The University of Arizona has been recognized for having one of the world's top academic research program in water resources. The U of A ranks No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 4 in the world in water resources, according to ShanghaiRanking's 2024 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, released Nov. 11.

The U of A has ranked in the top 10 globally since ShanghaiRanking started ranking water resources programs in 2017.

The Global Ranking of Academic Subjects scores more than 5,000 global universities across 55 subjects in five categories (natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medical sciences and social sciences) based on the number of papers authored by an institution in an academic subject area, the number of papers published in top journals, the amount of international collaboration and the total number of staff members that have won significant awards. More than 1,900 universities across 96 countries are included in the final ranking.

The U of A also earned strong marks in the following categories:

• Earth sciences (No. 9 in the U.S., No. 18 globally)
• Library and information science (No. 15 in the U.S., No. 26 globally)
• Communication (No. 21 in the U.S., No. 38 globally)
• Aerospace engineering (No. 15 in the U.S., No. 41 global)
• Geography (No. 10 in the U.S., No. 45 global)
• Psychology (No. 31 in the U.S., No. 46 globally)
• Ecology (No. 19 in the U.S., No. 50 globally)

ShanghaiRanking's institutional rankings were first published in June 2003 by the Center for World-Class Universities and the Graduate School of Education (formerly the Institute of Higher Education) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. The rankings are updated annually and since 2009 have been published and copyrighted by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.