How does the normalization of data affect the ARWU ranking?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present new ideas in evaluating Shanghai University's Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). In particular, this paper shall try to determine whether the normalization of data affects University ranks. In accordance with this, both the normalized and original (raw) data for each of the six variables has been obtained. Based on a sample containing the 54 US universities which are placed in the ARWU top 100, the statistical I-distance method was performed. The results showed great inconsistencies between university ranks obtained for the original and normalized data. These findings were then analyzed and the universities that had the greatest fluctuation in their ranks were noted. © 2012 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary.