RR Score Methodology
A detailed explanation of how RANKNESIA calculates university scores and rankings.
Data Sources
RANKNESIA uses 100% data from OpenAlex — an open research database licensed under CC0 (free to use without restrictions).
Not using: Scimago, Scopus, QS, THE, UI GreenMetric, or other paid/restricted data sources.
Indicators & Weights
Research Output
The total number of the university’s scientific publications from OpenAlex (works_count). Measures overall research productivity.
Field OpenAlex: works_count
Research Impact
Number of citations divided by the number of publications (cited_by_count / works_count). Measures the impact and influence of research.
Field OpenAlex: cited_by_count / works_count
Research Quality
Average citations per publication in the last 2 years (2yr_mean_citedness). Measures the quality of recent research.
Field OpenAlex: summary_stats.2yr_mean_citedness
Research Breadth
Number of publications with at least 10 citations (i10_index). Measures how broad the research impact is institutions with many influential papers will excel.
Field OpenAlex: summary_stats.i10_index
H-Index
Institutional H-Index from OpenAlex. Measures the consistency of research impact over time.
Field OpenAlex: summary_stats.h_index
Pipeline Normalization
Final Formula
# RR Score Formula (v2 — 2026)
RR Score =
(0.25 × Output_norm)
+ (0.25 × Impact_norm)
+ (0.15 × Quality_norm)
+ (0.30 × Breadth_norm)
+ (0.5 × Hindex_norm)
− Total_penalty_points
The minimum score is 0 (cannot be negative). The theoretical maximum score is 100.
Penalty System
Universities may be subject to point deductions if proven to have committed violations of academic ethics. Reports from the public will be verified by the RANKNESIA team before penalties are enforced.
| Level | Reduction | When is it used |
|---|---|---|
| Light | −0.5 | Minor violations, not fully confirmed |
| Medium | −1 | Confirmed violations, limited impact |
| Heavy | −3 | Serious violations, strong evidence available |
| Very Heavy | −5 | Serious violations, wide impact |
| DANGER | −10 | Systemic cases / repeated / highly viral |
Notes & Limitations
Why do larger institutions tend to perform better?
RANKNESIA measures Research Productivity and Impact in absolute terms. Institutions with high research volume such as the University of Washington or Harvard will excel because this methodology is not normalized by the number of faculty or students — that data is not available in OpenAlex.
Not a replacement for the existing rating agencies
RANKNESIA does not measure academic reputation, the faculty-to-student ratio, or campus internationalization. This ranking is a transparent, open-data-based alternative, not a direct competitor to other ranking agencies.
Data is updated 2x per year
The RANKNESIA rankings reflect OpenAlex data as of the time the pipeline was run (January and July). Changes in rankings between periods reflect changes in institutional research productivity.
Update Schedule (RADAR)
Data ranking is updated twice per year through the RADAR system (Ranking Data Refresh). Each update fetches the latest data from OpenAlex.