Harvard University again claims the most No. 1 rankings in the latest QS ranking of global universities by individual academic fields.gettyU.S. universities continue to dominate the world rankings of universities based on evaluations of 55 different academic disciplines. The rankings are contained in higher education analyst QS Quacquarelli Symonds’s 2026 edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject.The QS 2026 rankings are based on an analysis of thousands of individual academic programs at more than 1,900 universities across the globe. They are grouped into five broad areas: arts and humanities, engineering and technology, life sciences and medicine, natural sciences, and social sciences and management.The United States had the highest number of top-10 programs with 265, followed by the United Kingdom with 172 and Singapore with 42. U.S. universities held the top spot in 37 of the 55 subject and 5 broad areas, up from the 32 first-place rankings they claimed last year; 88 different U.S. institutions achieved a top-three placement across those disciplines. Harvard University earned first-place rankings in 14 subjects: history, biological sciences, medicine, pharmacy and pharmacology, psychology, environmental sciences, accounting and finance, business and management systems, economics and econometrics, law and legal studies, marketing, politics, sociology, social policy and administration; and in three of the broad content areas: life sciences and medicine, natural sciences, and social sciences and managementThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ranked first in 12 subject and broad areas: chemical engineering; chemistry; civil and structural engineering; computer science and information systems; data science and artificial intelligence; electrical and electronic engineering; engineering and technology; linguistics; materials science; mechanical, aeronautical, and manufacturing engineering; mathematics; and physics and astronomy.MORE FOR YOUOther U.S. universities earning a No. 1 global ranking included: The University of Notre Dame in theologyThe Juilliard School in two areas — music and performing artsNew York University in philosophyThe University of Texas at Austin in petroleum engineeringColorado School of Mines in mining engineeringThe University of Pennsylvania in nursingStanford University in statistics & operational research.The QS World University Rankings by Subject are calculated using five criteria:Academic reputation. Academic experts are surveyed about the institutions they consider to be excellent for research in a given area. Employer reputation. Employers are asked to identify institutions they consider excellent for the recruitment of graduates. They are also asked to identify the disciplines from which they prefer to recruit.Research citations per paper. Citation data is sourced from Elsevier Scopus. A minimum publication threshold is set for each subject to avoid potential anomalies caused by a small numbers of highly cited papers.H-index. The H-index measures both the productivity and impact of an academic or department at a university. It’s based on the set of an academic’s most frequently cited papers and the number of citations they have received in other publications.International research network. The IRN Index reflects the ability of institutions to diversify the geography of their international research network by establishing sustainable research partnerships with other higher education institutions.Commenting on the results, Ben Sowter, QS Senior Vice President for Sector Intelligence, said in a news release, "the QS University Rankings by Subject 2026 shows that the higher education ecosystem in the U.S. continues to lead globally. The country’s tertiary education sector is really one of the U.S.’s enduring success stories. With overall No. 1 spots rising from 32 last year to 37 in 2026, institutions demonstrate they continue to go from strength to strength in key subject areas."