For four years in a row, Sejong University has ranked No. 1 among general universities in South Korea in the annual Leiden Ranking due to its continued research initiatives, the Seoul-based institution said Tuesday.

According to this year’s Leiden Ranking, released earlier this month, Sejong University placed second among all higher education institutions in Korea, after the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology.

The Leiden Ranking assesses universities from around the world every year according to academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty to student ratio, citations per faculty, ratio of international to domestic faculty members and ratio of international to domestic students.

Sejong University placed first among all Korea-based institutions in terms of citations per faculty. This year’s ranking involved 1,225 universities throughout the world, each of which published more than 800 research papers from 2016 to 2019.

Sejong University said it had published 4,426 research papers during those four years, 12.5 percent of which were in the global top 10 percent in terms of being cited in other works.

In that category, Rockefeller University was first in the world with 30 percent, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology with 25.9 percent and Stanford University with 23.3 percent.

By The Korea Herald staff (khnews@heraldcorp.com)