Montana State receives international recognition for scientific impact
BOZEMAN — Montana State University has once again been recognized among the top universities in the world for the impact of its scientific discoveries and its collaboration with other researchers.
MSU was featured in the 2024 CWTS Leiden Ranking, which lists more than 1,500 universities worldwide based on their contributions to international scientific journals. The ranking is done by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies, or CWTS, at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and the 2024 edition was based on publication data from 2019-2022. MSU is ranked 168th out of the 206 universities in the U.S. that made the list.
The Leiden ranking is based on articles published in scholarly journals and the impact those publications have on the international community. Impact is measured by the number of times the research is cited in articles by other scientists.
MSU’s world ranking was 1,094th of the 1,506 ranked institutions, with 1,299 published articles during the 2019-2022 period. Nearly a tenth of those articles were among the top 10% of papers in their respective fields, signifying their high impact.
MSU researchers also contributed to 3,155 collaborative publications, meaning the work featured at least one other partner university or organization. More than a third of those were international co-authors, indicating MSU’s extensive global collaboration. MSU’s international collaboration percentage placed it higher than many institutions of significantly larger size.
“Global collaboration is key to scientific advancement and high-impact research that benefits our entire community,” said Alison Harmon, MSU’s vice president for Research and Economic Development. “The Leiden ranking confirms what we have always known: Montana State produces excellent science in a variety of disciplines across our university, and our talented faculty and researchers value connection and teamwork.”
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Robert Mokwa noted that MSU's inclusion in the Leiden ranking demonstrates the university’s momentum toward achieving the goals outlined in its strategic plan, Choosing Promise.
“At MSU, we strive for excellence in scholarship that extends beyond our campus, our state and our nation with tangible impacts for communities,” Mokwa said. “To be included in rankings like the Leiden recognizes how our faculty and students contribute to that mission on a daily basis.”
MSU’s research expenditures set a record last fall with a total of $230 million for the 2022-23 academic year. The total adds to more than a decade of research expenditures topping $100 million and marks the second year in a row of more than $200 million.
The Leiden Ranking is based on a leading bibliographic database, the Web of Science. More information, including the full list, is available at the Leiden Ranking website, leidenranking.com.
