Five graduate fields at the U have been named among the nation's best.
The rankings, released by for-profit company Academic Analytics, cast U programs in a better light than more popular ranking systems like the U.S.News & World Report annual review.
The U's health science programs performed most strongly in the rankings, with pharmaceutical sciences and medicinal chemistry ranked third and anatomy was named eighth.
Also ranked in the top 10 were the bioengineering, special education, and education and psychology programs.
U administrators are calling the evaluation an "unbiased" alternative to the U.S.News report and other ranking systems, because it uses objective information rather than opinion surveys.
The Academic Analytics rankings are based on a 2005 scholarly production index that measures the number of publications, federal grants and awards faculty members receive each year.
Other ranking systems, like the U.S.News report, are based off of both data and opinion surveys that show how other academics perceive the U.
"(Academic Analytics) takes the popularity system out of it," said U spokesman Remi Barron.
In general, he said the U has not been recognized for as many top programs with ranking systems that use opinion polls.
Ralph Packard, dean of the college of education, thinks there is a bias toward Western universities in other rankings.
"The Western schools in general don't have the same stature as schools (back East)," Packard said. "(Other ratings are) based on the opinion of your colleagues around the country."
He said the bias in favor of Eastern universities is natural because more schools are located back east.
However, Academic Analytics is not without its critics.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that some schools are discrediting the rankings, saying they're based off of incomplete faculty lists and weigh publications too heavily.
"They don't have very good checks," said Alison Power -- graduate dean at Cornell University -- to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Barron said the U has not studied the ranking system in-depth and could not comment on any flaws.
"It's not for the U to judge the ranking," Barron said.
