A popular, US-based academic ranking system, it focuses on recent research productivity and provides an objective measure of scholarly impact within the field of computer science
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, one of India’s premier private deemed university, has broken into the Top 10 Indian Institutes in CS Rankings, a prestigious International Ranking focused on Computer Science Departments.
In the 2025 edition, BITS Pilani was ranked No: 9 (https://csrankings.org/#/fromyear/2025/toyear/2025/index?all&in) in CS Ranking, which is a metrics-based ranking of top computer science institutions around the world. In the preceding years (2023-2024), BITS Pilani was ranked 10th highlighting the University’s consistency in an intensely competitive space in the CS community.
The Institute improved its performance compared to the preceding years, when it was ranked #10 during 2023-24 combined years and ranked #15 during for the 2024 year in the same rankings.
This year, BITS Pilani, was ranked ahead of many other premier Indian Institutes such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, several established IITs, IMSc, ISI Kolkata, CMI India, DAIICT and IIIT Bangalore, among others.
CS Rankings is a popular and completely transparent academic ranking system specifically designed to evaluate and rank computer science departments and individual researchers based on their research output, quality as judged by publications in select, top-tier venues and focuses primarily on higher education and research in engineering and sciences. Most importantly, CSRanking doesn’t allow submission of data and considers publicly available and verifiable information about research excellence of academic institutions.
BITS Pilani was one of the first six institutes in India to be declared ‘Institution of Eminence’. It is the only Private University which DST, Government of India, has identified to establish a Technology Innovation Hub under Bio-CPS vertical with a grant of Rs 125 Crore. BITS Pilani offers UG, PG and PhD programs to over 18,000 students and 2,00+ PhD students across its campuses in Pilani, Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad.
Highlighting the academic excellence that went into the Institute’s improved performance, Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Group Vice-Chancellor, BITS Pilani, said, “CS Ranking is a publication-based system where the position of an institution depends entirely on the quality of venues in which its faculty publish. BITS Pilani’s current standing at number 9 places us firmly among the leading institutions in Computer Science research in the country. It is a testimony to the commitment and excellence of our faculty across campuses. This recognition also comes close on the heels of our strong performance in the NIRF rankings. At BITS Pilani, we are continuously building a vibrant research ecosystem through enabling policies and sustained institutional support that allow our faculty to excel.”
‘CS Rankings’ focuses on recent research productivity and provides an objective measure of scholarly impact within the field of computer science. Its key purposes include providing a transparent, data-driven evaluation of computer science research performance. It is focused primarily on publications in top-tier conferences rather than journal publications or subjective reputation surveys.
Salient Features of CS Rankings include:
- Metrics-based ranking of top Computer Science institutions worldwide.
- Focuses on faculty publications in selective conferences/Journals (CORE A* only).
- Uses data from DBLP (Digital Bibliography & Library Project).
- Cumulative score is computed on total faculty publications in selected venues and adjacency score (fraction of authors from an institution; if more than one institution is involved, credit is allocated accordingly)
- Data is scrapped from DBLP; can’t be submitted
- Weightage: High emphasis on top-tier conference publications and the percentage of contributions of an institution in each publication.
- Evaluate research output in multiple domains:
The various parameters of CS Rankings include Publication Count, Conference Quality / Selection, Subfield Classification, Authorship Weighting, Time Window, Institution Aggregation and Data Source.
AI RESEARCH CENTRE
One of the key initiatives behind the improved ranking of BITS Pilani’s Computer Science Department has been the ‘Anuradha and Prashanth Palakurthi Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research’ (APPCAIR), which focuses on many cutting-edge areas, including Generative AI, among others. Established with a first-of-its-kind donation from BITS alumni, Mrs. Anuradha and Mr. Prashanth Palakurthi committed US $ 1 million
APPCAIR is working towards becoming a leader in Mathematical, computational and empirical understanding of perception, problem-solving, reasoning, learning, communication and actions in complex environments. It is also focused on the development of Tools and Techniques for Machine Learning, Probabilistic Modelling, Statistical Learning, Optimisation, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing and Autonomous Agents, among others.
Mr. Prashanth Palakurthi is the Founder and CEO of the US-based Reflexis Systems. His wife, Mrs. Anuradha, the founder of Juju Productions, is a professional singer and radio personality in the United States. APPCAIR was officially inaugurated on February 17, 2020.
Highlighting the role of APPCAIR, its Head Prof. Snehanshu Saha, said, “At APPCAIR, we want to be part of shaping this future. Our mission is to conduct high-quality, focused research in AI, and to be a nursery for training future generations of skilled and responsible data scientists. The performance of this AI Center of Excellence establishes BITS as a research powerhouse in AI and Computing, reinforces our faculty’s contribution to top-tier international conferences and strengthens our position as a preferred destination for aspiring students and researchers.”
Prof. Snehanshu Sahaalso added that, going forward, the Center’s aim will remain to stick to quality but focus on interdisciplinary areas to widen impact. The Center also plans to invest significantly in faculty development and resources for top-tier publications and will grow in collaborations with industry and Non-Government agencies.
