Wharton Remains No. 1 In Research Rankings

INSEAD

Among Canadian programs, the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management topped the North American list at number 18, ahead of the University of British Columbia Sauder (26th) and McGill (50th). In fact, Rotman published nearly three times the number of papers as Ivey (155 vs. 53).

Among international programs, France’s INSEAD is the only one to rank in the top 20, entering at number 11. Only three other international programs – Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (21st) and the London Business School (25th), and the Tilburg University in the Netherland (29th) – rank among the top 30.

Compared against the previous year, there was little fluctuation (likely owing to the five-year timeframe of the ranking). When 2010-2014 is compared against 2009-2013, the biggest move came from Jindal, which jumped from 11th to 17th. In the top 50, Georgia State climbed seven spots over the previous year, while Berkeley fell seven places.

BIG DIFFERENCES FROM OTHER RESEARCH RANKINGS

Alas, the Jindal research index differs substantially from two similar rankings. As part of its annual rankings, the Financial Times (FT) integrates research into its measure, compiling articles published in 45 academic journals (nearly twice the number that Jindal accepts) from January 2011-October 2013. Even more, FT also integrates a faculty’s size into its calculations. Here, the top two remain the same for both outlets – Wharton and Harvard (in that order). In FT, NYU Stern, Toronto Rotman, and Chicago Booth round out the top five, compared to MIT Sloan, NYU Stern, and Texas McCombs in Jindal.

UC-San Diego Rady School of Management

From there, the rankings start to diverge. Berkeley Haas and the London Business School, ranked 34th and 25th globally by Jindal, are the 6th and 7th ranked programs by FT.  The University of California at San Diego’s Rady School of Management, ranked 76th by Jindal is the number 14 program according to FT. Yale is ranked 21 spots higher in FT (18th vs. 39th), while the University of Maryland tumbles 18 spots with FT (From 8th to 26th).

Bloomberg Businessweek (BW) also features an “intellectual capital ranking,” which accounts for 10 percent of a program’s overall ranking. Here, BW measures faculty-published articles in 20 journals. Like Jindal, it covers a four year period (2009-2013 in this case).

Get ready for a shocking surprise. Rady actually ranks number one, higher than even Wharton, Harvard, or NYU Stern. In fact, BW’s top five – Rady, Duke Fuqua, Cornell Johnson, Washington University Olin, and the University of Texas-Dallas doesn’t include one school that matches up to either Jindal or FT.

How questionable is BW’s methodology. Without knowing which periodicals that BW uses, it’s hard to tell. But here are some red flags. While Harvard ranks eighth, you won’t find Wharton until 22nd – below the University of Rochester and U.C.-Irvine. And Stern comes in at 31st (though BW’s ranking doesn’t include international programs). Another example: In BW, Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business is ranked 12th in research – compared to 66th in Jindal  and 39th in FT. Rice is a great program, particularly with its stellar incubator program – but is it really worthy of such a jump in one methodology?

To see the top 50 programs in Jindal’s 2010-2014 global business school research rankings, go to the accompanying pages.

DON’T MISS: THE SHOCKINGLY HIGH COST OF AN ACADEMIC ARTICLE