Maclean’s University Rankings for 2015 have been released, seeing Queen’s retain its fourth-place position in the medical-doctoral category.

The Maclean’s Rankings place universities into one of three categories — medical-doctoral, for universities with medical schools and Ph.D. programs; comprehensive, with a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs; and primarily undergraduate.

According to the Maclean’s website, the rankings are based on the most recent and publicly available data.

They take into account students and classes, which makes up 20 per cent of the final score; faculty, also 20 per cent of the final score, is determined by the number who have won major national awards over the last five years, as well as grants; student support, which includes support services and bursaries, is 13 per cent of the final score; library, which is determined by the percentage of a university’s operating budget that goes to library services and the percentage of the library budget that goes to acquisitions and makes up 15 per cent of the final score; reputation, which is determined by a survey sent to a wide variety of people, at 20 per cent of the final score; and resources, which includes 12 per cent of the score.

The University moved up from ninth place to fifth for sponsored research income.

McGill, Toronto and UBC — all larger institutions than Queen’s — received the top three medical-doctoral positions, respectively.

On the “highest quality” indicator in the reputational survey of guidance counselors, university officials, CEOs and recruiters, Queen’s moved up to fifth place.

The university held its eighth place position in the survey’s “most innovative” and “leaders of tomorrow” categories.