A new study that used five different ranking methodologies found that UGA ranked first worldwide for its public administration research.
“Our faculty in the School of Public and International Affairs are outstanding, and this new ranking is yet another indication of the quality of their scholarship,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “Our students and our society as a whole benefit from their research-based insights into effective governance and public service.”
The study, conducted by researchers at Erasmus University in the Netherlands, compared two main methods of assessing the quality of scholarly output: journal impact and journal reputation. The researchers then used different systems for assessing journal impact and reputation to arrive at five different rankings of scholarly productivity in the field of public administration from the years 2009-2013.
UGA is first in overall scholarly output, topping second-place Cardiff University in the United Kingdom and the third-place London School of Economics. When publication in just the top four most widely read journals is used to rank institutions, UGA retains its top spot and is followed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Cardiff University in second and third places, respectively. UGA again places first when journal reputation is taken into account, with Indiana University coming in second.
“Our School of Public and International Affairs has long been considered one of the nation’s best, and now we can proudly say that the University of Georgia is the world’s best in terms of scholarly impact in public administration,” said Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “This top global ranking is a reflection of the quality of our faculty and an indication of the world-class education that our students receive.”