Fact Book Glossary

A status designated by the BU according to the institution’s policies. For reporting purposes, ranks are aggregated to the levels of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Instructor, and Lecturer.

Data Source

BU Human Resources

Public Source

IPEDS Human Resources Survey

Enrollment reported as of BU’s official fall reporting date, which occurs in mid-October in compliance with reporting requirements of the IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey.

Data Source

BU Registrar

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey

An individual whose application for admission to BU has been accepted.

Data Source

Boston University Office of Admissions

An individual who has fulfilled BU’s criteria to be considered for admission.

Data Source

Boston University Office of Admissions

Student Certification refers to a student’s designation as either full-time or part-time based on the number of credit hours enrolled in the fall semester and the requirements of that student’s degree program. More information on specific degree program requirements can be accessed in the University Bulletins.

Data Source

BU Registrar

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey

Student Class Category Level is academic level at which a student is enrolled, including students in undergraduate degree programs (Undergraduate), graduate degree programs (Graduate), and those enrolled in courses not leading to a degree (Non-Degree).

Data Source

BU Registrar

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey

For international students who are not citizens or permanent residents of the United States, this indicator reflects the country within which their primary citizenship is held.

Data Source

BU Registrar

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey

All Boston University faculty and staff, excluding graduate assistants in teaching and research.

Data Source

BU Human Resources

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Human Resources Survey

Field-Weighted Citation Impact is the ratio of the citations received by an entity’s outputs and the average number of citations received by all other similar outputs. A Field-Weighted Citation Impact of: – Exactly 1.00 is equal to the world average, indicating that the output (or set of outputs) has performed just as – Less than 1.00 means that the output is cited less than expected according to the global average e.g. 0.91 means 9% less cited than expected. expected for the global average. More than 1.00 means that the output is more cited than expected according to the global average e.g. 1.48 means 48% more cited than expected.

Data Source

Office of Research

Public Source

SciVal (Elsevier, B.V.)

An indication of the percent time which a staff or faculty member is employed. Percent time equal to or greater than 70% is considered full-time.

Data Source

BU Human Resources

Public Source

IPEDS Human Resources Survey

The state or territory in which a domestic student’s home residence of record is located.

Data Source

BU Registrar

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey

Research & Development (R&D) expenditures. Expenditures for R&D activities from current operating funds that are separately accounted for.

Data Source

Office of Research

Public Source

National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey

Student location is determined by state of home address for U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents, and country of citizenship for International students.

Data Source

BU Registrar

An individual who is enrolled at BU.

Data Source

Boston University Office of Admissions

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey

Occupational category is based on the major grousp in the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Manual, as required for federal reporting purposes.

Data Source

BU Human Resources

Public Source

IPEDS Human Resources Survey

Publications in Top Citations indicates the percent of the university’s publications are in the top 10% of the most-cited papers globally. i.e. The percent of the university’s papers which are highly impactful.

Data Source

Office of Research

Public Source

SciVal (Elsevier, B.V.)

Race and ethnicity categories are as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget, 1997. Individuals are asked to first designate ethnicity as:

• Hispanic or Latino or
• Not Hispanic or Latino

Second, individuals are asked to indicate all races that apply among the following:

• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Asian
• Black or African American
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
• White

Data Source

BU Human Resources / BU Registrar

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey

Includes expenditures for purposes of research, categorized by the fund center through which the grant is expended.

Data Source

Office of Research

Public Source

National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey

Scholarly Output counts the number of research outputs, and include the following types: Journal publications; Book series; Stand-alone books including edited volumes, anthologies, text books and reference works; Artefacts; Compositions; Designs; Devices and Products; Digital or visual media; Exhibitions; Internet publications; Performances; Reports, whether confidential, technical or commissioned; Software

Data Source

Office of Research

Public Source

SciVal (Elsevier, B.V.)

Selectivity is calculated using the number of admitted students divided by the number of applicants.

Data Source

Boston University Office of Admissions

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey

Sex is reported using a binary categorization based on currently available data. Boston University recognizes that gender identity encompasses more than two categories and is working to collect data that provides a more accurate representation of our diverse population.

Data Source

BU Human Resources / BU Registrar

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey

The status of a faculty member with respect to the permanence of their position. Statuses include tenured, tenure track (in consideration for tenure), or non-tenure track, or without faculty stats (indicating a staff member with instructional responsibilities).

Data Source

BU Human Resources

Public Source

IPEDS Human Resources Survey

Employment counts are reported as of BU’s official fall reporting date, which occurs in November annually.

Data Source

BU Human Resources

Public Source

IPEDS Human Resources Survey

Yield is calculated using the number of matriculated students divided by the number of admitted students.

Data Source

Boston University Office of Admissions

Public Source

IPEDS Fall Enrollments Survey