The Hardman Rankings

← World University Rankings 2026

Johns Hopkins University

United StatesROR 00za53h95
#21
World University Rankings 2026 · 90% range 16–29 of 2,287 · score 86.1
Research Index =38

How it scores

Research
99
Alumni outcomes
99
Admissions & earnings
15/243

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
6.4% src
Average SAT
1,553 src
Yield (admits who enrol)
48% src
Median earnings 10 years after entry
$87,555 src
40-year return on investment (Georgetown CEW)
$3.16M src
Average net price per year
$18,809 src
Graduation rate (6 years)
94% src
Rhodes Scholars, 2021–26
2 src
Alumni founders of VC-backed companies (PitchBook)
411 src
Internationally notable alumni (Wikidata)
53 src
Heads of state or government (Wikidata)
3 src
Founders, billionaires and $30M+ alumni
not on the published top lists; estimated
Students (undergraduate headcount / total FTE, IPEDS)
– / 21,341 src

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

Research Index

A · Quality
92.4
B · Strength
98.8

Percentiles among 1,305 ranked universities. Rank on quality alone: =93. On strength alone: =16. 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
14.4% (14.0%–14.8%)
Papers in the top 1% of their field
1.7% (1.6%–1.8%)
Top-10% papers (fractional count)
3,266
All papers (fractional count)
22,714
International co-authored
44.2%
Open access
74.0%
Papers from 2020–23 since retracted
17 (0.27 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=22range 16–41 of 1,671
Life & earth sciences=149range 101–217 of 1,092
Mathematics & computer science90range 64–193 of 1,391
Physical sciences & engineering=118range 90–173 of 1,742
Social sciences & humanities=80range 47–142 of 1,262

Position over time

top 3%2006–2009: 21 of 5712020–2023: 38 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

=38Research Index 2026
=20QS 2027
=17THE 2027
23ARWU 2026

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
17
Staff laureates
25

Alumni: 16 Nobel, 1 Fields Medal. Most recent: Terence Tao (Fields Medal, 2006), Richard Axel (Nobel Medicine, 2004), Peter Agre (Nobel Chemistry, 2003), Paul Greengard (Nobel Medicine, 2000), Jody Williams (Nobel Peace, 1997), Martin Rodbell (Nobel Medicine, 1994). 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.