The University of Arizona is home to several of the world's best research and teaching programs in the physical sciences, according to Times Higher Education.

The U of A is tied for No. 50 in the world in the physical sciences in Times Higher Education's World University Rankings by Subject 2025, released Jan. 21. The U of A tied for No. 24 in the U.S. and ranked No. 11 among U.S. public colleges and universities.

The U of A rose 15 spots from its position in last year's global rankings, earning its top scores in two pillars: 

• Industry, measured by income from industry partnerships and patents 
• Research quality, measured by citation impact and research strengths, excellence and influence

"We are incredibly proud of the University of Arizona's continued ascent in global rankings within the physical sciences," said Carmala Garzione, dean of the College of Science. "Our significant improvement in this ranking reflects the impactful work of our faculty, staff and students, as well as our commitment to advancing knowledge and pushing the boundaries of scientific discovery. This achievement is a testament to the transformative nature of our research community on the global stage."

The physical sciences ranking evaluates universities across several core disciplines: physics, chemistry, mathematics, statistics, astronomy, geology, and environmental, earth and marine sciences. This year's ranking includes 1,447 institutions from 107 countries and territories, which have been assessed based on 18 performance indicators.

Physical sciences disciplines assessed in this year's Times Higher Education subject rankings include:

• Chemistry: crystallography, nanotechnology and polymer science
• Physics and astronomy: astrophysics and acoustics
• Mathematics and statistics: operations research and management science, and decision math
• Geology, environmental, earth and marine sciences: paleontology and meteorological and atmospheric sciences

Times Higher Education's 2025 subject rankings methodology is based on 157 million research citations, 18 million research publications and survey responses from more than 93,000 scholars across the world.

In Times Higher Education's World University Rankings 2025, released in October, the U of A tied for No. 136 globally, No. 45 in the U.S. and No. 22 among U.S. public colleges and universities. The U of A also ranked No. 14 among state flagship universities and No. 4 among Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

Additional physical sciences rankings

In addition to the Times Higher Ed rankings, the U of A has earned several other strong rankings in physical sciences.

The U of A ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 4 globally in water resources in ShanghaiRanking's 2024 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, released in November. The U of A has ranked in the top 10 globally since ShanghaiRanking started ranking water resources programs in 2017.

In June, the U of A ranked No. 8 overall, No. 6 in the U.S. and No. 2 among public universities in U.S. News & World Report's 2024-2025 Best Global Universities ranking. The U of A also earned stellar rankings in water resources (No. 2 in the U.S., No. 29 globally) and geosciences (No. 10 in the U.S., No. 25 globally).

In previous updates to U.S. News & World Report's Best Graduate Schools, programs in the U of A Department of Geosciences, housed in the College of Science, ranked among the nation's best. The U of A's doctoral program in Earth sciences ranks No. 4 overall and No. 2 among public universities. The following Earth sciences subspecialties also earned top marks: geology (tied for No. 5 overall, No. 3 among public universities), geochemistry (tied for No. 6 overall, tied for No. 4 among public universities) and geophysics/seismology (No. 15 overall, No. 8 among public universities).