Nota Klentrou says she has worked and waited for two decades to get the world to realize what she already knew: that Brock University’s Kinesiology and Sport Management departments are among the best in the world.

“The research being produced by Brock’s Kinesiology and Sport Management departments is outstanding,” says Klentrou, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences.

Brock ranked among the top 151-200 of ShanghaiRanking’s first-ever Global Ranking of Sport Science Schools and Departments 2016.

“This is a world-class achievement for the departments of Kinesiology and Sport Management at Brock and it reinforces the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences’ strength in research and our standing in the international academic community,” says Klentrou.

ShanghaiRanking combined the research output of the 28 Kinesiology and 11 Sport Management faculty members who published in exercise and sport science journals from 2011-2015 to determine Brock’s impact factor across the subject area.

The ranking used several indicators of research performance including total number of publications and citations to determine output, as well as citations per paper and number of papers published in top sport science journals to determine quality.

“This is indeed a significant achievement to be celebrated,” says Peter Tiidus, Dean, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. “We are ranked higher than many larger universities with celebrated kinesiology departments.”

ShanghaiRanking is the reputable publisher of the Academic Ranking of World Universities by academic subjects and this is the first time they have attempted to rank a group of institutions and units with this subject focus.

“There are a significant number of institutions that do academic rankings,” says Tiidus. “Due to challenges collecting and ranking data from multi-disciplinary universities, this is the first time we’ve seen an international ranking with a sport science focus.”

In total, 361 universities with around 400 sport- or exercise-related units such as faculties and departments were selected and ranked. The top 300 are published on the ShanghaiRanking’s website.

In Canada, Brock University’s Department of Kinesiology is one of 48 kinesiology-related programs while Brock’s Department of Sport Management is the only such stand-alone department in Canada.

“This ranking emphasizes the great work that is going on in our department and the success of our outstanding faculty members,” says Department of Kinesiology Chair, Brian Roy. “Our success is also the result of our undergraduate and graduate students being involved in our research programs.”

“Due to the immense success of our undergraduate program in sport management, research contributions can be overlooked,” says Department of Sport Management Chair Lisa Kikilus. “It’s very rewarding to see our faculty members recognized internationally for their cutting edge research, which helps to bring current issues into the classroom and inform the future practice of our graduates.”