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🎓 Top Research Universities in Australia

Universities and colleges in Australia ranked by the total citations their research has received (OpenAlex).

📅 2026📏 citations50 entries🇦🇺 See all of this country’s rankings →
Every dot is one entry, placed by its value (citations, logarithmic scale); the vertical bar marks each row’s median.
1
The University of Melbourne347,319 papers
34,342,585
2
The University of Sydney337,776 papers
31,140,452
3
The University of Adelaide149,247 papers
30,535,403
4
The University of Queensland276,893 papers
29,083,376
5
Monash University284,625 papers
23,435,914
6
UNSW Sydney274,823 papers
22,010,029
7
Australian National University191,729 papers
15,048,147
8
The University of Western Australia165,001 papers
14,175,999
9
University of Newcastle Australia84,398 papers
6,174,905
10
Deakin University93,271 papers
6,021,754
11
Queensland University of Technology91,894 papers
5,940,959
12
Macquarie University98,256 papers
5,746,848
13
Curtin University95,683 papers
5,684,374
14
Griffith University96,001 papers
5,646,644
15
University of Wollongong83,157 papers
5,311,141
16
University of Technology Sydney93,387 papers
5,241,222
17
La Trobe University83,560 papers
4,539,574
18
University of Tasmania73,119 papers
4,480,189
19
RMIT University84,890 papers
4,316,124
20
James Cook University50,577 papers
3,847,670
21
Flinders University67,880 papers
3,847,396
22
University of South Australia55,580 papers
3,685,116
23
Swinburne University of Technology59,261 papers
3,060,133
24
Western Sydney University62,587 papers
3,025,621
25
Murdoch University35,674 papers
2,026,675
26
Edith Cowan University32,233 papers
1,651,173
27
University of New England32,462 papers
1,464,544
28
Central Queensland University20,128 papers
1,273,761
29
Victoria University25,782 papers
1,147,043
30
University of Southern Queensland24,910 papers
1,137,067
31
Charles Sturt University27,587 papers
1,098,762
32
Australian Catholic University22,771 papers
978,048
33
Charles Darwin University17,427 papers
865,232
34
University of Canberra27,896 papers
858,819
35
Bond University14,356 papers
740,880
36
Southern Cross University16,163 papers
737,765
37
University of the Sunshine Coast17,167 papers
668,344
38
Federation University10,706 papers
334,569
39
Australian Defence Force Academy6,989 papers
321,876
40
Mount Stromlo Observatory3,164 papers
285,768
41
The University of Notre Dame Australia10,229 papers
269,302
42
Adelaide University7,513 papers
239,874
43
Torrens University Australia3,322 papers
116,419
44
Australian Maritime College1,678 papers
93,258
45
Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society604 papers
77,882
46
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons1,010 papers
70,441
47
Melbourne Bioinformatics511 papers
66,114
48
Australian Council for Educational Research1,528 papers
50,511
49
UCL Australia378 papers
38,645
50
Nursing Research Institute385 papers
38,486

Highlights

Within Australia, The University of Melbourne ranks first in 2026 with 34,342,585, followed by The University of Sydney (31,140,452) and The University of Adelaide (30,535,403).

Across 50 entries, values run from 34,342,585 (The University of Melbourne) to 38,486 (Nursing Research Institute), with a median of 1,838,924.

Source: OpenAlex, citations received by each institution's papers, 2026. Unit: citations.

Source: OpenAlex, citations received by each institution's papers · CC0 1.0 (OpenAlex) · fetched Oct 13, 2026 — Counts every citation to papers by authors affiliated with the institution, so large and old universities score high. It measures research impact, not teaching quality.