Step 1: Overview of Annual Respondents and Nominations
In the first column, you’ll see the total number of nominations (respondents) globally, across all subjects, for your focused institution.
This gives a complete picture of your global footprint in each annual reputation survey data.
If the same respondent voted for the institution in multiple years, their votes will appear in this particular chart for each survey year in which they voted for that institution.
Domestic vs. International Respondents
Just below the total count, you’ll find a chart showing the breakdown of domestic and international respondents.
This allows you to compare your institution’s respondent mix against your selected Benchmark Peers. Helping you see where you stand amongst your peers, and whether your respondent base is more nationally or internationally weighted.
Step 2: Year-on-Year Change in Respondents
The second column in the report visualises how your respondent base has changed year-over-year.
Blue: New nominations (new respondents this year)
Red: Dropped (dropout) respondents (no longer responding)
Yellow: Continued nominations (respondents who have participated in prior period)
The totals beneath the chart summarise these values, showing how stable or dynamic your respondent base has been over time.
Note: the charts looks only at year on year variation, it does not count the Dropout voters who returned after a gap of at least one year.
The data is based on the counts from Step 1.
Step 3: Unique Respondents (Most Recent Year)
The third column focuses only on the most recent nomination by each unique respondent. In QS’s reputation methodology, unique respondents are counted within a five-year window.
If a respondent voted multiple times for an institution, this chart will display their nomination only in the most recent survey year in which they voted.
This means the numbers will in general be lower than at Steps 1 and 2.
This section helps you understand:
The total number of unique respondents for your institution
The distribution of domestic vs. international respondents
How that compares with your Benchmark Peers
Step 4: Five-Year Rolling Respondent Totals
Finally, the fourth column displays the rolling five-year total of unique respondents.
This represents the sum of all unique respondents over the past five years, showing longer-term trends in your reputation survey participation.
The subsequent reports from the Reputation Datasets, including the Subject, Region, Benchmark and Heatmap are also displaying the Sum of 5 Years Respondent Counts for each Rankings year, not the Rolling yearly responses from each Survey year.
If you add up the values from the most recent 5 years in Step 4, you will get the same number as in the most recent column in Step 5.
Example: For the 2026 QS World University Rankings, the value for Sum of Prior 5 Years, Unique respondents is equal to the sum of the values for Rolling 5 Year, Unique respondents for 2021, 2022, 2023,2024 and 2025.
Key Insights You Can Draw
Track changes in your academic and employer reputation response base
Identify strengths in domestic vs. international engagement
Compare your performance with peer institutions over time
Understand the stability and reach of your respondent network