How universities are ranked in Business and Economics

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2026 evaluates universities across 11 separate subject areas using a refined version of the overall World University Rankings 2026 methodology. The same 18 performance indicators, grouped under five core pillars, are used across every subject — but the weights are recalibrated for each field to reflect its distinct research culture and publication habits. This page sets out the methodology as it applies to Business and Economics.

Why the weights change by subject

Each subject’s ranking methodology is recalibrated to reflect unique academic cultures, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields. In particular, the weights given to the research indicators have been altered to fit more closely with the research culture in each subject, reflecting different publication habits. In Arts and Humanities, for instance, where the range of research outputs extends well beyond peer-reviewed journals, less weight is given to paper citations. Engineering, by contrast, focuses more on research productivity and industry collaboration.

Business and Economics sits between these extremes. It retains a strong emphasis on reputation — teaching and research — while giving citation-based measures a moderate weight that reflects the field’s peer-reviewed journal culture.

Indicator weightings for Business and Economics

The table below sets out the 18 indicators, their pillar, and their weight in the Business and Economics subject ranking, alongside the overall World University Rankings 2026 weight for comparison.

Two things stand out. First, the doctorate-to-bachelor’s ratio is given zero weight in Business and Economics — a deliberate choice reflecting the field’s relatively small doctoral cohort compared with, say, the physical sciences. Second, reputation dominates: teaching reputation (21.1%) and research reputation (22.8%) together account for almost 44% of the total score. Citation impact, at 13%, is the single largest non-reputation indicator.

Disciplines covered in Business and Economics

Each subject ranking is based on a range of narrower disciplines, with the exceptions of Computer Science and Law, which are already single disciplines. Business and Economics comprises three disciplines:

Inclusion criteria

An institution must first be included in the overall THE World University Rankings before it can be considered for inclusion in any subject ranking. There are then two criteria for inclusion in the subject rankings: a publication threshold by discipline and an academic staff threshold by discipline. An institution also needs to be active in a subject to be included.

Publication thresholds

No institution can be included in the overall World University Rankings unless it has published a minimum of 1,000 relevant publications over the five years examined (2020–2024 for the 2026 rankings), and at least 100 publications in each of these years. For the 11 subject tables, the publication thresholds are lower and differ depending on the volume of publications typically generated by each subject area.

Academic staff requirements

An institution must also have either a minimum proportion of its academic staff in a discipline or a minimum number of academic staff in a discipline. Academic staff is defined as the full-time equivalent number of staff members employed in an academic post — lecturer, reader, professor, and so on. The thresholds for Business and Economics are 5% of academic staff or 50 academic staff.

How the final score is calculated

Each indicator is standardised using a Z-score, then multiplied by its subject-specific weight and summed to produce the final score. The formula is the same across all 11 subjects; only the weights change.

What each pillar means

Version and dates

This page summarises the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2026 methodology, with a focus on the Business and Economics subject ranking. It is based on the methodology published on 7 January 2026 and last updated on 16 September 2026. For the full methodology and the complete results, see the THE World University Rankings website.