The Australian National University has reaffirmed its position as a world leader in research as the University of Canberra is recognised for research well above the world standard for the first time.
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ANU topped the 2015 Excellence in Research Australia results, released on Friday, with 95 per cent of the university's broad-field research and 91 per cent of its specific discipline research rated above or well above world standards.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young said the broad research result was a significant jump from the 84 per cent rating in the last ERA released three years ago.
He attributed the results to the hard work of ANU researchers.
"This is a tremendous result which confirms the position of the ANU as a world-class university with a focus on the highest-quality research," Professor Young said.
"ANU was established as a resource for all of Australia and our strong team of researchers is committed to finding real and practical solutions to the problems facing the nation and the world."
The ERA ranked the research fields of 41 Australian tertiary institutions against a number of categories including well below world standard, below world standard, at world standard, above well standard and well above world standard.
It is the third round of research rankings released since 2010.
The ANU cinched the top ranking for 11 broad research fields including a number of science fields, information technology, human society law, languages, history and philosophy, while 38 specific research disciplines achieved the top result.
The latest results follow a stella year of rankings for the university.
The ANU cracked the top 20 universities in the wold via the QS World University Rankings for 2015-2016, released in September, and topped the country for the number of top-ten globally ranked subjects in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, the largest ranking of its kind.
This year also marks the first year the University of Canberra has been ranked well above world standard for research, with its environmental sciences field achieving the top result.
The research field has jumped two categories in just three years, from 'at world standard' in 2012.
Meanwhile, the relatively young university was ranked above world standard for four specific research disciplines including genetics, human movement and sports science, nursing, and public health and health sciences.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research Professor Frances Shannon said the results capped off a year of achievements for the university and its researchers.
In October the University of Canberra earned a place in the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the first time since publications began more than a decade ago.
A month later UC squeezed into the top 100 "young" universities in the world, according to the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) world rankings.
"In 2013, the University of Canberra laid out five areas of research focus and I'm proud to say that in each of these areas we are now at or well above the world standard," Professor Shannon said.
"The recent recruitment of some of the world's best researchers, winning more competitive grants and an improved research performance across the board have largely contributed to the university's growing reputation as an up-and-coming research institution."
The Australian Catholic University, which has a campus in Canberra, was ranked well above world standard in five specific research areas including human movement and sports science, nursing, public health and health services, and psychology.
