The objective of this study was to characterize the changes in the rankings of the top-n results of major search engines over time and to compare the rankings between these engines. We considered only the top-ten results, since users usually inspect only the first page returned by the search engine, which normally contains ten results. In particular, we compare rankings of the top ten results o...

Since the 1980s, school ranking systems have been a topic of discussion among leaders of higher education. Various ranking systems are based on inadequate data that fail to illustrate the complex nature and special contributions of the institutions they purport to rank, including U.S. medical schools, each of which contributes uniquely to meeting national health care needs. A study by Tancredi ...

Whenever we use Google’s search engine, shop for bargains on Amazon, or evaluate a colleague through citation measures such as the h-index, we are relying on rankings to bring order into large and complex datasets. We would be much better at making decisions if we could thoroughly understand the mechanisms that drive these rankings. Can we trust a ranking system to point out the items of highes...