Zhejiang Tops Leiden Rankings as Harvard Falls to No. 3 in Research Output List

Harvard University has fallen to No. 3 on a global ranking of research output, with Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, taking the top spot on the Leiden Rankings, which measure academic publication and citation activity. The Leiden list, compiled by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University, draws on papers and citations in the Web of Science database and now places seven other Chinese institutions among the top 10.

Harvard remains first in Leiden for highly cited publications. The center has also produced an alternative ranking based on the OpenAlex database in which Harvard is No. 1 but 12 of the next 13 schools are Chinese. Other rankings show related shifts: Times Higher Education again ranked Oxford No.

1 for 2026, and U.S. institutions still occupy many top spots, but 62 American schools were ranked lower than last year. Tsinghua and Peking universities have moved into the range just below the top 10, while several U.S. schools — including Duke, Emory and Notre Dame — have slipped compared with earlier placements.

The reordering comes amid substantial Chinese investment in higher education and policies to attract foreign researchers, and as the Trump administration has cut federal research grants, imposed travel restrictions and tightened immigration rules.

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Science, Zhejiang University, Harvard University, Leiden Rankings, Leiden University, Trump Administration