The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU or Shanghai Ranking) is one of the most renowned university rankings in the world. It represents a list compiled by a group of experts at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China, and assesses the quality of the world’s top universities.

In the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2019, more than 4,000 universities have been ranked in order of excellence in 54 subjects across five areas: natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medical sciences and social sciences. The experts based their conclusions on five criteria: number of papers published, percentage of citations, appearances in (at least) two international journals, presence in prestigious journals and number of award-winning researchers.

All of the information sources consulted are public and include: nobelprize.org; Web of Science, Fields Medals, the Spanish Office for National Statistics and the Spanish Ministry of Education, among others.

On a national front, only five private Spanish universities appear in the ranking, one of which is UIC Barcelona. The University is ranked third in Spain in the subject Dentistry & Oral Sciences, in the category of medical sciences. On a global scale, it occupies a position within the 151-200 range.