Nature Index ranks Otago as NZ’s top high-quality research contributor

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Richard Blaikie.

The University of Otago leads all research institutions in New Zealand in the publication of high-quality scientific research papers, according to newly published rankings by the Nature Publishing Group.

After measuring the weighted contributions of Otago researchers to nearly 60,000 high-quality papers published in 68 leading natural science journals in 2015, Otago was ranked 303rd in Nature's global index of thousands of universities.

The Nature Index is built on an institution's contributions to these high-quality papers each year and considers both the number of papers and the relative contribution of its authors. The index tracks over 8000 institutions worldwide, of which over 3600 are universities and academic educational institutions.

Announcing the latest rankings, Nature Index founder David Swinbanks said that “Otago University is an institution that clearly has a hunger to succeed despite its geographic isolation and the Nature Index shows that, for a number of years, it is a growing source of high quality research output”.

High-quality contributions by Otago authors have shown compound annual average growth of over six per cent from 2012 to 2015.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Richard Blaikie says Otago's pleasing performance in the Index reflects the University's ongoing emphasis on pursuing research excellence.

“Our ranking is a welcome confirmation of the calibre and productivity of our researchers, who are continuing to make important contributions to scientific progress internationally.”

The full list of New Zealand institutions' rankings can be accessed here.

For more information, contact:

Professor Richard Blaikie
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise)
University of Otago
Tel 03 479 8513
Email dvc.research@otago.ac.nz

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