VSU still Top 10 in PH, climbs global and regional standings in Webometrics

The Visayas State University has once again proven its caliber in promoting open access to knowledge by securing its position as one of the top 10 best-performing higher education institutions in the Philippines according to the latest edition of the Webometrics Ranking Web of Universities published in July 2024.

VSU has held this Top 10 spot for two consecutive editions with its highest rank at the 8th spot first recorded in July 2022 and retained in January 2023 before it slid to its current status.

While maintaining its 10th place nationally, VSU has made significant strides in the global and regional rankings. The university's worldwide ranking improved from 4,220th in July 2023 to 4,200th this year, marking a notable rise. 

Additionally, in Southeast Asia, VSU climbed to the 175th spot, further solidifying its standing as a leader in research and knowledge dissemination in the region.

This achievement emphasizes VSU's commitment to research excellence and the dissemination of scientific knowledge and technology, particularly in the communities of Eastern Visayas and beyond. 

The Webometrics Ranking is not merely a measure of website popularity but an indicator of academic web presence and impact. 

It evaluates universities based on three key criteria: first is the Impact Rank, which accounts for web content visibility and impact (50%); second is the Openness Rank, which constitutes the openness and transparency of academic contributions of the university (10%); and third on Excellence Rank, which measures research productivity of the institution through its top-cited papers (40%).

In these three criteria, VSU ranked 13th among Philippine higher education institutions in terms of visibility and impact, 11th in openness and transparency, and 12th in research excellence.  

Globally, VSU marked improvements in both the Impact Rank and Excellence Rank. The university's Impact Rank saw a significant boost, with its score increasing from 6,528 to 6,232. Similarly, the Excellence Rank also improved, with VSU advancing from 4,764 to 4,755. However, the university faced challenges in the Openness Rank, where it saw a decrease from 4,167 to 4,462.

In response to this drop, Dr. Ulderico B. Alviola, Head of the University Integrated Media Center (UIMC), announced plans to collaborate with the Office of the Vice President for Research, Extension, and Innovation (OVPREI) to address the issue. 

“We intend to conduct workshops to help faculty and researchers build and optimize their Google Scholar profiles, ensuring that all Scopus-indexed publications are properly credited to VSU. We will also be closely monitoring all our Scopus-indexed publications to properly tag them all and connect them to our institutional database because I think many of our scientific papers in the past have not been credited to VSU,” Dr. Alviola explained.

De La Salle University dislodged the University of the Philippines as the top school in the country based on the July 2024 updated Webometrics ranking followed by Ateneo De Manila University (3rd), University of Santo Tomas (4th), and Mapua University climbing further up to the fifth spot.

In Eastern Visayas, VSU remains a standout institution, with the two regional top performers showing a steep decline in their national standing for the past six months. 

Samar State University, which is the regional Top 2, slid from 36th place to 62nd spot while regional third placer Leyte Normal University decreased its standing from 69th to 75th spot in the country rankings.

VSU President Dr. Prose Ivy G. Yepes expressed her gratitude and optimism following the retention of VSU’s top 10 finish for the July 2024 edition of Webometrics.

“I’m very delighted that we retained our position within the Top 10 circle. We need to be continuously aggressive in this area because Webometrics is the only ranking system that takes into account the web of influence along with research productivity. This is vital because it allows us to understand how we are affecting our online communities who continue to subscribe to the content we produce about VSU,” Dr. Yepes said.

The Webometrics Ranking monitored and evaluated over 12,000 universities and colleges for their July 2024 edition with 364 higher education institutions in the Philippines making it to the cut. This unique university evaluation system is an initiative of the Cybermetrics Lab, which is the largest public research body in Spain.

[This article aligns with Sustainable Development Goal: 4 (Quality Education).]

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