July 2026 Webometrics Edition: Countries, Regions and Leaders

The July 2026 Webometrics edition (2nd Edition, Final) ranks 31,811 higher education institutions in 216 countries and territories. Harvard University holds world position 1, followed by Stanford University and the University of Oxford. Of the 100 institutions at world positions 1 to 100, 49 are in the United States of America, and those 100 places are shared by institutions from 19 countries. Widening the view to world positions 1 to 1,000, 71 countries are represented.

This report summarises the edition as published on the Webometrics world ranking and the seven regional ranking pages, read on 9 November 2026. It covers where ranked institutions are located, which institutions lead each region, and how the leading institutions perform across the three indicators, Impact, Openness and Excellence. Webometrics is a UNIRANKS project dedicated to the development and application of webometric university evaluation and research. Webometrics.org is the project's dedicated public website and publication platform.

Key findings

• The July 2026 edition lists 31,811 institutions in 216 countries and territories, as stated on the About Webometrics page.
• Three countries account for 37.9% of all listed institutions: India (5,220 institutions, 16.4%), Indonesia (3,695, 11.6%) and the United States of America (3,133, 9.8%).
• The 100 institutions at world positions 1 to 100 come from 19 countries; 49 are in the United States of America and 10 in the United Kingdom.
• The 1,040 institutions at world positions 1 to 1,000 come from 71 countries. The count is above 1,000 because some institutions share a position.
• 40 of the 100 institutions at world positions 1 to 100 also hold positions 1 to 100 in all three indicators, and none of the 100 is placed beyond position 1,000 in any indicator.
• Each region has a different leader: Harvard University (North America), the University of Oxford (Europe), Peking University (Asia), the University of Melbourne (Oceania), Universidade de São Paulo (Latin America), the University of Cape Town (Africa) and King Saud University (Arab World).

How this report was prepared

The population is every institution listed in the July 2026 edition. Figures are based on the positions published on webometrics.org: the world position and the separate Impact, Openness and Excellence positions shown for each institution, and the country and region each institution is listed under. All positions were read on 9 November 2026.

Where this report counts institutions "at world positions 1 to 100" (or 1 to 500, or 1 to 1,000), it includes every institution placed at those positions. Because some institutions share a position, these groups can contain slightly more institutions than the position range suggests: 100 institutions at positions 1 to 100, 511 at positions 1 to 500 and 1,040 at positions 1 to 1,000.

Regions follow the groupings used by the Webometrics regional pages. The Arab World grouping overlaps with Asia and Africa, so an institution in, for example, Saudi Arabia or Egypt appears in two regional counts. Three listed institutions carry no country assignment and are not included in the country and regional counts, which therefore cover 31,808 institutions.

Where ranked institutions are located

The number of institutions listed per country reflects how many higher education institutions each country has and how many have a measurable public web presence. It is not, by itself, a measure of national performance.

The table shows that the size of a national list and the position of its highest-placed institution are separate questions. India and Indonesia have the two longest national lists in the edition, with their highest-placed institutions at world positions 454 and 333. Germany has a shorter list of 512 institutions, with Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg at world position 56. Long national lists usually include many smaller, specialised and private institutions alongside large research universities.

The regional picture

Asia holds more than half of all listed institutions (17,628 of 31,808, 55.4%) but 8 of the 100 institutions at world positions 1 to 100. Europe has a smaller list (5,980 institutions) and 421 institutions at world positions 1 to 1,000, the most of any region. Oceania has the shortest regional list, 270 institutions, yet 6 of them are at world positions 1 to 100, all in Australia.

Below the regional leaders, the next-placed institutions show how concentrated each region's top places are. In Europe, the University of Cambridge (7) and UCL University College London (11) follow Oxford. In Asia, the University of Tokyo (41) and the National University of Singapore (45) follow Peking University. In Africa, the University of the Witwatersrand (335) and the University of Pretoria (361) follow the University of Cape Town, so the region's three highest-placed institutions are all in South Africa. In the Arab World, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (407) and the University of Jordan (544) follow King Saud University.

The top of the ranking

The ten institutions at world positions 1 to 10 are listed below with their positions in each of the three indicators. Eight are in the United States of America and two in the United Kingdom.

Harvard University holds position 1 in Openness and in Excellence and position 2 in Impact. Stanford University holds position 1 in Impact. The University of Washington is at world position 9 but at position 2 in Openness, the clearest example in this group of an institution whose indicator positions differ widely.

Which countries share the 100 leading places?

The 100 institutions at world positions 1 to 100 are spread across 19 countries: the United States of America (49), the United Kingdom (10), Canada (6), Australia (6), Germany (5), the Netherlands (3), Hong Kong (3), and China, Italy and Japan (2 each), with the remaining 12 places shared among nine further countries. At world positions 1 to 1,000 the leading countries are the United States of America (275 institutions), the United Kingdom (82), Germany (59), China (57) and Spain (46).

How balanced are the leading institutions?

Webometrics publishes a separate position for each indicator, so it is possible to see whether a high world position rests on one indicator or on all three. As described on the detailed Webometrics methodology, Impact reflects an institution's presence and recognition across the wider web; Openness and Excellence draw on scholarly data from the UNIRANKS Open Index (OI).

Among the 100 institutions at world positions 1 to 100:

• 40 also hold positions 1 to 100 in all three indicators;
• 66 hold positions 1 to 100 in Impact, 68 in Openness and 63 in Excellence;
• none is placed beyond position 1,000 in any of the three indicators.

In this edition, a place at world positions 1 to 100 therefore goes with consistently strong positions across all three indicators rather than with a single outstanding one. A high world position does not mean an institution leads on every indicator, and readers comparing institutions should look at all four published positions.

How to read and compare this edition

A Webometrics position is relative: it describes where an institution stands among all institutions in the same edition. A position can change without any change at the institution itself, because the other institutions in the edition also change. A Webometrics position is not an accreditation or a complete judgement of an institution's quality.

Webometrics publishes two editions each year, January and July. The Webometrics FAQs note that positions from different editions are not always directly comparable, because the methodology has changed over time. When citing a result, name the edition and the date the page was read, for example "world position 53 in the July 2026 Webometrics edition (2nd Edition, Final), accessed 9 November 2026". The article Webometrics Editions Explained: January vs July and How to Compare sets out how to compare results across editions responsibly.

Webometrics does not necessarily disclose detailed signal weights or exact scoring formulas. The indicator definitions, data sources and principles are published on the detailed methodology page.

Limitations

• The report describes published positions only. Webometrics publishes positions, not the underlying measurements, so the report cannot say how close institutions are to one another.
• Counts by country and region depend on the country each institution is listed under; three listed institutions have no country assignment and are excluded from those counts.
• The Arab World grouping overlaps with Asia and Africa, so regional counts do not add up to the edition total.
• The number of institutions listed for a country depends on the size of its higher education system and on how many institutions have a measurable public web presence; it is not a measure of national performance.
• All figures refer to the July 2026 edition as read on 9 November 2026 and may differ from later editions.

Conclusion

The July 2026 Webometrics edition covers 31,811 institutions in 216 countries and territories. Its longest national lists come from India, Indonesia and the United States of America, while the 100 leading places are concentrated in North America and Europe, with institutions from 19 countries represented. The leading institutions are notable less for any single indicator than for consistent positions across Impact, Openness and Excellence: 40 of the 100 hold positions 1 to 100 in all three.

Frequently asked questions

How many institutions are in the July 2026 Webometrics edition?

31,811 higher education institutions in 216 countries and territories, as stated on the About Webometrics page.

Which university is first in the July 2026 Webometrics edition?

Harvard University is at world position 1, followed by Stanford University (2) and the University of Oxford (3).

Which country has the most institutions in the edition?

India, with 5,220 listed institutions (16.4% of the edition), followed by Indonesia (3,695) and the United States of America (3,133).

Can positions in this edition be compared with earlier editions?

With care. Positions are relative to all institutions in the same edition, and Webometrics notes that positions from different editions are not always directly comparable. Always cite the edition with any position.

Questions about how your institution appears in Webometrics, or about improving its web presence? Contact the Webometrics team.

Sources

• Webometrics World Ranking, July 2026 (2nd Edition, Final), accessed 9 November 2026.
• About Webometrics, accessed 9 November 2026.
• Detailed Ranking Methodology, accessed 9 November 2026.
• Webometrics regional rankings, July 2026: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Arab World and Oceania, accessed 9 November 2026.

Suggested citation

Webometrics (UNIRANKS). (2026). July 2026 Webometrics Edition: Countries, Regions and Leaders. Webometrics.org. Data read 9 November 2026. https://www.webometrics.org/insights/research/july-2026-webometrics-edition-countries-regions-leaders