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New Rankings Give SDSU Top Research Distinction for Second Year 2006-2007 FSP Index Also Ranks Five SDSU Programs among Top Ten in Nation Contact: SAN DIEGO (Friday, Nov. 16, 2007) — For the second year in a row, San Diego State University has been named the number one small research university in the nation. The new rankings are based on the 2006-2007 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index (FSP Index) created by Academic Analytics.
The FSP Index ranks universities based on the productivity of their faculty, including their publications, citations, federal research grants and financial and honorary awards won. Programs, not individual faculty, are rated and are aggregated to produce quantitative rankings of whole universities. The official ranking report was released online this week. “These rankings attest to the extraordinary research activities of our faculty,” said SDSU Provost Nancy Marlin. “The work of our faculty continues to move us toward our goal of being a top ten urban research university.” “Small research university” refers to universities which offer 14 or fewer Ph.D. programs. In 2006-07, the year from which the rankings are based, SDSU had a total of 10 Ph.D. programs offered with University of California, San Diego; University of California, Santa Barbara and Claremont Graduate University. Several SDSU joint doctoral programs were also recognized including a No.1 ranking for speech and hearing sciences and No. 2 rankings for math education and clinical psychology. The SDSU doctoral program in geography ranked No. 7 and the doctoral program in computational sciences ranked No. 9. SDSU also ranked No. 5 in the broad category of physical and mathematical sciences and No. 10 in the broad category of health professional sciences. “The Academic Analytic rankings are based on objective measures of research productivity so they change much more quickly from year to year than reputations do,” said Tom Scott, vice president for research at SDSU. “For SDSU to have retained its top rank for a second year is a testimony to the continuing scholarly achievements of our faculty and that of our partners. It is through such recognition that the public will come to realize what a respected academic institution SDSU has become.” SDSU faculty is currently working on more than 1,000 research projects and attracts more than $100 million annually in research grants and contracts. The rankings looked at more than 7,400 Ph.D. programs at 375 institutions nationwide. The FSP Index examined more than 61,000 books, more than 1 million journal articles, and more than 9 million citations. It also included expanded coverage of federal research grants and more than 27,000 awards and honors were matched to the institutions ranked. Rankings for the 2005-06 school year, the first time the rankings were published, were released in May of this year. These new rankings analyze faculty productivity during the 2006-07 school year. Future rankings will continue to be released annually. Academic Analytics is a collaboration between faculty and researchers at the Stony Brook University and Educational Directories Unlimited. Academic Analytics compiles and distributes the FSP Index, a new method for ranking doctoral programs at research universities, both Carnegie Research Extensive and Research Intensive. SDSU has been designated a "Research University" with high research activity by the Carnegie Foundation.
San Diego State University is the oldest and largest higher education institution in the San Diego region. Since it was founded in 1897, the university has grown to offer bachelor’s degrees in 81 areas, master’s degrees in 74 areas and doctorates in 16 areas. SDSU’s approximately 35,000 students participate in an academic curriculum distinguished by direct contact with faculty and an increasing international emphasis that prepares them for a global future. For more information, visit www.sdsu.edu. ###
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