The United States National Research Council conducts a survey and compiles a report on United States Research-Doctorate Programs approximately every 10 years, although the time elapsed between each new ranking has exceeded 10 years. Data collection for the most recent report began in June of 2006. However, the release of the new report has been delayed every few months for about the past two years. This has led some to question the value of a report that will be based on data that is years old by the time it is available.^[1]

While the NRC rankings are regarded by many as the premier ranking of doctorate programs, it has been criticized as part of a self-validating academic circle and as favoring universities that conduct mainstream research as opposed to more heterodox approaches.^[2]

[edit] Statistical analysis

In 1997, H.J. Newton, Professor of Statistics at Texas A&M University, prepared a statistical analysis of the NRC report issued in 1995 from the results of its survey performed in 1993. Newton combined and average scores across each discipline evaluated by the NRC to compile a Top 60 Institutions ranking. Below are the abbreviated results of his top 60 institutions' combined rankings for their graduate-doctoral programs. The results show each of his three ranking methodologies that are presented on his website and help to summarize the NRC rankings by institution, although it should be noted that such rankings and summaries were never produced by the NRC itself.^[3]

Top 30 universities by number of rated programs ranking 1995 University 1995 average score 1 Stanford 40 2 Michigan 38 2 Wisconsin 38 3 Ohio State 38 5 Texas 37 5 Washington 37 5 Illinois 37 5 Minnesota 37 9 Berkeley 36 9 Cornell 36 9 UCLA 36 9 Penn State 36 13 Penn 35 14 Columbia 34 14 Pitt 34 16 Duke 33 16 John Hopkins 33 18 North Carolina 32 18 Virginia 32 18 Rutgers 32 18 UCSB 32 18 Iowa 32 18 Florida 32 18 Buffalo 32 25 UMass 31 26 Harvard 30 26 UChicago 30 26 Yale 30 26 Northwestern 30 26 Stony Brook 30 26 Colorado 30 26 Michigan State 30

Top 30 universities by average of all scores ranking 1995 University 1995 average score 1 Stanford 7.76 2 Berkeley 7.46 3 Michigan 7.31 4 Cornell 6.56 5 Wisconsin 6.44 6 UCLA 6.32 7 Texas 6.12 8 Columbia 6.07 9 Washington 6.05 9 Illinois 6.05 9 Penn 6.05 12 Harvard 6.00 13 Minnesota 5.78 14 Princeton 5.68 15 UChicago 5.66 16 Yale 5.56 17 Ohio State 5.37 18 Duke 5.32 18 John Hopkins 5.32 20 Penn State 5.22 21 UCSD 5.20 22 North Carolina 4.93 23 MIT 4.88 24 Northwestern 4.85 25 Virginia 4.80 26 Rutgers 4.63 27 Brown 4.46 28 UCSB 4.41 29 Pitt 4.37 30 Arizona 4.24

Top 30 universities by average of nonzero scores ranking 1995 University 1995 average score 1 MIT 8.70 2 Berkeley 8.50 3 Harvard 8.20 4 Princeton 8.03 5 Caltech 8.00 6 Stanford 7.95 7 UChicago 7.73 8 Yale 7.60 9 Cornell 7.47 10 UCSD 7.34 11 Columbia 7.32 12 Michigan 7.24 13 UCLA 7.19 14 Penn 7.09 15 Wisconsin 6.95 16 UTexas 6.78 17 UWashington 6.70 17 Illinois 6.70 19 Northwestern 6.63 20 Duke 6.61 20 Johns Hopkins 6.61 22 Carnegie Mellon 6.53 23 Minnesota 6.41 24 North Carolina 6.31 25 Brown 6.31 26 UC Irvine 6.22 27 NYU 6.20 28 Virginia 6.16 29 Purdue 6.12 30 Arizona 6.00

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.usnews.com/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2009/07/09/the-wait-for-the-national-research-council-rankings-continues.html
2. ^ Holcombe, Randall G., "The National Research Ranking of Research Universities: Its Impact on Research in Economics" (December 2004). [1]
3. ^ Newton, H.J. (1997). "Top 60 Institutions by Number of Rated Programs, Average of Nonzero Scores, and all Scores". http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc1.html#TOP60. Retrieved 2009-08-25. 

[edit] External links

• NRC Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs website
• 1995 NRC graduate rankings (Statistical Analysis)