College and University Rankings: Part 4—An Annotated Bibliography of Analysis, Criticism, and Evaluation

This rankings series was created in 1986 mainly to provide reliable alternatives to the popular but fallacious Gourman Reports. It is evident that the much maligned Gourman Reports continue to influence contemporary rankings research to some degree. The purpose of this bibliography is to discourage their use by gathering together in one convenient source the most recent books and articles in the field of academic quality rankings research—information gleaned from a diversity of publications that are not indexed in any one source or under consistent subject headings. Reference librarians, guidance counselors, and others who are asked to provide students with numerical and qualitative rankings of individual colleges, universities, and disciplines can deflect students from indiscriminately using Gourman and other suspect sources by using this bibliography as an alternative source of up-to-date information.