Sejong News
Sejong University Ranks 1st in South Korea in the '2025 Leiden Ranking' Revised Edition (Open Edition) – 14.7% of Publications in the Top 10% Citation Tier, 129th Globally
오세혁
2025-11-18
Sejong University (President Uhm Jong-hwa) has secured the first place among South Korean universities in the 'Revised Edition (Open Edition)' of the 2025 CWTS Leiden Ranking. Sejong University's percentage of publications in the top 10% citation tier is 14.7%, ranking 129th globally, which once again proves its status as the nation's leader in pure research power based on the quality of its papers.
The Leiden Ranking is a global university research performance evaluation published by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University in the Netherlands. It assesses the research level of universities solely based on the 'quality of papers,' excluding metrics like publication volume or reputation.
Starting in 2025, the evaluation is divided into the 'Revised Edition (Open Edition)' and the 'Traditional Edition' based on the data source. The Revised Edition evaluates 2,831 universities worldwide based on the open database OpenAlex, while the Traditional Edition analyzes 1,500 universities utilizing Web of Science (WoS) data. Additionally, rankings are determined by two methods based on how co-authored papers are reflected: Fractional Counting, which divides the contribution by considering the number of co-authors and their affiliated institutions, and Full Counting, which assigns equal weight to all co-authors.
Sejong University achieved 1st place in South Korea in the Revised Edition for both Fractional Counting and Full Counting. Under the Fractional Counting standard, it recorded 14.7% of papers in the top 10% citation tier, ranking 129th globally, demonstrating top performance even in a precise evaluation that finely reflects the contribution of co-authors. Under the Full Counting standard, it recorded 18.7%, ranking 62nd globally, proving its top-tier research power regardless of the evaluation method. In the Traditional Edition, Sejong University recorded 14.4% of papers in the top 10% citation tier under the Full Counting standard, securing 1st place in South Korea for the third consecutive year.
Sejong University also ranked 1st in South Korea for the 6th consecutive year since 2020 in the ratio of international co-authored papers, reaching 63.1%. Its global research network is strengthening, with international collaboration ratios exceeding 60% in most fields, including Life Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Social Sciences.
Sejong University's research capability has been proven multiple times by prestigious domestic and international evaluation bodies. It recently ranked 1st in South Korea for the third consecutive year in the Research Quality sector of the 2026 THE World University Rankings. It also ranked 1st among South Korean universities in the percentage of papers in the top 1% citation tier in the 'Comparative Analysis Report on Top 1% Citation Paper Performance of Major Countries, 2013-2023,' published by the National Research Foundation of Korea.
Uhm Jong-hwa, President of Sejong University, stated, "Our university has consistently reflected faculty research achievements in personnel and evaluation processes and actively supported publication in top-tier academic journals. The fact that Sejong University maintained its position at the highest level regardless of the criteria—whether Revised or Traditional Edition, Fractional or Full Counting—is a result of the objective verification of our research quality. We will continue to expand our research ecosystem to simultaneously achieve academic excellence and social contribution."
세종대 홍보실(hongbo@sejong.ac.kr)