ITS Research Intelligence

South Korea University Research Rankings

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

Research landscape

The current ITS Research Intelligence dataset contains 224 index-ready universities in South Korea. Across those institutions, the average five-year research output is approximately 3,887 works and the average five-year citation count is approximately 44,843. The average publication-growth signal is 27.5%. 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 South Korea

Rank	University	Country	Score	5-year works	5-year citations	Growth
#1	Seoul National University	South Korea	83.8	69,985	808,473	28.9%
#2	Yonsei University	South Korea	82.9	56,996	793,586	10.8%
#3	Korea University	South Korea	81.8	37,131	532,838	20.6%
#4	Sungkyunkwan University	South Korea	81.7	42,110	570,167	11.8%
#5	Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology	South Korea	80.3	27,427	384,563	19.1%
#6	Hanyang University	South Korea	79.4	27,569	358,251	17.0%
#7	Kyung Hee University	South Korea	79.0	24,733	326,257	24.5%
#8	Yeungnam University	South Korea	78.1	15,221	260,884	32.6%
#9	Sejong University	South Korea	77.9	14,110	280,987	13.6%
#10	Pohang University of Science and Technology	South Korea	77.8	14,104	223,376	10.4%
#11	Kyungpook National University	South Korea	77.4	25,756	244,705	55.6%
#12	University of Ulsan	South Korea	76.9	20,104	243,877	-7.4%
#13	Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology	South Korea	76.4	9,973	190,331	5.6%
#14	Pusan National University	South Korea	76.3	20,310	221,418	14.1%
#15	Chonnam National University	South Korea	75.5	14,114	168,366	16.5%
#16	Ewha Womans University	South Korea	75.4	13,101	156,064	20.2%
#17	Gachon University	South Korea	75.0	13,086	180,200	37.8%
#18	Korea University of Science and Technology	South Korea	75.0	13,023	164,945	16.5%
#19	Chung-Ang University	South Korea	74.8	17,076	191,449	11.8%
#20	Jeonbuk National University	South Korea	74.6	15,270	164,683	8.8%
#21	Konkuk University	South Korea	74.0	10,002	132,462	2.3%
#22	Inha University	South Korea	74.0	11,624	136,191	10.8%
#23	Dongguk University	South Korea	73.8	9,913	138,630	14.2%
#24	Chungnam National University	South Korea	73.5	17,735	166,357	8.3%
#25	Catholic University of Korea	South Korea	73.1	17,003	154,574	-0.4%
#26	Gyeongsang National University	South Korea	73.0	11,957	123,323	19.4%
#27	Ajou University	South Korea	72.8	11,416	122,274	7.5%
#28	Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology	South Korea	72.6	6,205	84,561	3.0%
#29	Pukyong National University	South Korea	71.9	9,082	90,184	51.3%
#30	Kangwon National University	South Korea	71.8	11,664	108,216	16.9%
#31	University of Seoul	South Korea	71.5	5,419	66,987	24.0%
#32	Chungbuk National University	South Korea	71.2	11,524	99,631	27.3%
#33	Anyang University	South Korea	71.0	5,050	76,052	38.0%
#34	Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology	South Korea	70.5	4,492	67,492	10.8%
#35	Seoul National University of Science and Technology	South Korea	70.0	6,925	71,055	51.1%
#36	Jeju National University	South Korea	69.9	6,794	69,381	15.4%
#37	Hallym University	South Korea	69.8	5,875	64,051	-17.4%
#38	Dankook University	South Korea	69.1	7,328	69,017	16.8%
#39	Kwangwoon University	South Korea	68.8	3,699	50,492	15.0%
#40	Incheon National University	South Korea	68.6	6,783	67,709	6.9%
#41	Soonchunhyang University	South Korea	68.4	6,821	61,444	19.3%
#42	Soongsil University	South Korea	68.3	5,733	59,365	10.8%
#43	Keimyung University	South Korea	67.9	6,614	58,481	13.6%
#44	Sogang University	South Korea	67.6	4,578	42,441	19.8%
#45	CHA University	South Korea	67.5	4,969	51,573	-12.6%
#46	Inje University	South Korea	67.4	3,012	33,204	8.0%
#47	Kumoh National Institute of Technology	South Korea	67.4	2,950	39,215	32.8%
#48	Kookmin University	South Korea	67.2	4,713	43,812	36.2%
#49	Korea Institute of Materials Science	South Korea	67.0	2,539	32,924	27.2%
#50	Chosun University	South Korea	66.7	5,729	51,289	-2.6%
#51	Dong-A University	South Korea	66.7	5,371	42,236	28.0%
#52	Myongji University	South Korea	66.2	2,210	26,436	13.0%
#53	Kyonggi University	South Korea	66.2	2,975	34,042	15.7%
#54	Wonkwang University	South Korea	65.5	4,398	37,236	-1.9%
#55	Sookmyung Women's University	South Korea	65.4	2,552	28,981	5.0%
#56	Changwon National University	South Korea	65.3	3,878	33,354	32.2%
#57	Hongik University	South Korea	65.1	3,489	31,678	28.1%
#58	Kunsan National University	South Korea	64.8	2,438	23,741	52.0%
#59	Kongju National University	South Korea	64.7	4,539	37,135	16.3%
#60	National Institute for Mathematical Sciences	South Korea	64.4	1,021	15,888	-17.9%
#61	Gangneung–Wonju National University	South Korea	64.4	3,032	22,340	46.6%
#62	Eulji University	South Korea	63.5	4,067	31,575	4.4%
#63	Korea National University of Transportation	South Korea	63.2	2,204	22,039	24.6%
#64	Hanbat National University	South Korea	62.9	2,486	21,306	21.9%
#65	Sunchon National University	South Korea	62.8	4,093	26,681	40.3%
#66	Korea Maritime and Ocean University	South Korea	62.8	2,564	23,733	15.0%
#67	Seoul National University of Education	South Korea	62.8	1,823	15,517	35.7%
#68	University of Suwon	South Korea	62.5	1,172	13,316	40.7%
#69	Ghent University Global Campus	South Korea	62.0	769	8,917	27.0%
#70	Woosong University	South Korea	61.9	1,520	15,172	31.5%
#71	Hankuk University of Foreign Studies	South Korea	61.6	2,870	21,482	-8.0%
#72	Korea University of Technology and Education	South Korea	61.3	1,582	14,316	57.7%
#73	Handong Global University	South Korea	61.1	848	10,375	34.6%
#74	Hannam University	South Korea	60.9	1,431	13,311	19.6%
#75	Daegu Catholic University	South Korea	60.8	2,605	19,674	-18.4%
#76	Gyeongguk National University	South Korea	60.5	2,019	14,019	57.0%
#77	Jeonju National University of Education	South Korea	60.5	1,183	12,017	51.1%
#78	Korea University of International Studies	South Korea	60.3	540	5,798	168.1%
#79	Sangmyung University	South Korea	60.3	2,260	18,132	-11.7%
#80	Bucheon University	South Korea	60.2	2,055	15,817	16.3%
#81	Catholic Kwandong University	South Korea	60.1	1,649	13,554	-11.2%
#82	Ansan University	South Korea	59.8	1,667	12,479	7.9%
#83	Woosuk University	South Korea	59.5	1,178	10,925	4.8%
#84	Mokpo National University	South Korea	59.5	1,792	12,859	6.1%
#85	Kyung Hee Cyber University	South Korea	59.3	530	6,790	78.3%
#86	Konyang University	South Korea	59.3	1,852	14,710	-20.0%
#87	Yong In University	South Korea	59.1	864	6,545	65.0%
#88	Kosin University	South Korea	59.0	1,188	10,977	-13.2%
#89	Dong-Eui University	South Korea	58.7	1,629	11,437	14.7%
#90	Daegu University	South Korea	58.7	1,750	11,619	10.4%
#91	Luther University	South Korea	58.6	2,874	9,360	27.8%
#92	Duksung Women's University	South Korea	58.6	733	8,326	-4.2%
#93	Daejeon University	South Korea	58.6	1,625	11,179	-7.9%
#94	Sungshin Women's University	South Korea	58.4	1,408	9,853	67.5%
#95	Sun Moon University	South Korea	58.3	1,265	10,330	0.2%
#96	Jeonju University	South Korea	58.3	1,460	10,616	19.1%
#97	Hoseo University	South Korea	58.0	1,405	9,423	18.6%
#98	Hankyong National University	South Korea	57.9	2,007	13,802	-20.2%
#99	Korea Environment Institute	South Korea	57.8	919	7,544	32.6%
#100	Korea Aerospace University	South Korea	57.7	1,357	9,335	46.2%

Research fields where South Korea universities rank

Number of South Korea universities in the top 100 of each ITS research-field ranking.

Materials Science (8)Energy (6)Engineering (3)Medicine (2)Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics (2)Nursing (1)Chemical Engineering (1)Immunology and Microbiology (1)Dentistry (1)Mathematics (1)Computer Science (1)

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.