University Ranking by Academic performance

What University Ranking by Academic performance does

University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) is a non-profit research laboratory established in 2009 at the Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey. Its mission is to develop university rankings based on academic performance indicators that reflect the quality and quantity of scholarly publications. URAP has released an annual World Ranking of Higher Education Institutions since 2010, covering approximately 2,500 higher education institutions globally, and Field Rankings since 2011, spanning 41 specialized subject areas. A dedicated regional product, URAP Türkiye, serves Turkish institutions.

URAP operates as a public service initiative staffed by METU researchers who participate voluntarily in the research laboratory; no commercial revenue streams are mentioned. The organization distributes its rankings freely through its website (urapcenter.org) and engages the academic community through an annual symposium, formal publications, and reports. Website support is provided by Ankawiser. The underlying methodology relies on bibliometric publication indicators rather than commercial data products or AI systems, and there is no API, SDK, or paid product offering. The organization has no disclosed funding rounds, no private investors, and no commercial ownership outside its institutional relationship with METU.

Name

University Ranking by Academic performance

Legal name

URAP Research Laboratory

Website

https://www.urapcenter.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

URAP is a non-profit research laboratory at METU in Ankara that annually ranks approximately 2,500 higher education institutions and 41 subject areas worldwide based on scholarly publication indicators, distributing its rankings free of charge as a public service.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Ranking Services

NAICS

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Services, Nec (8900), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Transparency Portals & Open Data Reporting (EDADAIAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Social Sciences Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAD)

Keywords

• University ranking systems
• Academic performance metrics
• Higher education assessment
• Research performance evaluation
• Institutional benchmarking

Headquarters

HQ city

Ankara

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Non-profit Public Service: URAP is a non-profit organization established at METU's Informatics Institute. The team consists of METU researchers who voluntarily participate in URAP Research Lab as a public service. No commercial revenue streams are mentioned.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

URAP develops and publishes annual university rankings based on academic performance indicators derived from scholarly publications, including a global World Ranking of Higher Education Institutions (covering 2,500 institutions since 2010) and Field Rankings across 41 specialized subject areas (released since 2011). The rankings are produced as a non-profit public service by voluntary researchers at the Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University and are made freely available through the urapcenter.org website and an annual symposium.

Product overview

URAP (University Ranking by Academic Performance) is a non-profit ranking organization that operates as a unified platform offering world university rankings and field-specific rankings. The core products include the World Ranking of Higher Education Institutions (covering 2,500 universities globally since 2010) and Field Rankings (covering 41 specialized subject areas since 2011), supplemented by regional offerings such as URAP Türkiye for Turkish institutions. All rankings are based on academic performance indicators reflecting the quality and quantity of scholarly publications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• URAP Türkiye: Turkish version of the URAP ranking system for Turkish universities

Products and services

• World Ranking of Higher Education Institutions Annual global ranking system for universities evaluating academic performance indicators including quality and quantity of scholarly publications, covering 2,500 higher education institutions worldwide. Provided free to the academic community as a public service.
• Field Rankings Subject-specific university rankings covering 41 different specialized subject areas, released annually since 2011, evaluating institutions' performance within specific academic fields. Provided free as a public service.
• URAP Türkiye Dedicated ranking system for Turkish higher education institutions, providing localized evaluation of universities within Turkey. Offered as a sub-brand of URAP via the newtr.urapcenter.org site.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Middle East Technical University (METU)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2009URAP is established at the Informatics Institute of METU. The organization operates as a public service initiative with METU researchers voluntarily participating in the URAP Research Laboratory. METU provides the institutional hosting and academic oversight for the ranking initiative.
• AnkawiserminorOthersAnkawiser provides website support services for urapcenter.org, as noted in the website footer.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings: THE publishes widely cited global university rankings using a multi-indicator framework including research, teaching, and citations. It is the most direct competitor to URAP in providing annual cross-institutional academic performance comparisons.
• QS World University Rankings (Quacquarelli Symonds): QS produces the QS World University Rankings and subject rankings based on academic reputation surveys, employer reputation, citations, and faculty ratios. It directly competes with URAP for institutional benchmarking attention.
• Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU / Shanghai Ranking): ARWU (Shanghai Ranking) is one of the oldest global university rankings, heavily weighted to research output and quality indicators including Nobel laureates and highly cited papers, making it a close methodology-level peer to URAP's publication-focused approach.
• Center for World University Rankings (CWUR): CWUR publishes global university rankings based on indicators such as quality of education, alumni employment, and research performance. As a non-survey-based ranking body, it is structurally comparable to URAP's data-driven approach.
• Leiden Ranking: The Leiden Ranking from CWTS at Leiden University provides publication- and citation-based rankings of universities worldwide, with strong methodological overlap with URAP's publication-quality-and-quantity framework.
• SCImago Institutions Ranking: SCImago ranks research institutions using Scopus publication and citation data, making it a directly comparable data-driven ranking system targeting academic institutions globally.
• Webometrics / Cybermetrics Lab Ranking: Webometrics, produced by the Cybermetrics Lab at CSIC in Spain, ranks universities globally based on web presence and impact indicators. It overlaps with URAP as a publicly accessible, methodology-driven global ranking effort.
• Round University Ranking (RUR): RUR publishes global university rankings focused on research performance and teaching quality, providing a direct ranking alternative that competes for institutional attention similar to URAP.
• NTU Ranking (National Taiwan University Performance Ranking): The NTU Ranking, produced by National Taiwan University, evaluates universities using publication and citation data. It is a comparable bibliometric-driven ranking system targeting the same academic benchmarking use case as URAP.

Broad incumbents

• U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities: U.S. News publishes Best Global Universities rankings using bibliometric indicators (publications, citations, reputation), serving a broader consumer audience beyond academia. It is a larger incumbent offering comparable ranking products.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/urapcenter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about University Ranking by Academic performance