ITS Research Intelligence

Brazil University Research Rankings

Compare Brazil universities using recent research output, citation impact, growth and a transparent research-performance score.

Research landscape

The current ITS Research Intelligence dataset contains 428 index-ready universities in Brazil. Across those institutions, the average five-year research output is approximately 4,812 works and the average five-year citation count is approximately 17,771. The average publication-growth signal is 31.8%. These figures describe the institutions that pass the public quality gate; they are not intended to represent every tertiary institution in the country.

Country rankings are useful for benchmarking because they reduce some of the structural differences that make global comparisons difficult. They still should not be treated as a complete assessment of institutional quality: teaching, student outcomes, funding levels, research field mix and institutional mission are outside this research-performance score. The value of the page is in seeing who is producing research, how that activity is changing, and where citation visibility is concentrated.

Top research universities in Brazil

Rank	University	Country	Score	5-year works	5-year citations	Growth
#1	Universidade de São Paulo	Brazil	80.2	139,902	854,205	-0.1%
#2	Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)	Brazil	74.5	63,353	333,907	16.5%
#3	Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul	Brazil	73.5	56,025	291,767	4.1%
#4	Universidade Federal de São Paulo	Brazil	73.5	30,909	210,866	9.5%
#5	Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	73.2	58,334	280,080	7.1%
#6	Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)	Brazil	72.6	63,153	286,805	4.0%
#7	Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais	Brazil	72.4	49,443	245,203	12.2%
#8	Universidade Federal de São Carlos	Brazil	69.8	28,736	151,528	6.2%
#9	Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina	Brazil	69.5	38,351	175,506	12.6%
#10	Universidade Federal do Paraná	Brazil	68.0	40,965	149,465	13.2%
#11	Universidade Federal do ABC	Brazil	68.0	10,837	71,845	3.1%
#12	Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte	Brazil	67.9	24,793	116,146	15.5%
#13	Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	67.7	30,189	102,427	27.4%
#14	Universidade Federal do Ceará	Brazil	67.4	27,722	113,179	22.6%
#15	Universidade de Brasília	Brazil	67.3	37,715	138,585	7.5%
#16	Universidade Federal da Bahia	Brazil	67.2	25,749	107,612	11.1%
#17	Universidade Federal de Pernambuco	Brazil	67.1	35,188	121,395	11.8%
#18	Universidade Federal de Santa Maria	Brazil	67.0	23,955	105,229	10.0%
#19	Universidade Federal de Viçosa	Brazil	66.9	22,618	97,099	10.3%
#20	Universidade Federal Fluminense	Brazil	66.5	29,612	110,823	13.6%
#21	Universidade de Ribeirão Preto	Brazil	66.2	15,318	69,889	18.9%
#22	Universidade Federal de Goiás	Brazil	66.2	23,984	94,284	17.5%
#23	Universidade Federal de Pelotas	Brazil	66.1	17,283	75,123	9.2%
#24	Universidade Federal de Lavras	Brazil	65.0	12,858	62,997	15.8%
#25	Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora	Brazil	64.7	16,883	65,347	18.8%
#26	Universidade Federal da Paraíba	Brazil	64.5	27,553	90,042	7.3%
#27	Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo	Brazil	64.5	20,062	75,387	14.3%
#28	Universidade Federal do Pará	Brazil	64.4	28,427	82,044	32.1%
#29	Universidade Federal de Uberlândia	Brazil	64.4	19,815	75,616	9.3%
#30	Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	64.1	11,705	52,204	-7.4%
#31	Universidade Federal do Rio Grande	Brazil	63.8	10,056	49,117	-1.5%
#32	Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul	Brazil	63.8	12,181	48,856	16.1%
#33	Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná	Brazil	63.1	17,849	67,531	2.0%
#34	Universidade Estadual de Maringá	Brazil	62.7	16,562	53,780	-5.8%
#35	Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul	Brazil	62.7	17,183	56,989	27.8%
#36	Fundação Getulio Vargas	Brazil	62.7	6,714	37,231	18.7%
#37	Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná	Brazil	62.5	8,949	39,283	17.0%
#38	Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto	Brazil	62.1	2,561	20,820	18.0%
#39	Universidade Estadual de Londrina	Brazil	62.0	13,675	45,825	9.6%
#40	Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	61.7	18,401	42,155	61.8%
#41	Universidade Federal de Sergipe	Brazil	61.3	14,717	47,151	2.7%
#42	Universidade Cidade de São Paulo	Brazil	61.2	3,660	17,956	63.1%
#43	Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco	Brazil	61.2	14,567	47,276	-1.7%
#44	Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso	Brazil	61.1	14,555	41,162	43.4%
#45	Universidade Federal de Alagoas	Brazil	61.1	13,287	42,813	19.5%
#46	Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto	Brazil	61.0	9,426	37,534	-1.7%
#47	Universidade Federal de Itajubá	Brazil	60.6	4,582	25,056	5.0%
#48	Universidade Federal do Amazonas	Brazil	60.6	15,885	40,633	62.9%
#49	Universidade Federal do Piauí	Brazil	60.5	15,207	40,253	32.5%
#50	Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre	Brazil	60.4	4,797	23,487	23.8%
#51	Federal University of São João del-Rei	Brazil	60.4	5,866	27,954	-19.6%
#52	Universidade Federal do Maranhão	Brazil	60.2	14,504	39,010	46.7%
#53	Universidade Federal de Campina Grande	Brazil	59.8	13,093	38,352	14.1%
#54	Centro Universitário de Araraquara	Brazil	59.7	3,066	16,337	4.4%
#55	Faculdade de Medicina do ABC	Brazil	59.2	3,682	18,364	11.3%
#56	Universidade Nove de Julho	Brazil	59.1	5,601	20,742	57.7%
#57	Military Institute of Engineering	Brazil	59.0	2,467	14,690	41.6%
#58	Insper	Brazil	59.0	1,590	11,738	36.6%
#59	Universidade Brasil	Brazil	58.9	9,051	24,671	20.6%
#60	Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina	Brazil	58.8	9,909	30,380	12.4%
#61	Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos	Brazil	58.8	7,616	27,280	-19.6%
#62	Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública	Brazil	58.8	3,739	17,145	0.5%
#63	Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica	Brazil	58.7	3,920	17,118	21.7%
#64	Universidade Federal de Alfenas	Brazil	58.6	5,324	22,081	7.3%
#65	Universidade de Pernambuco	Brazil	58.5	10,512	28,008	31.6%
#66	Universidade do Estado do Amazonas	Brazil	58.3	6,228	19,964	62.0%
#67	Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	58.2	9,856	25,523	19.0%
#68	Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública	Brazil	58.1	2,610	14,789	17.0%
#69	Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz	Brazil	58.0	6,387	21,006	28.5%
#70	State University of Norte Fluminense	Brazil	57.9	3,659	15,851	-0.9%
#71	Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri	Brazil	57.8	5,992	21,673	25.4%
#72	Faculdade de Medicina de Jundiaí	Brazil	57.7	1,195	6,338	65.9%
#73	Universidade de Passo Fundo	Brazil	57.5	4,674	18,383	-8.8%
#74	Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa	Brazil	57.4	6,492	18,833	18.7%
#75	Universidade de Caxias do Sul	Brazil	57.4	3,943	15,766	10.1%
#76	Vale Technological Institute	Brazil	57.3	1,372	8,738	35.5%
#77	Universidade de Sorocaba	Brazil	57.2	3,709	13,931	32.6%
#78	Instituto Federal Goiano	Brazil	57.1	4,145	17,209	40.1%
#79	Universidade Paulista	Brazil	57.1	5,354	16,899	5.5%
#80	Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo	Brazil	57.0	2,463	11,366	23.6%
#81	Universidade Estadual do Ceará	Brazil	57.0	10,746	23,527	21.0%
#82	Methodist University of Piracicaba	Brazil	56.8	2,121	10,010	-9.0%
#83	Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina	Brazil	56.8	2,898	11,441	34.5%
#84	Universidade Católica de Brasília	Brazil	56.5	3,465	11,492	23.7%
#85	Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie	Brazil	56.4	5,843	16,318	27.5%
#86	Universidade Católica de Pelotas	Brazil	56.1	1,574	8,119	16.0%
#87	Universidade de Fortaleza	Brazil	56.0	5,726	15,529	20.8%
#88	Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana	Brazil	55.9	9,925	18,453	-0.1%
#89	Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul	Brazil	55.8	3,204	10,123	34.3%
#90	Universidade de Marília	Brazil	55.7	2,095	7,923	75.6%
#91	Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro	Brazil	55.7	5,701	16,013	9.8%
#92	Federal Center for Technological Education of Minas Gerais	Brazil	55.7	4,055	14,826	9.1%
#93	Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados	Brazil	55.6	6,004	16,230	15.6%
#94	Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Pará	Brazil	55.5	4,118	14,789	53.8%
#95	Universidade São Francisco	Brazil	55.3	3,154	10,224	31.2%
#96	Universidade do Estado do Pará	Brazil	55.2	9,236	13,478	49.6%
#97	Faculdade de Ciências Médicas de Minas Gerais	Brazil	55.2	3,255	11,005	58.7%
#98	Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná	Brazil	55.1	9,525	18,130	11.2%
#99	Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense	Brazil	55.1	2,674	9,009	27.3%
#100	Faculdade de Medicina de Marília	Brazil	55.0	1,554	7,310	39.0%

Transparent methodology

How ITS Research Score v3 is constructed

One formula applies to every index-ready institution, using the five most recent complete calendar years: 25% research output, 25% citations, 20% h-index and 5% i10-index (log-normalized so the largest universities do not dominate linearly), 15% citation impact (the institution’s percentile on citations per work, reduced below 500 works so small samples cannot win by chance), 5% publication growth and 5% international-collaboration share. When collaboration data is not yet available, the other weights are rescaled.

Data-quality controls: the unfinished current year is never counted, and a year in which recorded output jumps to more than three times the institution’s usual level while being at least 90% open access is treated as a bulk dataset or repository deposit and scored at the usual level. An affiliation check also removes institutions whose papers mostly do not name them in the author address (OpenAlex sometimes assigns a large university’s papers to a namesake school or college). Raw data are kept and every adjustment is logged. Open-access share and topic diversity are published as separate rankings and do not affect the main score. Citation impact is not field-normalized.

These indicators assess research activity only. They do not measure teaching quality, student experience, employability, reputation, finances or accreditation. Missing data are left missing rather than fabricated.