The Hardman Rankings

← World University Rankings 2026

Lancaster University

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World University Rankings 2026 · 90% range 181–719 of 2,287 · score 48.3
Research Index 236

How it scores

Research
90
Alumni outcomes
80
Admissions & earnings
38/91

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 Kingdom).

Admissions, outcomes and alumni

Offer rate (UK 18-year-olds, UCAS)
91.4% src
Offer holders who enrol
18% src
Median earnings 5 years after graduating (LEO)
£35,400 src
Internationally notable alumni (Wikidata)
16 src
Heads of state or government (Wikidata)
2 src
Founders, billionaires and $30M+ alumni
not on the published top lists; estimated
Students (undergraduate / total)
13,935 / 18,620 src

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

Research Index

A · Quality
85.8
B · Strength
62.2

Percentiles among 1,305 ranked universities. Rank on quality alone: =167. On strength alone: 494. 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
13.2% (12.3%–14.0%)
Papers in the top 1% of their field
1.5% (1.2%–1.8%)
Top-10% papers (fractional count)
434
All papers (fractional count)
3,294
International co-authored
65.6%
Open access
87.6%
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=557range 400–732 of 1,671
Life & earth sciences=175range 115–279 of 1,092
Mathematics & computer science=203range 128–362 of 1,391
Physical sciences & engineering=417range 305–592 of 1,742
Social sciences & humanities=87range 50–165 of 1,262

Position over time

top 10%top 30%2006–2009: 179 of 5712020–2023: 236 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

236Research 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.