Quantifying the research preferences of top research universities: why they make a difference?

Research universities are institutions with a strong vocation and advocacy towards research. They are in the top of the world university rankings because of their excellence in research. This paper analyzes research universities focusing on their research preferences. We have selected the top twelve universities of THE World University Rankings 2019 and Scopus and SciVal as source of data with a five-year publication window. In order to analyze university preferences, we have applied a statistitical technique called cosine similarity. Besides, cluster analysis through VOSviewer showed and classified the terms most used by universities. The results have revealed that research universities have a strong commitment in specific areas. Finally, we have analyzed the scientific production in collaboration between all them and their preferences to cooperate.