World University Rankings 2018 by subject: psychology, life sciences and clinical results out now

Universities in the US dominate new Times Higher Education psychology ranking

November 8, 2017
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THE World University Rankings 2018 by subject: psychology
THE World University Rankings 2018 by subject: life sciences

THE World University Rankings 2018 by subject: clinical, pre-clinical and health


Stanford University has topped a new Times Higher Education ranking of the world’s best universities for psychology.

The Californian institution, which has already topped THE global tables for arts and humanities, business and economics, computer science, education, and engineering and technology subjects this year, also achieves the highest research environment score in the 100-strong psychology list.

The top three is completed by UCL in second place, which achieves the top teaching environment score, and Princeton University in third.

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For the first time this year, psychology, education and law have been ranked separately from social sciences in the THE subject rankings.

The US dominates the psychology table, claiming almost half (48) of the top 100 places, and eight of the top 10 spots.

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The UK is the second most-represented nation, but has just 13 featured institutions.

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THE World University Rankings 2018 by subject: psychology top 10

2018 rankUniversityCountryWUR 2018 rank 
1Stanford UniversityUnited States=3
2UCLUnited Kingdom16
3Princeton UniversityUnited States7
4Yale UniversityUnited States12
4Harvard UniversityUnited States6
5Duke UniversityUnited States17
6Northwestern UniversityUnited States20
7University of MichiganUnited States21
8University of California, Los AngelesUnited States15
9Carnegie Mellon UniversityUnited States24
10University of British ColumbiaCanada=34

Editor’s note, 5 April 2018: this table has been amended to include Yale University. For more details, please click here.

Browse the full list of universities in this year’s psychology rankings


Alan Thompson, dean of UCL’s Faculty of Brain Sciences, said that the results reflect the university’s “innovative and engaging programmes that integrate research into the heart of the curriculum”.

Meanwhile, THE’s global rankings for life sciences and clinical, pre-clinical and health subjects have also been updated for 2018 and expanded to include 500 institutions each, up from 100 each last year.


– Best universities for psychology degrees
– Best universities for life sciences degrees
– Best universities for medical degrees

– Browse Times Higher Education’s university rankings portfolio
– Search our database of global university jobs


The new life sciences table features the same top five as last year, led by Harvard University, but there have been prominent movements lower down the list.

Johns Hopkins University has risen five places to sixth, while the University of California, San Diego has climbed 12 places to 12th.

Both institutions have improved in terms of their teaching and research environments and have seen a big jump in their industry income score this year. Johns Hopkins also achieved a greater citation impact score, while UC San Diego now has a more international outlook.

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THE World University Rankings 2018 by subject: life sciences top 10

2018 rank2017 rankUniversityCountryWUR 2018 rank 
11Harvard UniversityUnited States6
22University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom2
33University of OxfordUnited Kingdom1
44Stanford UniversityUnited States=3
55Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States5
611Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States13
78Princeton UniversityUnited States7
86California Institute of TechnologyUnited States=3
97Yale UniversityUnited States12
109Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom8

Browse the full list of universities in this year’s life sciences rankings


The University of Oxford once again tops the clinical, pre-clinical and health table, while the University of Cambridge and Harvard University jointly share second place.

The subject rankings for clinical, pre-clinical and health, life sciences and psychology are based on the same range of 13 performance indicators used in the overall THE World University Rankings 2018, but the methodologies have been recalibrated to suit the individual fields.

Students at Oxford University


THE World University Rankings 2018 by subject: clinical, pre-clinical and health top 10

2018 rank2017 rankUniversityCountryWUR 2018 rank 
11University of OxfordUnited Kingdom1
=23University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom2
=22Harvard UniversityUnited States6
=44Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom8
=47Stanford UniversityUnited States=3
68Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States13
75University of California, BerkeleyUnited States18
89Columbia UniversityUnited States14
913University of MelbourneAustralia32
1015University of PennsylvaniaUnited States=10
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Browse the full list of universities in this year’s clinical, pre-clinical and health rankings


ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com 

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