90 Turkish universities rank among world’s best across 48 fields
Istanbul Technical University's (ITU) main campus building, Istanbul, Türkiye, Jan. 20, 2019. (Shutterstock Photo)


A total of 90 universities from Türkiye have been included in at least one scientific field in the 2025-2026 World Field Rankings prepared by the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) Research Laboratory at Middle East Technical University (METU).

Türkiye increased its representation from 89 universities in the previous year's ranking to 90 this year, with Turkish universities appearing in 48 of the 78 scientific fields assessed by URAP.

The ranking, prepared to highlight the strengths and areas for improvement of universities, evaluates institutions based on their academic performance over the past five years.

Publication output, total documents, citations and international collaboration were among the main criteria used in determining universities' performance in their respective fields.

Medicine and health sciences and engineering were the fields in which Turkish universities had the strongest representation.

A total of 82 universities from Türkiye were included in the medicine and health sciences ranking, while 36 Turkish universities were listed in engineering.

Türkiye was also represented by 26 universities in biology, 24 in technology, 19 in mathematics, 12 in physics and 12 in materials science.

Istanbul Technical University (ITU) had the widest representation among Turkish universities, appearing in 28 scientific fields. Hacettepe University followed with 21 fields, while METU was represented in 20 and Yildiz Technical University in 19.

Ankara University appeared in 17 fields, while Gazi University and Ataturk University each appeared in 16. Koc University was included in 15 fields, Istanbul University in 13 and Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa in 11.

Ege University and Firat University each appeared in 10 fields, while Marmara University, University of Health Sciences and Near East University each appeared in nine.

ITU ranked 73rd globally in polymer science, its highest placement among the fields in which it was ranked.

The university also ranked 139th in water resources, 141st in marine sciences, 151st in civil engineering, 207th in geology, 223rd in artificial intelligence and 268th in robotics and intelligent systems.

Hacettepe University ranked 116th globally in dentistry, 129th in pediatrics and 243rd in education.

METU ranked 253rd in energy and fuels, 270th in polymer science and 291st in civil engineering.

Yildiz Technical University ranked 231st in architecture, while Koç University ranked 222nd in political science and 286th in clinical neurology.

Ankara University ranked 103rd in dentistry and 212th in pediatrics.

Istanbul University ranked 194th in pediatrics and 215th in dentistry, while Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa ranked 233rd in pediatrics. Marmara University ranked 204th in pediatrics.

A total of 2,566 universities from 121 countries were included in at least one field ranking this year.

China had the largest number of universities represented, with 422 institutions, followed by the U.S. with 293 and India with 146.

Chinese universities ranked first in 36 of the 78 fields, while U.S. universities topped two fields. The U.K. followed with nine field-leading universities and the Netherlands with five.