Science-focused U.S. institutions top the Times interdisciplinary science rankings.
According to the Times Higher Education Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2026 (THE is Inside higher educationparent company).
U.S. institutions occupy six of the top 10 spots on this year’s list. MIT ranks first for the second year in a row, followed by Stanford University in second place and will retain this position through 2025. The California Institute of Technology moved up one spot to third place, and the University of California, Berkeley, entered the list for the first time, ranking fourth.
Duke University dropped from fifth to sixth this year, and Georgia Tech made the list for the first time, ranking seventh.
At a national level, nearly a quarter of the top 100 institutions are from the United States, a higher proportion than any other country.
Launched in 2024 in conjunction with the Schmidt Science Fellows, the ranking aims to increase scientific excellence and interdisciplinary collaboration and help universities benchmark their interdisciplinary scientific work
Times Higher Education has expanded the scope of interdisciplinary studies in this year’s list to include any program that combines multiple scientific disciplines or one or more scientific disciplines with social sciences, education, psychology, law, economics or clinical and health.
The U.S.’s performance in the rankings is driven by high scores on output indicators, including the number and share of interdisciplinary scientific research publications, citations of interdisciplinary scientific research, and reputation for supporting interdisciplinary teams.
“For more than 80 years, research universities have advanced our understanding of the world, resulting in significant improvements in health, economic prosperity, and national security,” Ian A. Waitz, MIT’s vice president for research, said in a statement. “Fundamentally, this work is best accomplished when people ideate and collaborate without regard to disciplinary boundaries within and between scientific fields.”
“There is growing recognition that breaking down academic silos and conducting scientific research across traditional disciplines is critical to the next generation of major breakthroughs and is key to solving the world’s most pressing problems,” said Phil Batty, chief global affairs officer at Times Higher Education.
“The world’s biggest challenges are complex and require cutting-edge knowledge and fresh ideas from a wide range of expertise.”
