Ranking Web of World Universities: 2010 edition The first 2010 edition of the Ranking Web of Universities is already available in the webometrics site (http://www.webometrics.info), including a larger coverage and improved methodology. The ranking started in 2004 analyzes more than 18,000 universities worldwide providing the classification for the top 8,000, many of them from developing countries traditionally ignored in other rankings. The basic premise is that in the 21st century the web should reflect the organization, activities, research results, knowledge transfer, prestige, and international visibility of the universities. If the web performance of an institution is below the expected position according to their academic excellence, university authorities should reconsider their web policy, promoting substantial increases of the volume and quality of their electronic publications. The web indicators are easy to collect and analyze and since the results are similar to those obtained for a few hundred universities by other far more complex and expensive rankings, the Ranking Web provide in this way the opportunity of obtaining reliable ranks for several thousand institutions. The Ranking web with its large coverage allows comparisons not only between universities but also countries and regions, highlighting the role of nation building institutions that are non-research intensive oriented. Academic ranking is only one of the aims of the webometrics site, as showing bad web policies and promoting the Open Access initiatives are objectives targeted explicitly. Web presence measures the activity and visibility of the institutions and it is a good indicator of impact and prestige of universities. Rank summarizes the global performance of the University, provides information for candidate students and scholars, and reflects the commitment to the dissemination of scientific knowledge. “The university must seek excellence. The recognition of the institutions corresponds to the international community and to the economic, social and politic agents involved in the university activity. Nowadays, the best way to measure all of these acknowledgments is through the measure of the Web link visibility, a true virtual referendum about the university excellence”, said Isidro Aguillo, editor of the Ranking (Cybermetrics Lab – CSIC). With respect to the results, like in previous editions, the first positions are occupied by North American and Canadian universities, with a virtual draw on first position between Harvard and MIT, followed by Stanford, Berkeley, etc. European universities appear still in delayed positions, with the first one being Cambridge ranked on the 27th place. Regarding to results according to region, the first ones are: • Latin America: Sao Paulo, closely followed by UNAM • Europe: Cambridge and Oxford • Eastern Europe: Charles University (Prague) • Asia: Tokyo University • South East Asia: National University of Singapore • South Asia: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay • Oceania: Australian National University • Africa: University of Cape Town The Ranking Web is being elaborated by the Cybermetrics Lab is a research group belonging to the National Research Council (CSIC), the main public research organization in Spain. Since mid-nineties this group has designed web indicators for describing and evaluating the higher education and R&D sectors. The Ranking Web is widely used by students, scholars and directive staff of universities all over the world, receiving more than 4 million visitors per year. -- ************************************* Isidro F. Aguillo, HonPhD Cybermetrics Lab CCHS - CSIC Albasanz, 26-28, 3C1. 28037 Madrid. Spain Ph. 91-602 2890. Fax: 91-602 2971 isidro.aguillo @ cchs.csic.es www. webometrics.info *************************************