The Hardman Rankings

← World University Rankings 2026

Auburn University

United StatesROR 02v80fc35
=590
World University Rankings 2026 · 90% range 314–1190 of 2,287 · score 41.5
Research Index =862

How it scores

Research
63
Alumni outcomes
90
Admissions & earnings
77/243

Research and Alumni outcomes are percentiles among 2,287 universities; alumni outcomes are counted per student. Admissions & earnings is the position among universities in the same country (United States).

Admissions, outcomes and alumni

Admit rate
45.9% src
Average SAT
1,345 src
Yield (admits who enrol)
24% src
Median earnings 10 years after entry
$65,337 src
40-year return on investment (Georgetown CEW)
$2.10M src
Graduation rate (6 years)
82% src
Rhodes Scholars, 2021–26
0 src
Internationally notable alumni (Wikidata)
59 src
Heads of state or government (Wikidata)
1 src
Founders, billionaires and $30M+ alumni
not on the published top lists; estimated
Students (undergraduate headcount / total FTE, IPEDS)
26,816 / 29,417 src

Each figure links to its source. Admissions and earnings figures are comparable only within a country.

Research Index

A · Quality
28.1
B · Strength
52.3

Percentiles among 1,305 ranked universities. Rank on quality alone: =949. On strength alone: 623. The Research Index scores research only; admissions, earnings and alumni outcomes are scored in the overall ranking where data exists.

The numbers behind it (2020–2023)

Papers in the top 10% of their field
7.8% (7.1%–8.4%)
Papers in the top 1% of their field
0.8% (0.6%–0.9%)
Top-10% papers (fractional count)
340
All papers (fractional count)
4,382
International co-authored
36.9%
Open access
53.1%
Papers from 2020–23 since retracted
5 (0.51 per 1,000)

Core publications, fractional counting, field-normalised citation shares. Brackets show Leiden’s stability interval. Collaboration and open-access shares use full counting and aren’t field-normalised. Retraction counts come from the Retraction Watch database and include publishers’ mass retractions as well as honest-error retractions; a retraction is not by itself evidence of misconduct, and the count is never scored.

By field

Biomedical & health sciences=962range 770–1133 of 1,671
Life & earth sciences=573range 422–696 of 1,092
Mathematics & computer science869range 700–1018 of 1,391
Physical sciences & engineering=931range 753–1135 of 1,742
Social sciences & humanities762range 597–910 of 1,262

Position over time

bottom2006–2009: 416 of 5712020–2023: 862 of 1,305

The same method applied to each 4-year publication window. The number of ranked universities grows from period to period, so position is shown as a share of the field.

How other rankings place it

=862Research Index 2026
–QS 2027 (not in top 100)
–THE 2027 (not in top 100)
–ARWU 2026 (not in top 100)

Other rankings are cited for comparison. The Research Index measures research only; QS and THE also use reputation surveys and figures universities submit, and ARWU counts prize winners and total output.

Prize winners

No Nobel, Fields, Turing or Abel laureates linked to this university in Wikidata.