CIDOB Makes it to Position 36th and Achieves its Best Position in the Ranking of the Top Think Tanks Worldwide

 CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs) climbs 24 positions, ranking 36^th out of the 172 best think tanks in the world and achieving its highest rating in the Global Go To Think Tank Index from the University of Pennsylvania, which this year celebrates its eleventh edition. CIDOB also climbs up in the category that lists the top think tanks in the world excluding the US centers (25 out of 142) and which lists the best centers in Western Europe (15 out of 124). 

Jordi Bacaria, executive director of CIDOB: “These results are an international recognition of the quality of research and intellectual independence to develop our work of opinion creation and international analysis " 

This is the assessment made by Jordi Bacaria, executive director of CIDOB, after knowing the results of the 2017 Global Go To Think Tank index. He highlighted that CIDOB "has achieved better positions in practically all the categories where is listed this year" and has stressed "the importance of maintaining the independence of the institution and its researchers" to continue competing in the highest category with the most prestigious think tanks in the world. 

The report Global Go To Think Tank, led by Dr. James G. McGann, Senior Lecturer in International Studies in the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP), classifies the main think tanks in the world since 2006. The Index is divided in different categories and it is designed to identify the centers of excellence in the different areas of public policy research and in each region of the world. The main categories, which are subdivided in more categories, are: Top Think Tanks Worldwide, Top Think Tanks by region, Top Think Tanks by Area of Research and Top Think Tanks by Special Achievement. In the latter, among others, there are subcategories such as: 

• Best Independent Think Tanks: CIDOB is in the 8^th position out of 145 for the second consecutive year, recognition of the quality, independence and integrity of its research.
• Think Tank to Watch in 2018: CIDOB keeps, as last year, the fifth position (out of 105) in a category that rewards the advances in research of the centers during the year 2017.
• Best Think Tank Network: CIDOB is in position 56 out of 85 think tanks.     

Regarding categories that classify by area of research, CIDOB also has better positions than last year. CIDOB makes it to position 56^th out of 135 among Top Foreign Policy and International Affairs Think Tanks; and at position 60^th out of 104 among Top Defense and National Security. 

There are little news in the first positions where the Brookings Institution (US), the French Institute of International Relations (France), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (US), Bruegel (Belgium) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (US), lead the ranking of the Top Think Tanks Worldwide. The Brookings Institution has been awarded the think tank of the year 2017. 

The Global Go To Think Tank is the main international index that evaluates the work and impact of think tanks and is the result of an open process of nominations followed by a review of a committee of experts. As part of this nomination process, the 7,815 think tanks cataloged in the Think Tanks and Social Civil Program database have been contacted and encouraged to participate, as have been 62,000 journalists, political decision makers, public and private donors, research centers and experts in research and regional areas. 

The 2017 Global Go To Think Tank index was officially presented last Tuesday, January 30^th 2018 at the Wilson Center (Washington) and at the headquarters of Asia Society (New York). To present the results of the index, CIDOB organized –as more than 160 governmental and non-governmental organizations from around the world– a discussion session entitled Key issues on energy and transport in the Atlantic (Tuesday, January 30^th) that aims to give visibility to the role of think tanks in our society.

The 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report is available on the web page: http://repository.upenn.edu/think_tanks/13/  

Related news: 

2016- CIDOB, Among the Best Think Tanks in the World

2015-  CIDOB Consolidates its Position in the International Think Tanks’ Elite

2014- International Experts Rank CIDOB among the Best Think Tanks of the World

2013- CIDOB Consolidates its Position in the International Think Tanks’ Elite

2012- CIDOB, among the best think tanks in the world

2011- CIDOB ranked among the Top Fifty Think Tanks in Western Europe

2010- El índice global de Think Tanks 2010 ha situado a CIDOB entre los 50 mejores Think Tanks del mundo, en la categoría de los “Top 50 Think Tanks – Worldwide (Non-US)”