The Sport Science Programme (SSP) at Qatar University (QU) ranked in the top 151-200 worldwide for Sport Science Schools and Departments in the Shanghai Global Ranking 2020.
This achievement, once again, puts the SSP in a leading position in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena).The SSP has made significant progress in research in the last few years, and was able to improve its ranking by at least 50 places compared to the 2018 Shanghai Global Ranking edition.
Although the SSP is a relatively small programme, with only about 10 to 12 faculty members active in research, it competes with much bigger units worldwide such as Sport colleges or schools and Sport universities, QU has said.
Over the last three years, the research outcomes have almost doubled.
In 2019, the programme reached an average of about five published articles per faculty in reputable journals and publishers. Most publications are in top-tier journals (Q1 and Q2) and open-access; with a median impact factor of around 2.4.
This excellent quality of publications assisted the SSP in increasing its visibility and ranking. To capitalise on the expertise and national/international networks of faculty in SSP and partners at QU and within the Sport Science Community in Qatar, the SSP initiated Research Units in 2017 with the aim of increasing contribution of knowledge on Sport and exercise matters related to Qatar and the region.
Director of Sport Science Programme Dr Mahfoud Amara said: "This new milestone would not be possible without the hard work of faculty, support staff and students in the Sport Science Programme. Thanks also to the continuous support of the College of Arts and Sciences, and partners and collaborators in research and publications at Qatar University and internationally."
Dr Lina Majed, Chair of Research Enabling Committee in the Sport Science Programme commented saying, "We expect a further improvement in the research output of the SSP in the coming years, given that we have a full new facility, which has been dedicated to state-of-the-art laboratories for physiology and movement science testing and research. The new laboratories will offer a perfect setting for home-grown research projects with key stakeholders in Qatar and international collaborators, to foster a network of local experts aiming to improve the sciences of Sport and exercise in the region."
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