OSU a ‘rising star’ on Nature Index research ranking

Monday, August 1, 2016

Oklahoma State University has joined a list of 25 “rising stars” among North American research institutions, according to a supplement from the journal publisher Nature. Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars showed OSU rose dramatically in publication of high-quality research in elite journals from 2012 to 2015.

The ranking revealed that Oklahoma State increased by 84 percent the number of published research articles in 68 international, high-reputation journals tracked by Nature Index. In the listing, 19th-ranked Oklahoma State was one of only three U.S. land-grant universities included. Nature Index tracks the article output of more than 8,000 global organizations.

“Being published and read in these venues means we’re making an impact on the scientific and scholarly communities,” said Kenneth Sewell, OSU vice president for research. “To see OSU rising at a rapid rate in measures of research impact speaks highly of the quality faculty we’ve hired in the last 15 to 20 years, as well as our growth in the number and quality of our students.”

According to Sewell, part of Oklahoma State’s success is recruiting faculty who are just launching research careers and are increasingly successful getting published. “This gets you attention.”

OSU joined heavyweights Stanford University, the University of Michigan, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Carnegie Mellon University in the ranking of 25 most improved institutions in North America. The tracked journals include research areas in chemistry, life sciences, and physical sciences.

For Sewell, rankings of research output that include OSU raise the university’s national reputation, which means increased success attracting quality students, especially in graduate programs.

“These ranked universities are more top-of-mind when students are looking at where to go to graduate school,” Sewell said. “They see that our professors are represented in these lead journals and that means they’re more likely to think about coming to Oklahoma State.”Information about the rankings is available at natureindex.com.