YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Research excellence is no longer measured solely by the volume of publications, but by the extent to which research generates impact and contributes to solving global challenges. In this spirit, Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta has emerged as the highest-performing Islamic higher education institution in Indonesia in terms of internationally impactful research throughout 2025.

According to SciVal Elsevier, a web-based research performance analytics tool integrated with the Scopus database, UIN Sunan Kalijaga ranked as the most productive Islamic higher education institution (PTKI) in international research publications. In 2025, the university recorded 236 Scopus-indexed publications, outperforming other leading PTKIN institutions, including UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta and UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang.

However, the achievement goes beyond productivity. Research impact has emerged as the university’s defining strength. Rector of UIN Sunan Kalijaga, Prof. Noorhaidi Hasan, emphasized that the university’s scholarly output plays a meaningful role in global academic discourse.

“In 2024, UIN Sunan Kalijaga’s publications in reputable international journals received 977 citations,” Prof. Noorhaidi said. “This indicates that our research is not only published, but actively cited and used as a reference in the advancement of knowledge.”

In terms of publication quality, UIN Sunan Kalijaga also ranked first among PTKIN institutions for the number of publications in Scopus Q1 journals, the highest tier of globally recognized academic journals. In 2025, 57.3 percent of the university’s faculty publications appeared in Q1 journals.

“This confirms that our research output is not only high in quantity, but also high in quality and internationally recognized,” Prof. Noorhaidi added.

The university’s research strength is further reflected in its Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) score—an indicator that measures citation impact relative to the global average for similar publications in the same field, year, and document type. An FWCI score above 1 indicates above-average global impact.

UIN Sunan Kalijaga recorded the highest FWCI score among PTKIN institutions at 2.68, followed by UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung with a score of 2.03. The result indicates that UIN Sunan Kalijaga’s publications are cited at more than twice the global average, underscoring their strong international influence.

Director of Islamic Higher Education at Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, Prof. Sahiron, welcomed the achievement, describing research as the core of higher education.

“I hope that more Islamic higher education institutions will continue to increase both the productivity and competitiveness of their international research publications, while also delivering tangible benefits to society,” he said.

The performance of UIN Sunan Kalijaga reinforces the message that research at Islamic universities is not merely about academic reputation, but also about contributing to solutions for social, religious, and humanitarian challenges at both national and global levels.