Heavy release: 2026 soft science world-class discipline ranking.

(September 15, 2026) Higher Education Evaluation Professional InstitutionsSoft BranchOfficially released 2026 today."World-class discipline ranking of soft science”（ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects，简称GRAS）。The 2026 rankings cover 57 disciplines, spanning the five major fields of natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medicine, and social sciences.GRAS ranks over 3,000 universities worldwide, and the final ranking lists nearly 20,000 academic programs from more than 2,000 institutions across 96 countries and regions.

Mainland Chinese universities ranked first in the world in 22 disciplines, an increase of 1 over last year, among whichTsinghua UniversityThere are seven champion disciplines, and the number of champion disciplines is second only to Harvard University in the United States (11),Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sichuan University, Ocean University of China15 colleges and universities each have a champion discipline. The number of top-ranked disciplines at Chinese universities has been increasing year by year, demonstrating that China’s higher education is accelerating its breakthroughs in discipline development, driven by national strategies and industrial needs. A growing number of universities are transitioning from followers to global leaders in their respective areas of strength.

American universities continue to lead in this year’s QS World University Rankings by Subject, topping the list in 27 disciplines and achieving a total of 4,119 entries. Mainland Chinese universities continue to make steady progress, topping the rankings in 22 disciplines. The total number of entries on the list has surpassed 4,000 for the first time, reaching 4,077, and the number of listed institutions has risen to 394. Over the past decade, both the total number of appearances and the number of mainland Chinese universities featured in subject rankings have steadily increased.

Harvard UniversityHe won the championship in 11 disciplines and ranked first in the world's universities. Universities with more than one champion discipline also haveTsinghua University(7),Massachusetts Institute of Technology(5),Hong Kong Polytechnic University(2),Indiana University-Bloomington(2),University of Chicago(2 pieces). The university with the largest total number of listed disciplines isZhejiang University(57), followedNational University of Singapore(53), andTsinghua University, Oxford University, Peking University, University of Toronto, Sun Yat-sen University, University of Queensland and University of Melbourne(both 52).

In the 2026 QS World University Rankings by Subject, universities in mainland China have, for the first time, claimed the top spot worldwide in two disciplines: Chemistry and Marine Sciences. This marks not only the first time that a mainland Chinese university has won a global championship in the field of natural sciences, but also brings the total number of global championship disciplines among mainland Chinese universities to 22. They are respectivelyTsinghua University(Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Nanoscale Science and Technology, Energy Science and Engineering, Environmental Science and Engineering),Ocean University of China(Marine Science),Southeast University(Communication Engineering),Harbin Institute of Technology(Instrument Science),Sichuan University(Biomedical Engineering),Tongji University(Civil Engineering),Hohai University(Water Resources Engineering),Jiangnan University(Food Science and Engineering),Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics(Aerospace Engineering),Shanghai Jiao Tong University(Ships and Offshore Engineering),Wuhan University(remote sensing technology),Central South University(Mining Engineering),University of Science and Technology Beijing(Metallurgical Engineering),Donghua University(Textile Science and Engineering),China Agricultural University(Agronomy),Yangzhou University(Veterinary medicine). Among them,Ocean University of China, Sichuan University for the first timehave globalChampion Discipline。

Judging from the number of disciplines on the list,Zhejiang UniversityIt continued the advantage of last year, ranking first in mainland China with 57 disciplines on the list, and became the only school in the world with all disciplines on the list.Tsinghua University, Peking University, Sun Yat-sen University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Fudan University, Shandong University, Sichuan University, Wuhan University, Central South University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Nanjing University, Tongji University, Xiamen University, Shenzhen UniversityThe number of disciplines on the list also reached or exceeded 40.

The newly selected universities in the second round of the “Double First-Class” initiative have demonstrated outstanding performance in the Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects.Southern University of Science and TechnologyThere are 32 disciplines on the list, of which 23 disciplines have entered the world's top 100 and 1 discipline has entered the world's top 10.Shanghai University of Science and TechnologyThere are 16 disciplines on the list and 2 disciplines have entered the world's top 100.Nanjing Medical UniversityThere are 15 disciplines on the list, 3 disciplines into the world's top 100.South China Agricultural UniversityThere are 12 disciplines on the list, 3 disciplines into the world's top 100, 2 disciplines into the world's top 10.Guangzhou Medical UniversityThere are 1 disciplines into the world's top 100.

Non-"double first-class" colleges and universities,Shenzhen UniversityThere are 40 disciplines on the list, the number of disciplines on the list of non-"double first-class" universities.Jiangsu University, Qingdao UniversityThey ranked second and third on the list with 29 and 28 times respectively.

The index system of 2026 soft science world-class discipline ranking includes five modules: "world-class teachers", "world-class achievements", "high-level research achievements", "scientific research influence" and "international cooperation". There are nine objective indicators reflecting the international competitiveness of the discipline. The "World-Class Teachers" module includes four indicators, namely, teachers who have won international authoritative awards (Laureate),Highly cited scientist（HCR）、Editor-in-Chief of International Journal(Editor), Head of International Academic Organization (Leadership). The "world-class results" module includes two indicators: top journal articles (TJ) and international authoritative awards (Award). The "High-level Research Results" module has important journal articles (Q1) indicators. "Scientific research influence" moduleThe influence of paper standardization(CNCI) Indicators. The "International Cooperation" module includes indicators such as the proportion of international cooperation papers (IC).

The world-class discipline ranking of soft science adopts soft science"Academic Excellence Survey(Academic Excellence Survey) "has won 42 authoritative international academic awards, 182 top academic journals (and 26 top conferences in computer science and engineering and artificial intelligence), and 36 important international academic organizations as objective basis for measuring world-class academic performance in various disciplines. The "Academic Excellence Survey" targets the deans, department heads and full professors of the world's top 100 universities, that is, the world's top scholars in various disciplines. Different from the common expert survey, the "Academic Excellence Survey" of soft science invites scholars to recommend and nominate the top journals, authoritative awards, important academic organizations and other symbols representing the excellence of their disciplines, rather than directly evaluating the academic reputation of universities. In order to ensure the transparency and quality of the survey, all scholars participating in the survey need to agree to disclose their names and units. A number of well-known Chinese scholars also participated in this questionnaire survey. Details of the "Academic Excellence Survey" can be found on the official website of Soft Science.

Please pay attention to the official website of the ranking for the complete ranking results:

Chinese official website:

https://www.shanghairanking.cn/

English website:

https://www.shanghairanking.com/

If you have any questions or comments about the world-class subject rankings, please get in touch with Soft Branch:

Ranking Method Problem: 021-3356 2188 to 8075

Email: pr@shanghairanking.com

Soft Branch (ShanghaiRanking) is the world's leading higher education evaluation institutions. Soft Branch has many ranking lists with far-reaching influence and industry recognition at home and abroad. The "World University Academic Ranking" (Academic Ranking of World Universities, referred toARWU) "is one of the most influential and authoritative university rankings in the world. The United Kingdom, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia and other countries use ARWU rankings as the standard in their talent introduction policies. The University of Manchester, the University of Western Australia and other top 100 universities in the world have set the promotion of ARWU rankings as a clear goal of the school's strategic planning. The "World-Class Discipline Rankings", "Chinese University Rankings", "China's Best Discipline Rankings", and "Chinese University Professional Rankings" regularly released by Soft Science every year are subject to "People's Daily", Xinhua News Agency, "Guangming Daily", and "China Education News" and other domestic authoritative media attention and reports. Many foreign universities openly use the "soft science Chinese university ranking" as a reference standard to judge the background of applicants when admitting Chinese students. (Click to view the influence of soft science ranking)