The UB is listed as the only university in Spain among the top 200 universities worldwide in the Shanghai Ranking

Once more, American universities lead the world ranking. The first positions are held by Harvard and Stanford, while Cambridge is listed as third. A total of thirteen Spanish centers are listed among the top 500 universities worldwide. The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Complutense University of Madrid, University of Granada and the University of Valencia are listed in the 201-300 segments. The Autonomous University of Madrid, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Pompeu Fabra University and the University of the Basque Country are listed in the 301-400 range.

The Shanghai Ranking is created through the analysis of bibliometric data in six indicators: relevant awards (Nobel, Fields Medal) obtained by students and teaching staff, the most cited researchers in the 21 areas determined by Thomson ISI, the published articles in Nature and Science, articles indexed in the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE), and the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and last, the academic performance in relation to the institutional dimensions.