The University of Barcelona holds the 100th position in the Ranking Web of Universities (Webometrics). It has improved by thirteen positions compared to last year and is now the Spanish leading institution and the ninth in the European Union.

The UB is the leading institution in Spain in the three indicator groups of the ranking. In Impact, about the number of links that direct to websites of the analyzed institution, it holds the 155 position worldwide; in Transparency, on the number of citations received from the top positioned researchers worldwide, it holds the 147 position, and in Excellence, which quantifies the number of scientific papers listed among the 10% of the most cited, it holds the 129 position.

In Spain, the UB is followed by the Complutense University of Madrid (position 162) and the University of Valencia (188). The top positions of the ranking are held by Harvard University, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Webometrics uses scientific performance indicators such as citation data in the database of Google Scholar and from the most cited publications in Scopus (Elsevier). It also uses indicators from websites and their activity to evaluate the universities regarding teaching, research and transfer. The ranking aims to promote the academic presence online, while it supports open access initiatives. It aims to increase the transfer of knowledge generated by universities to society. It is carried out by the Cibermetrics Laboratory of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and analyzes the websites of more than 31,000 universities worldwide.