The Hardman Rankings

← World University Rankings 2026

Brown University

United StatesROR 05gq02987
=25
World University Rankings 2026 · 90% range 20–47 of 2,287 · score 80.5
Research Index =178

How it scores

Research
92
Alumni outcomes
99
Admissions & earnings
=9/243

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
5.4% src
Average SAT
1,546 src
Yield (admits who enrol)
63% src
Median earnings 10 years after entry
$93,487 src
40-year return on investment (Georgetown CEW)
$3.04M src
Average net price per year
$25,184 src
Graduation rate (6 years)
96% src
Rhodes Scholars, 2021–26
4 src
Alumni founders of VC-backed companies (PitchBook)
703 src
Internationally notable alumni (Wikidata)
129 src
Heads of state or government (Wikidata)
0 src
Founders, billionaires and $30M+ alumni
not on the published top lists; estimated
Students (undergraduate headcount / total FTE, IPEDS)
7,226 / 11,060 src

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

Research Index

A · Quality
82.0
B · Strength
80.7

Percentiles among 1,305 ranked universities. Rank on quality alone: 222. On strength alone: 253. 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
12.4% (11.9%–13.1%)
Papers in the top 1% of their field
1.5% (1.3%–1.7%)
Top-10% papers (fractional count)
805
All papers (fractional count)
6,468
International co-authored
36.3%
Open access
71.4%
Papers from 2020–23 since retracted
7 (0.39 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=290range 202–418 of 1,671
Life & earth sciences=242range 151–408 of 1,092
Mathematics & computer science=46range 23–96 of 1,391
Physical sciences & engineering=165range 112–274 of 1,742
Social sciences & humanities=100range 67–192 of 1,262

Position over time

top 10%2006–2009: 75 of 5712020–2023: 178 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

=178Research Index 2026
66QS 2027
=73THE 2027
–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

Alumni laureates
3
Staff laureates
6

Alumni: 3 Nobel. Most recent: Douglas Diamond (Nobel Economics, 2022), Guido Imbens (Nobel Economics, 2021), Craig Mello (Nobel Medicine, 2006). Counted from Wikidata (CC0). Alumni laureates count toward the overall ranking per student (10 of 65 global weight points); staff laureates are shown for context only.