Impact of scholarly output on university ranking

Abstract Purpose This study aims to examine if there exists a relation between scholarly output and institutional ranking based on National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of India. This paper also aims to analyze and compare the parameters of NIRF with those of leading world ranking university rankings. Design/methodology/approach The data for the study were collected through Web content analysis. The major parts of data were collected from the official websites of NIRF, Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University rankings. Findings The study found that the parameters fixed for the assessment of Indian institutions under NIRF are par with those of other world university ranking agencies. Scholarly output of a university is one of the major parameters of university ranking schemes. Indian universities who scored high for research productivity came top in NIRF. These universities were also figured in world university rankings. Universities from South India excel in NIRF and there is a close relationship between scholarly productivity and institutional ranking. Originality/value Correlation between h-index and scholarly productivity has been dealt with in several studies. This paper is the first attempt to find the relationship between scholarly productivity and ranking of universities in India based on NIRF.