WHU Scores Remarkably High in Research Ranking

As noted in the most recent edition of the WirtschaftsWoche, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management has reached the top bracket of business-oriented institutions of higher education considered to be particularly strong in their research activities—and has even managed to leap ahead larger schools, such as the University of Mannheim and the University of Cologne. WHU owes this honor to its faculty members and their publications in over 800 of the world’s most salient journals centered around business administration. All the schools considered in the ranking are situated in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland (also known as the “DACH” region), with WHU moving up two spots since the last edition in 2020—and now sitting at #6.

This exclusive ranking, which considers publications released over the past ten years, is conducted by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute of ETH Zurich. The results have now been published in the most recent edition of the WirtschaftsWoche from December 9, 2022. The outstanding research performance at WHU, as well as the school’s sixth place position, are particularly impressive, as these accomplishments were achieved by a relatively small (albeit highly motivated) faculty and low number of authors. In comparison, the University of St. Gallen, for example, had more than four times as many authors contributing to the publications pool.

The ranking also takes the reputation of the publishing bodies into account. Every publication released in one of the foremost 21 journals is awarded with one full point. On the other end of the spectrum, publications issued in the least relevant journals garner 0.025 points each. University of St. Gallen amassed 191.82 points (#1), the Technical University of Munich earned 129.38 points (#2), and the Vienna University of Economics and Business garnered 112.81 points (#3). WHU’s total score was 84.73 points.

Those inclined can read the full article online in the most recent edition of the WirtschaftsWoche (in German, behind paywall).