model: Publications plus patents plus web presence — a three-part fingerprint of what an institution contributes, measured entirely from databases.
Update Frequency
The SCImago Institutions Rankings are published annually, each year covering a five-year publication window that rolls forward.
Known Limitations and Criticisms
- Database dependence — Scopus coverage skews toward English-language and journal-based fields; book-oriented disciplines are undercounted
- Size effects — output-based indicators favor very large institutions
- Arbitrary weighting — the 50/30/20 split is a design choice without a consensus justification
- Web metrics volatility — the societal dimension can move for reasons unrelated to research
Where the SCImago Rankings Are Used
The rankings are used for:
- Institutional benchmarking, especially outside the Anglosphere
- Research policy analysis in national science systems
- Comparing non-university research bodies (hospitals, agencies) with universities
- Media coverage in regions underrepresented by QS and THE
Summary
The SCImago Institutions Rankings are the broadest data-only ranking: any research-producing institution qualifies, scored on research, innovation, and web footprint from public databases. Its inclusiveness is its signature — and its reliance on Scopus coverage is its ceiling.
References and Sources
- SCImago Lab. SIR — Methodology (official documentation).
- Wikipedia. SCImago Institutions Rankings.
- Elsevier. Scopus content coverage documentation.