Belfer Center Ranks High in Global Think Tank Survey

For the third straight year, Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has been ranked among the top university-affiliated think tanks in the world.

The 2012 version of the annual survey, conducted by the International Relations Program at the University of Pennsylvania and released Jan. 24, ranks the Belfer Center second in the university-affiliated category, behind the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A year earlier, the No. 1 and No. 2 rankings were reversed, with Belfer Center ranked first. The year before that, Hoover also finished in the top spot, just ahead of the Belfer Center.

The Belfer Center has steadily climbed the ladder in the six-year-old survey rating of top think tanks in the United States in any field. The Belfer Center did not make the Top-30 list in 2008, the first year of rankings. In 2009 the center was rated 33^rd best overall in the United States, and in both 2010 and 2011 the center was ranked 25^{th .} This year the Belfer Center rose three places to No. 22 in the United States among all think tanks.

The center also was ranked No. 20th in the world among the top 70 security and international affairs think tanks. The Center for Strategic and International Studies came first.

The annual survey is the only survey-based global ranking of research centers. The survey is led by James McGann, director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program in Penn’s International Relations Program, draws on input from about 1,900 academics, journalists and professionals who rate think tanks in a range of fields. A panel of experts weighs in as well.

McGann has compiled impressive statistics on think tanks worldwide: he counts 6,603 think tanks worldwide, including 1,919 in the United States. His survey ranks think tanks in dozens of categories such as best think tank with a budget under $5 million (the North-South Institute in Canada), and best new think tank (Google Ideas).

The Kennedy School’s Center for International Development also has ranked high among university-affiliated think tanks, coming in 5th this year, and was ranked 25^th best think tank in the United States.

McGann told a gathering at the World Bank in Washington on Jan. 17 that the ranking process seeks to give research centers another metric to evaluate their performance.

He said a total of 1,647 think tanks were nominated in 2012, including 171 nominated for top think tank in the world. That honor again went to the Brookings Institution this year, with Chatham House in the UK ranked second and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace rated third.

The annual report defines think tanks as “public-policy research analysis and engagement organizations that generate policy-oriented research, analysis, and advice on domestic and international issues, which enable policymakers and the public to make informed decisions about public policy issues.”

The study found that the economic downturn has brought cuts in funding from governments, while “corporations and private foundations have limited their grant-making to project-specific support.” Another trend: “Specialized institutions and programs are increasingly attractive to funders who want to target their dollars at specific problems or issues.”