Created by the Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance, part of TheCenter, a privately funded research enterprise focused on the humanities and social sciences, this site offers an alternative to the better-known published university rankings. Claiming that most of these rankings "rely on relatively unreliable data" and "focus attention on relatively insignificant differences among similar institutions," the site offers an analysis and data set that rank private and public research universities in accord with nine institutional characteristics: total research expenditures, federal research expenditures, endowment assets, annual giving, faculty members in the National Academies, faculty awards, doctoral degrees, postdoctoral appointees, and entering freshmen SAT scores. The survey then places them in tiers based on how many top-25 mentions they get. A description of the methodology and the rankings and data tables (in .pdf and Excel format) are easily accessed from the main page.