The aim of the ranking is to improve the presence of the academic and research institutions on the Web and to promote the open access publication of scientific results.
Webometric indicators are provided to show the commitment of the institutions to Web publication.
[4] Top universities are publishing millions of pages produced by dozens of departments and services, hundreds of research teams and thousands of scholars.
Strong web presence informs of a wide variety of factors that are clearly correlated with the global quality of the institution: widespread availability of computer resources available, global internet literacy, policies promoting democracy and freedom of speech, competition for international visibility or support of open access initiatives, among others.
The main worldwide list of 30000 universities build from a catalog of various institutions is also offered as regional lists: The Webometrics Ranking is produced by the Cybermetrics Lab, a unit of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the main public research body in Spain.