Webometrics is a twice-yearly ranking of the web presence of universities worldwide that started in 2004. It covers over 16,000 higher education institutions worldwide to measure their "activity and visibility" on the web. Thus, it attempts to be an indicator of impact and prestige of universitites. It is an initiative of the Cybermetrics Lab, a resarch group that is part of the Spanish Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), which is part of Spain’s Ministry of Education. I wonder if they’re upset that no Spanish institution made the European top ten.

The University of Helsinki issued a press release touting its coming in third in the European category, behind the UK’s Cambridge University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). Fourth was Oxford and fifth was the University of Oslo. Turning to the entire, worldwide list, the University of Helsinki was 42nd. The top three countries in the overall list were the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Congratulations to the Finns for their "bronze medal" in this open access league table.