DAARU SALAAM UNIVERSITY (DSU)
Mogadishu, Somalia
Office of the Vice Chancellor, Research and Development
WEBOMETRICS GLOBAL RANKING REPORT
July 2026 Edition — Global Visibility, Research Excellence, Openness and Academic Performance
This report explores Daaru Salaam University’s (DSU) position in the July 2026 edition of the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities. It presents DSU’s global, regional and country standing, breaks down the indicators behind the ranking, and shows how DSU compares worldwide on visibility, openness and academic excellence.
1. July 2026 Ranking Snapshot
| GLOBAL RANK #11,316 out of 32,000+ universities worldwide | COUNTRY POSITION #59 in Somalia | REGIONAL POSITION #1,228 in Africa |
| IMPACT RANK #3,770 high-influence research output | OPENNESS RANK #10,811 leading in open access & transparency | EXCELLENCE RANK #2,302 top performance in academic excellence |
Figures reflect the July 2026 edition of the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, published by the Cybermetrics Lab (Spanish National Research Council, CSIC).
2. About the Webometrics Ranking
The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as the Ranking Web of Universities, is one of the largest global academic rankings, covering more than 32,000 higher education institutions across over 200 countries. Published twice yearly (January and July) by the Cybermetrics Lab of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), it uses a composite indicator built from web visibility and bibliometric data to assess how universities perform in sharing knowledge and research on the open web.
| Indicator | Weight | What It Measures |
| Visibility (Impact) | 50% | The number of external networks (subnets) linking to the university’s webpages — a proxy for the online impact and reputation of DSU’s web presence, sourced from Ahrefs and Majestic link databases. |
| Transparency (Openness) | 10% | The number of citations attributed to DSU’s most-cited researchers, based on Google Scholar profiles — reflecting openness and accessibility of DSU’s research output. |
| Excellence (Scholarly) | 40% | The number of DSU papers ranked among the top 10% most-cited publications across academic disciplines based on Scimago bibliometric data over a five-year citation window. |
3. Understanding DSU’s Position
3.1 Global and Regional Standing
DSU is placed #11,316 out of more than 32,000 ranked universities worldwide in the July 2026 edition. Within Africa, DSU holds the #1,228 position, and nationally, DSU ranks #59 in Somalia. These figures place DSU within the ranked cohort of active, web-visible higher education institutions globally, with clear room for targeted improvement in specific indicator areas.
3.2 Indicator-Level Performance
- Impact Rank #3,770 — reflects a relatively strong level of external visibility and research influence compared with DSU’s overall global position.
- Excellence Rank #2,302 — DSU’s strongest indicator, showing meaningful representation of DSU-affiliated papers among the most-cited publications in their fields.
- Openness Rank #10,811 — indicates an area for growth in the accessibility and citation visibility of DSU researchers’ profiles on Google Scholar and other open platforms.
4. What This Means for DSU
DSU’s Excellence and Impact indicators currently outperform its Openness indicator and overall global rank, suggesting that DSU-affiliated research is being cited and recognised at a stronger rate than DSU’s website visibility and open-access presence would suggest. Strengthening openness and web visibility is therefore the most direct lever available to improve DSU’s overall global position in future editions.
5. Historical Ranking Trend
The table below tracks DSU’s ranking across recent Webometrics editions. Only the July 2026 figures were available at the time of writing; earlier editions should be completed as historical data is retrieved from Webometrics archives.
| Edition | Global Rank | Africa Rank | Somalia Rank | Source |
| July 2026 | #11,316 | #1,228 | #59 | Confirmed |
| January 2026 | Not yet recorded | Not yet recorded | Not yet recorded | To be added |
| July 2025 | Not yet recorded | Not yet recorded | Not yet recorded | To be added |
| January 2025 | Not yet recorded | Not yet recorded | Not yet recorded | To be added |
6. Recommendations to Strengthen DSU’s Ranking
- Increase the volume of rich files (PDFs, reports, theses) hosted on the official DSU domain and indexed by Google, to strengthen Openness.
- Ensure all DSU faculty maintain complete, up-to-date Google Scholar profiles linked to the university’s institutional domain.
- Grow the number of external links (backlinks) to the DSU website through partnerships, joint research announcements and academic directories.
- Publish more research output in journals indexed by Scopus/Scimago to build on DSU’s already-strong Excellence indicator.
- Maintain consistent, well-structured institutional web content to support long-term Visibility growth.
7. Conclusion
The July 2026 Webometrics ranking confirms DSU’s active global presence, with particular strength in research Excellence and Impact. Continued investment in open-access publishing and web visibility is likely to yield the greatest gains in DSU’s overall global standing in future editions.
— End of Report —
