NEW RANKING ASSESSES UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION: CU PLACES 320TH IN PSYCHOLOGY, WITH STRONG RESULTS IN PHYSICS AND PHARMACY
Bratislava, 15 September 2026: Comenius University Bratislava (CU) has performed well in the first edition of the Research Collaboration Index. Compiled by Global Research Partnerships, the new international ranking assesses academic collaboration between universities. It covers 1,195 higher education institutions in 81 countries and draws on bibliometric data and information about national and international research partnerships. CU has also confirmed its international standing in other major university rankings.
Psychology was CU’s highest-ranked discipline in the index, placing 320th worldwide. Other strong, internationally competitive fields included physics and astronomy in 335th place, and pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacy in 420th.
The ranking uses publicly available bibliometric and international grant databases. Its first edition covers the period from 2021 to 2025, during which CU produced more than 14,700 co-authored publications. Its partnership network spans 916 universities in 75 countries. The strength and continuity of these relationships are another important indicator of quality: CU maintains close, long-term partnerships with more than 580 institutions.
One of CU’s strengths is its role as a key international partner. As many as 85 per cent of its core partnerships are classified as “unique links”. This means that the university connects research teams and communities in different parts of the world that would otherwise not come into contact with one another.
The index assesses the research environment across six pillars: international intensity, sustained partnership, partner-country diversity, partner reach, collaboration impact (measured through field-normalised citation impact) and network influence.The resulting score thus provides a faithful measure of an institution’s openness and engagement with the international research community.
Other university rankings have also recently published their results. The prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, placed CU 1,058th. The same organisation, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, also publishes the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS), in which CU ranks in the 401–500 band in both physics and psychology.
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Comenius University Bratislava is the only Slovak university to feature in all the major university rankings.
- QS World University Rankings 2027: 662nd.
- Round University Ranking 2025: 605th.
- Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) 2026: 748th, placing CU among the world’s top 3.6 per cent of universities.
- Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Ranking: 1,058th.
- U.S. News 2026–2027 Best Global Universities Rankings: 801st overall and 274th in physics.
- SCImago: 3,327th.
- National Taiwan University Rankings (NTU Ranking): 838th overall and in the 351–400 band in physics.
- The Three University Missions (MosIUR) 2024: 257th.
- THE Impact Rankings: in the 601–800 band.
- THE World University Rankings: in the 1201–1500 band.
- World University Ranking RankPro: 181st.
- Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS): in the 401–500 band in both physics and psychology.
- QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026: in the 701–850 band in medicine and the 601–675 band in physics.
- QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2026: joint 824th.
- University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) 2025–2026: 860th.
- Research Collaboration Index: 320th in psychology, 335th in physics and astronomy, and 420th in pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacy.