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Switzerland鈥檚 Ecole Polytech F茅d茅rale Lausanne (in 13th place) is the only university outside America to feature in the top 20 of the ranking, which was devised by the Netherlands鈥 Leiden University.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology takes top spot in the 2012-13 ranking, with the University of California Santa Barbara in second place, just ahead of Stanford University.
They are followed by Princeton, Harvard and Rice University in Houston, Texas, in the ranking of 500 major international universities published on 17 April.
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The highest placed UK university is the University of Cambridge in 24th place, while the University of Oxford is placed at 30th.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is 33rd, while Imperial College London (41st), the University of St Andrews (47th), the University of Exeter (49th) and University College London (50th) also make the top 50.
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Unlike many other rankings, the CWTS Leiden Ranking does not rely on reputation surveys among academics and instead concentrates on scientific output by measuring a university鈥檚 research citation scores.
However, a report by the European University Association, titled Global University Rankings and their Impact 鈥 Report II, published last week, said there were questions about the overall validity of the ranking as 鈥渁rts and humanities are not considered at all鈥.
鈥淐overage of engineering and social sciences is limited due to the types of publications selected: articles, reviews and letters, but not conference proceedings and/or books,鈥 the report adds.
Nonetheless, the ranking reports how universities outside the US and Europe have become serious players in the sector, not only in the number of publications but also in scientific impact.
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For the first time two Chinese universities - Nankai (53rd) and Hunan (55th) - overtake the best universities in the Netherlands in terms of impact (Leiden, 58th, and Utrecht, 60th).
However, Dutch universities perform well in terms of research collaboration with industry, according to the ranking.
EindhovenTechnical University is the university which publishes most intensely in collaboration with companies, with 15.6 per cent of its publications containing a business address.
Delft University, in the south west of the country, and Sweden鈥檚 Chalmers University of Technology, share the second place with 14 per cent, almost twice the rate of Harvard University, the world鈥檚 largest research university, which clocks a score of 7.6 per cent.
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CWTS Leiden Ranking results
| 1 | MIT听听听听听 | US |
| 2 | Univ Calif - Santa Barbara听听听听听聽 | US |
| 3 | Stanford Univ听听听听听 | US |
| 4 | Princeton Univ听听听 | US |
| 5 | Harvard Univ听听 | US |
| 6 | Rice Univ听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 7 | Univ Calif - Berkeley听听 | US |
| 8 | Caltech听听听听听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 9 | Univ Calif - San Francisco听听听听听聽 | US |
| 10 | Yale Univ听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 11 | Univ Calif - Santa Cruz听听听听听听听听听听聽 | US |
| 12 | Univ Texas - SW Med Ctr听听听听听听听 | US |
| 13 | Ecole Polytech F茅d茅rale Lausanne听听听听听听听听听听 | Switzerland |
| 14 | Univ Colorado - Boulder听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 15 | Univ Calif - San Diego听听听听听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 16 | Univ Chicago听听 | US |
| 17 | Northwestern Univ听听听听听聽 | US |
| 18 | Univ Penn听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 19 | Columbia Univ听听听听听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 20 | Univ Massachusetts Med Sch听听 | US |
| 21 | Carnegie Mellon Univ | US |
| 22 | Washington Univ - St Louis听听听听听 | US |
| 23 | Weizmann Inst Sci听听听听听听听 | Israel |
| 24 | Univ Cambridge听听听听听听听听听听 | UK |
| 25 | Univ Calif - Los Angeles听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 26 | ETH Zurich听听听听听听听 | Switzerland |
| Univ Washington - Seattle听听听听听听听 | US | |
| 28 | NYU听听听聽 | US |
| 29 | Duke Univ听听听听听听听 | US |
| 30 | Univ Oxford听听听聽 | UK |
| 31 | Icahn Sch Med Mt Sinai听听听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 32 | Cornell Univ听听听 | US |
| 33 | London Sch Hyg & Trop Med | UK |
| 34 | Georgia Inst Technol听听听 | US |
| 35 | Univ Calif - Riverside | US |
| 36 | Johns Hopkins Univ听听听聽 | US |
| 37 | Boston Univ听听听聽 | US |
| 38 | Univ N Carolina - Chapel Hill听听听听听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 39 | Univ Texas - Austin听听听聽 | US |
| 40 | Univ Michigan | US |
| 41 | Imperial Coll London听听 | UK |
| 42 | Univ Massachusetts - Amherst听听听听听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 43 | Dartmouth Coll听听听听听听听听听听听听 | US |
| 44 | Univ Calif - Irvine听听听听听听听 | US |
| 45 | Tech Univ Denmark听听听听听听听听听听聽 | Denmark |
| 46 | Emory Univ听听听听听 | US |
| 47 | Univ St Andrews听听听听听听听听聽 | UK |
| 48 | Univ Dublin Trinity Coll听听听听听听听听 | Ireland |
| 49 | Univ Exeter听听听听听 | UK |
| 50 | Univ Coll London听听听听听听听听 | UK |
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