The 2025 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects reveals some major upward moves for Dalhousie.
Oceanography was once again Dal’s top-ranked subject, rising three spots to 37th worldwide from 40 year over year and maintaining 2nd place among its Canadian peers.
The university’s most-improved subject area was Public Health, which moved into the 151-200 bracket globally — a huge jump from the 301-400 range last year.
Dal also strengthened its position globally in the following subject area:
- Atmospheric Science: Ranked in the 101-150 range, up from 151-200.
- Environmental Science & Engineering: Ranked in the 101-150 range, up from 151-200.
- Earth Science: Ranked in the 151-200 range, up from 201-300.
- Law: Ranked in the 151-200 range, up from 201-300.
How it works
Universities were ranked in 55 subjects across Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences in ShanghaiRanking Consultancy's latest report.
The participating schools were scored using a range of academic indicators and third-party data to measure performance. Categories tracked include:
- World-Class Faculty (international award laureates, highly cited researchers, international academic journal editors, international leadership)
- World-Class Output (top journal papers, international academic awards)
- High-Quality Research (number of influential journal publications)
- Research Impact (citation impact)
- International Collaboration (international collaborated papers)
Universities are only included in the ranking for particular subjects if they meet the threshold for a certain number of publications during the 2020-2024 period. These thresholds vary based on subject.
The national scene
Dal maintained and enhanced its standing across most of its major subject areas in the Canadian context.
Top 10
Oceanography: 2nd (same year over year)
Atmospheric Science: 4-6 range (up from 6-9 last year)
Environmental Science & Engineering: 6-7 range (up from 7-8 last year)
Earth Sciences: 7-8 range (up from 9-14 last year)
Agricultural Sciences: 7-9 (up from 9-11 last year)
Dentistry & Oral Sciences: 10 (down from 9 last year)
Top 20
Law: 9-11 range (up from 9-20 last year)
Public Health: 10-12 range (up from 16-19 last year)
Biotechnology: 7-12 (up from 11-13 last year)
Human Biological Sciences: 9-13 range (down from 6-9 last year)
Education: 10-12 (compared to 10-13 last year)
Political Sciences: 10-18 (compared to 10-13 last year)
Electrical & Electronic Engineering: 10-18 (not in top 20 last year)
Clinical Medicine: 11-13 (compared to 11-14 last year)
Ecology: 12-20 (compared to 13-20 last year)
Food Science & Technology: 9-11 (not in top 20 last year)
Biological Sciences: 14-17 ( down from 9-14 last year)
Chemistry: 11-14 (not in top 20 last year)
Learn more about this year’s global subject ranking.