Analyzing the activities of visitors of the Leiden Ranking website

TL;DR

This paper analyzes visitor activities on the Leiden Ranking website to understand how university rankings are used, revealing user interests, geographic origins, and potential improvements for ranking presentation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of user behavior on a university ranking site and discusses experiments to enhance ranking usability.

Findings

Visitors mainly originate from specific countries.

Users focus on certain indicators and pages.

Insights suggest ways to improve ranking presentation.

Abstract

To provide a better understanding of the way in which university rankings are used, we present a detailed analysis of the activities of visitors of a university ranking website. We use the website of the CWTS Leiden Ranking for this purpose. We for instance study the countries from which visitors originate, the specific pages on the Leiden Ranking website that they visit, the countries or the universities that they find of special interest, and the indicators that they focus on. In addition, we also discuss two experiments that were carried out on the Leiden Ranking website. Our analysis does not only provide new insights into the use of university rankings, but it also suggests possible ways in which these rankings can be improved.