The Hardman Rankings

← World University Rankings 2026

Osaka University

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World University Rankings 2026 · 90% range 200–1083 of 2,287 · score 44.6
Research Index 916

How it scores

Research
67
Alumni outcomes
83
Admissions & earnings
est.

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.

No official admissions or earnings data is used for this university yet. Its in-country score is estimated from its standing among its own country’s universities on the global measures.

Admissions, outcomes and alumni

Internationally notable alumni (Wikidata)
16 src
Heads of state or government (Wikidata)
1 src
Founders, billionaires and $30M+ alumni
not on the published top lists; estimated
Students (undergraduate / total)
15,111 / 23,234 src

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

Research Index

A · Quality
19.7
B · Strength
80.1

Percentiles among 1,305 ranked universities. Rank on quality alone: =1053. On strength alone: =260. 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
7.2% (6.9%–7.6%)
Papers in the top 1% of their field
0.5% (0.4%–0.7%)
Top-10% papers (fractional count)
775
All papers (fractional count)
10,696
International co-authored
33.4%
Open access
66.5%
Papers from 2020–23 since retracted
9 (0.33 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=727range 538–890 of 1,671
Life & earth sciences886range 763–975 of 1,092
Mathematics & computer science=1141range 959–1221 of 1,391
Physical sciences & engineering=995range 734–1154 of 1,742
Social sciences & humanities=1125range 1026–1189 of 1,262

Position over time

2006–2009: 362 of 5712020–2023: 916 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

916Research Index 2026
95QS 2027
–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

Alumni laureates
2
Staff laureates
4

Alumni: 2 Nobel. Most recent: Akira Yoshino (Nobel Chemistry, 2019), Hideki Yukawa (Nobel Physics, 1949). 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.