Where Does QS Ranking Data Come From? The Official FAQ Explained | QS 官方 FAQ：排名依据的数据来自哪里

2026-10-15 08:23 · 本文部分内容由AI辅助创作

📚 Where Does QS Ranking Data Come From? The Official FAQ Explained | QS 官方 FAQ：排名依据的数据来自哪里

Almost every student applying to university abroad has, at some point, opened a QS World University Rankings table and formed an impression from the numbers. Far fewer stop to ask the obvious question: where does each of those numbers actually come from? This guide follows the official QS FAQ and QS methodology documents to explain, indicator by indicator, which data sources feed the rankings, who supplies them, how they are checked, and what QS explicitly does not use.

几乎每一位准备出国申请的学生，都曾在某个时刻打开过 QS 世界大学排名表，并凭借其中的数字形成某种印象。但很少有人会追问一个很直接的问题：这些数字究竟从哪里来？本文依据 QS 官方 FAQ 与方法论文件，逐项说明排名各指标的数据来源、由谁提供、如何核验，以及 QS 明确声明不使用哪些数据。

1. Why the Data Source Question Matters | 为什么"数据来源"这个问题很关键

A ranking is only as reliable as its inputs. QS mixes three very different kinds of evidence in a single table: survey opinion from academics and employers, bibliometric counts drawn from a commercial citation database, and figures submitted by universities themselves. Each has a different owner, a different error profile and a different bias. Knowing which is which turns a ranking position from a vague badge into a piece of evidence you can actually interpret.

排名的可靠性，取决于它的输入数据。QS 在同一张表里混合了三类性质完全不同的证据：来自学者与雇主的调查意见、取自商业引文数据库的文献计量计数，以及大学自行提交的数字。三者的数据主体不同、误差特征不同、偏差方向也不同。分清哪一项属于哪一类，排名位次才能从模糊的"标签"变成可以解读的证据。

QS publishes its methodology, indicator weights and data-source list openly, and revises them regularly. That means any serious use of a ranking should start with the current year's methodology document, not a remembered version from three years ago.

QS 会公开其方法论、指标权重与数据来源清单，并定期修订。因此，任何负责任地使用排名的方式，都应从当年度的官方方法论文件开始，而不是三年前记忆中的版本。

2. The QS Ranking Family and Its Data Pipelines | QS 排名家族及其数据管线

"QS ranking" is not one product. Each rankings family draws on a partly different data pipeline, and the numbers are not interchangeable between them.

"QS 排名"并不是一个单一产品。不同排名系列使用的数据管线部分不同，各系列之间的分数不可互相转换使用。

Ranking	Core data sources
QS World University Rankings	QS academic and employer surveys; Scopus bibliometrics; institutional data submissions; QS analysis
QS World University Rankings by Subject	The same surveys, filtered by discipline; Scopus bibliometrics; reduced or removed citation weights for some faculty areas
QS Sustainability Rankings	Institutional sustainability submissions; Scopus-based research indicators on SDG-related output; survey and partner data
Regional rankings (Asia, Arab Region, Latin America, etc.)	WUR-style surveys and bibliometrics with region-specific indicators and weightings
QS Stars and course-level reviews	Institution-submitted evidence plus audit; not comparable with world ranking positions

The practical consequence is simple: never compare a subject ranking position, a regional position and an overall world position as if they measured the same thing.

由此得出的实用结论很简单：不要把学科排名位次、地区排名位次与综合世界排名位次当成同一件事来比较。

3. Source One: QS's Own Reputation Surveys | 来源一：QS 自有的声誉调查

The largest single input in the World University Rankings is reputation. QS runs two global surveys: the Academic Reputation Survey, sent to academics, and the Employer Reputation Survey, sent to employers who recruit graduates. In the current methodology these two indicators together account for roughly 45 per cent of the total score, which makes them the single most consequential data source in the table.

世界大学排名中权重最大的单项输入是声誉。QS 运营两项全球调查：面向学者的"学术声誉调查"和面向招聘毕业生的雇主的"雇主声誉调查"。在现行方法论中，这两项指标合计约占总分的 45%，因此它们是整张表中影响最大的单一数据来源。

It is important to be precise about what this data is. It is opinion data, collected by invitation, from respondents who are experts but not omniscient. It measures how well known and how well regarded an institution is among a specific professional population. It does not measure teaching quality directly, and it inevitably lags behind fast changes in an institution's real performance.

必须精确理解这类数据的性质：它是意见数据，通过邀请方式收集，受访者是专家但并非全知。它衡量的是某所院校在特定专业群体中的知名度与受认可程度，并不直接衡量教学质量，而且不可避免地滞后于院校实际表现的快速变化。

4. Who Can Take Part, and How Responses Are Weighted | 谁能参与，以及回答如何加权

QS does not publish a simple open poll. Respondents are recruited from QS's own global databases of academics and employers, typically with verified institutional affiliations and, for academics, a record of published research. Invitations are distributed in multiple languages and across regions, and responses are then weighted so that no single country or discipline dominates the sample.

QS 并不采用简单的公开投票。受访者从 QS 自有的全球学者与雇主数据库中招募，通常要求具备可核实的机构隶属关系，学者还需有已发表研究成果的记录。邀请以多种语言、跨地区分发，之后对回答进行加权，以避免任何单一国家或学科主导样本。

Two points in the official FAQ deserve emphasis. First, participation is free: institutions do not pay to be included, and no one can buy survey responses. Second, survey data is used over a limited recent window, so the reputation score reflects relatively current opinion rather than an average of the past decade.

官方 FAQ 中有两点值得强调。第一，参与是免费的：院校无需付费即可被纳入，也没有人能够购买调查回答。第二，调查数据只使用近期的一个有限时间窗口，因此声誉得分反映的是相对当下的意见，而不是过去十年的平均值。

5. Source Two: Bibliometric Data from Scopus | 来源二：来自 Scopus 的文献计量数据

Hard research performance comes from bibliometric data supplied by Scopus, the citation database owned by Elsevier. QS does not crawl the open web for citations; it works inside a single indexed database with defined document types and a defined publication window.

硬性的科研表现数据来自 Scopus——由爱思唯尔（Elsevier）运营的引文数据库。QS 并不会在开放网络上抓取引用数据，而是在一个具有明确文献类型定义和明确出版时间窗口的索引数据库内进行统计。

The best-known derived indicator is Citations per Faculty, which is calculated roughly as follows:

最广为人知的派生指标是"师均引用数"，其计算逻辑大致如下：

ations received by papers published in the defined 5-year window ÷ Number of faculty (FTE)

Self-citations and non-citable document types such as editorials are filtered out, and the resulting figures are normalised to reduce the effect of disciplinary differences, since medical and life sciences research is cited far more heavily than humanities research. Scopus also supplies the raw evidence for the International Research Network indicator, which counts the diversity of countries an institution co-authors with.

自引以及社论等非可引用文献类型会被剔除，得到的数据还会经过标准化处理，以削弱学科差异的影响——因为医学与生命科学研究的被引频率远高于人文学科。Scopus 同样为"国际研究网络"指标提供原始证据，该指标统计一所院校合作发表论文的国家多样性。

6. Source Three: Data Submitted by Institutions Themselves | 来源三：院校自行提交的数据

Several indicators can only come from the institution, because no external database holds them. These include student numbers, faculty numbers, the proportion of international faculty and international students, and graduate employment outcome information. Universities submit these through QS's institutional data collection process, normally coordinated by a nominated data contact person.

有些指标只能由院校自己提供，因为外部数据库并不掌握这些信息，包括学生人数、教师人数、国际教师与国际学生比例，以及毕业生就业结果信息。大学通过 QS 的院校数据采集流程提交这些数据，通常由指定的数据联络人负责统筹。

This is the source readers should treat with the most caution, not because universities lie, but because definitions vary. Who counts as "faculty"? Is it headcount or full-time equivalent? Are visiting staff included? Are branch-campus students counted in the home campus total? QS publishes definitions and deadlines precisely to standardise these answers, and institutions are responsible for the accuracy of what they submit.

这是读者应当最谨慎对待的一类来源——并非因为大学会撒谎，而是因为统计口径存在差异。谁算作"教师"？是人头数还是全职当量？是否包含访问教师？海外校区学生是否计入主校区总数？QS 之所以发布明确定义与提交截止日期，正是为了统一这些口径；而院校需对其提交内容的准确性负责。

7. Source Four: Third-Party, Public and Regulatory Data | 来源四：第三方、公开与监管数据

QS cross-checks institutional submissions against independently available information. Depending on the country, this may include national statistical agencies, ministries of education, higher education regulators, funding bodies, and publicly published institutional documents such as annual reports and official statistics returns.

QS 会用可独立获取的信息对院校提交的数据进行交叉核验。视国家而定，这可能包括国家统计机构、教育主管部门、高等教育监管机构、科研资助机构，以及院校公开发布的文件，如年度报告和官方统计报表。

Public sources serve two purposes: verification and gap-filling. Where an institution does not submit a figure, QS may use publicly available data instead, but this is a fallback rather than the preferred route, because public data rarely follows exactly the same definitions.

公开来源有两个用途：核验与补缺。若某院校未提交某项数据，QS 可能改用公开可得的数据，但这是备选方案而非首选路径，因为公开数据很少完全遵循同一套定义。

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8. Missing Data, Estimates and Normalisation | 缺失数据、估算与标准化

After collection, indicator values are converted into comparable scores, typically through a z-score style transformation that expresses how far an institution sits from the mean of the group:

数据收集完成后，各指标数值会被转换为可比较的分数，通常采用类似 z 分数的转换方式，用以表示某院校相对群体均值的偏离程度：

z = (x − μ) ÷ σ

Because the transformation is relative, an institution's score can fall even when its absolute performance is unchanged, simply because others improved. This is one of the most common misunderstandings about ranking movements.

由于这是一种相对转换，即使某院校的绝对表现没有变化，只要其他院校进步了，它的分数仍可能下降。这是关于排名变动最常见的误解之一。

When a value is genuinely missing, QS does not simply insert a zero. The usual approach is to exclude that indicator for that institution and redistribute the weight across the remaining indicators. The practical effect is that a university with missing data can be penalised indirectly, because it loses the chance to score well on that component.

当某项数值确实缺失时，QS 并不会简单地填入零。通常做法是对该院校剔除这一指标，并把权重重新分配到其余指标上。实际效果是：数据缺失的大学可能受到间接损失，因为它失去了在该项上取得高分的机会。

9. Subject Rankings: Same Sources, Different Weights | 学科排名：来源相同，权重不同

Subject rankings reuse the same pipelines but change two things: the respondent pool and the indicator weights. Academic and employer survey responses are filtered so that, as far as possible, the people answering are from the relevant discipline. Bibliometric data is recalculated within subject boundaries rather than across the whole institution.

学科排名沿用相同的数据管线，但改变两件事：受访者样本与指标权重。学术与雇主调查的回答会被筛选，尽可能确保作答者来自相关学科；文献计量数据则在学科范围内重新计算，而非按整所院校汇总。

Weightings differ by faculty area, and for Arts and Humanities the citation indicator is not used at all, because publication and citation behaviour in those fields is fundamentally different from that in the natural sciences. This is a methodological admission that a single metric cannot honestly be applied to every discipline.

不同学科领域的权重并不相同；在艺术与人文学科，引用类指标完全不被采用，因为这些领域的发表与引用行为与自然科学存在根本差异。这实际上是方法论上的一种承认：同一个指标无法诚实地适用于所有学科。

10. Newer Indicators and Where Their Data Comes From | 新增指标及其数据来源

Recent editions added three indicators whose provenance is worth understanding. Sustainability, weighted at around 5 per cent, is drawn from the separate QS Sustainability Rankings dataset, combining institutional submissions with research-based indicators on sustainable development topics. Employment Outcomes, also around 5 per cent, relies on graduate outcome data supplied by institutions and checked against other evidence. International Research Network, again around 5 per cent, is calculated entirely from Scopus co-authorship records.

近年版本新增了三项指标，其数据来源值得了解。"可持续性"权重约 5%，取自独立的 QS 可持续发展排名数据集，结合院校提交材料与围绕可持续发展议题的研究型指标。"就业成果"同样约 5%，依据院校提供的毕业生去向数据，并与其他证据交叉核对。"国际研究网络"同样约 5%，完全依据 Scopus 的合著记录计算。

Because methodology changes between editions, comparisons across several years should always be qualified. A shift in position may reflect a new indicator or a reweighting rather than any real change in the institution.

由于不同版本的方法论会变化，跨年度比较必须加上限定条件。位次变动可能源于新增指标或权重调整，而非院校本身发生了实质变化。

11. Verification, Corrections and What QS Does Not Use | 核验、更正与 QS 不使用的数据

QS verifies submissions, may request supporting evidence, and can carry out audits of institutional data. Institutions are given an opportunity to check their own figures before publication, and errors identified after publication are normally addressed through corrections or in the following edition.

QS 会对提交数据进行核验，可能要求提供佐证材料，并可对院校数据开展审计。院校在发布前有机会核对自身数字；发布后发现的问题，通常通过更正或在下一版中处理。

Equally important is what the official FAQ confirms is not used in the World University Rankings: unverifiable promotional claims, advertising spend or commercial partnership with QS, campus facilities and lifestyle opinions, student satisfaction reviews, and social media popularity metrics. Inclusion is free, and no institution can pay to enter or to move up.

同样重要的是，官方 FAQ 确认世界大学排名不会使用以下内容：无法核实的宣传性说法、在 QS 的广告支出或商业合作、校园设施与生活体验类意见、学生满意度评价，以及社交媒体热度指标。被纳入排名是免费的，也没有任何院校可以付费进入或提升名次。