Islamabad:17 August:The research ranking of Pakistani higher education institutions (HEI) for the year 2011 by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) shows marked increase in research publications of HEIs during last few years with Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, topping the list with 717 publications in 2011.
The HEC has recently published assessment and research ranking of Pakistani higher education institutions for the year 2011. According to the findings of this academic exercise, Pakistani higher education institutions witness tremendous increase in research publications within last few years. The number of publications has been increased from about 800 in the year 2002 to more than 6,000 in the year 2011 while in 2010 this number was 5000.

These publications were extracted using three global databases i.e. SCI-E, SSCI, S&HCI from Thomson-Reuters web of science. The publications also cover all major disciplines including physical sciences, agriculture and veterinary sciences, biological and medical sciences, social sciences, management sciences and engineering.

The assessment shows that Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, remains at the top while University of Agriculture Faisalabad with 524 publications and Aga Khan University Karachi with 521 publications secured second and third positions respectively. The top three universities are followed by University of the Punjab, Lahore (519 publications), University of Karachi, Karachi (431 publications), COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad (402 publications), Government College University, Lahore (262 publications), University of Peshawar, Peshawar (235 publications), National University of Science & Technology, Islamabad (230 publications) and Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan (210 publications). Since the establishment of HEC in 2002, research output has grown eight-folds.Dawn.