U of T fourth globally, second among public universities: NTU research rankings

Published: August 7, 2026

By Adina Bresge

The University of Toronto is ranked fourth in the world - and second among public universities - in the latest NTU World University Rankings.

U of T joined Harvard University, Stanford University and University College London in the highest tier of the 2026 rankings, which evaluated more than 1,900 institutions based on the scale and reach of their published scholarship.

It's the fourth straight year that U of T has placed in the global top five for overall research output - a standing echoed by its performance in NTU's associated rankings by field and subject.

"These rankings speak to the dauntless curiosity of our research community of faculty, staff, students, librarians and post-docs," said Leah Cowen, U of T's vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

"Their discoveries are shaping an extraordinary range of disciplines and the world as we know it."

Published by National Taiwan University, the annual rankings score each institution across three criteria - research productivity, impact and excellence - using eight indicators and drawing on up to 11 years of publication and citation data.

U of T is one of four Canadian universities in the top 100 of the overall rankings, along with the University of British Columbia (32^nd), McGill University (5^3rd) and the University of Alberta (85^th).

Among public universities, U of T placed first in Canada and led North America.

In addition to its overall rankings, NTU assesses institutions based on broad fields and more specific subjects.

U of T placed among the world's top 50 - and first in Canada - in four of the six broad fields: medicine (second), social sciences (fifth), life sciences (15^th) and natural sciences (40^th).

At the subject level, U of T ranked in the global top 10 in five of the 27 areas NTU measures: clinical medicine (second), neuroscience and behaviour (fourth), psychiatry and psychology (fourth), general social sciences (fourth) and biology and biochemistry (eighth).

U of T continues to be ranked among the top universities globally in the five most closely watched international rankings: Times Higher Education World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy's Academic Ranking of World Universities, U.S. News & World Report's Best Global Universities and NTU World University Rankings.