Company lists · Data refreshed September 2026
Top 25 Public research universities worldwide
RevenueBase identified 1,622 public research universities worldwide as of September 2026 and tracks 2,428,021 professional contacts across them, including 805,181 with verified work emails. The United States is the largest market and Shanghai the largest hub.
This list covers public research universities worldwide, matched on what each company actually does as described in its own words. Ranked by team size, largest first. Every row shows the company's own description, its RevenueBase Smart Search rating, and when it was last checked. Data refreshed September 20, 2026. Country and city lists for public research universities follow the table.
Published by RevenueBase, a B2B data infrastructure company. This list was built with RevenueBase Smart Search, the natural-language company search RevenueBase customers use to build their own targeted lists and unlock verified emails and direct dials at the companies on them. How these lists are built and judged.
The 25 largest public research universities worldwide
Ranked by team size| # | Company | Contacts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27,475 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “University of Florida is a major, public, comprehensive, land-grant, research university.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 2 | 26,844 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “There’s a reason Penn State consistently ranks among the top one percent of the world’s universities.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 3 | 26,178 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest state-supported institutions of higher education on the West Coast and is one of the preeminent research…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 4 | 24,845 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “ASU has developed a new model for the American research university, creating an institution committed to excellence, access and impact, the New American University.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 5 | 24,486 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Founded in 1827, the University of Toronto is Canada’s top university with a long history of challenging the impossible and transforming society through the ingenuity and resolve…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 6 | 24,395 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “One of the largest universities in the United States, The Ohio State University is a leading research university and the model for Ohio's public higher education institutes.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 7 | 24,314 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Texas A&M University has a proud history that stretches back to 1876 when The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas became the first public institution of higher learning…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 8 | 23,254 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Stanford University pursues its founding mission of research and education with a spirit of optimism and possibility.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 9 | 23,102 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “One of the nation’s largest schools, the University of Minnesota offers baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral degrees in virtually every field-from medicine to business, law to…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 10 | 22,281 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is dedicated to building upon its tradition of excellence in education, research, public engagement and economic development.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 11 | 22,079 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “The University of Texas at Austin is one of the largest public universities in the United States.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 12 | 21,770 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “In achievement and prestige, the University of Wisconsin–Madison has long been recognized as one of America's great universities.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 13 | 21,541 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “Founded in 1831, NYU is one of the world’s foremost research universities and is a member of the selective Association of American Universities.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 14 | 21,438 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “A top global public university, MSU is home to 400+ academic programs.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 15 | 20,764 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “UCLA offers a combination that’s rare, especially among public research universities.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 16 | 20,014 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “For more than 250 years, Columbia has been a leader in higher education in the nation and around the world.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 17 | 19,612 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “The University of Pennsylvania is one of the oldest universities in America and, as a member of the Ivy League, one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in all…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 18 | 19,295 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “The University of Southern California is a leading private research university located in Los Angeles, the capital of the Pacific Rim.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 19 | 18,637 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “A wellspring of innovation, the school occupies a 1,232-acre campus near downtown Berkeley.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 20 | 18,143 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “UCL (University College London) is London's leading multidisciplinary university, ranked 9th in the QS World University Rankings.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 21 | 17,469 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “As the State's flagship, the University of Maryland (UMD) strives to bring students deeply into the process of discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 22 | 17,450 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “With more than students and faculty and staff, North Carolina State University is a comprehensive university known for its leadership in education and research, and globally…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 23 | 17,047 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Cornell is a privately endowed research university and a partner of the State University of New York.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 24 | 16,995 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “The University of Arizona is the leading public research university in the American Southwest and Arizona's only member of the prestigious Association of American Universities.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 25 | 16,897 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “UC Davis was founded in 1908 to serve the state of California.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
RevenueBase Smart Search
RevenueBase Smart Search assesses information from a company’s LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website, and other publicly available sources. It uses that information to rate how closely the company relates to this list’s category: public research universities. Every row carries its rating and the description the rating was read from, so each one can be checked rather than taken on trust.
- Strong evidence
- The company's own public description of its business names public research universities.
- Partial evidence
- Its own public description names part of public research universities, so it works in or next to the category without describing itself that way.
- Indirect evidence
- The description shown does not name public research universities. The match rests on the rest of the company's public profile rather than the one sentence quoted here, so this is the rating to check first.
RevenueBase Smart Search is how these lists are built: RevenueBase's data engine and AI assemble the companies that match a category defined in a user's own words, so a list can be about what companies actually do rather than about whichever industry code they were filed under.
Showing 25 of 1,622 public research universities worldwide
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Public research universities worldwide at a glance
As of Sep 20, 2026Companies by employee count
Email recency is reported on each country list linked below.
How this list was built
Company categories are rarely black and white. RevenueBase reads each company's own description of its business to decide whether it belongs among public research universities, so some rows will be adjacent to the category rather than pure plays. The description and RevenueBase Smart Search rating on every row are there so you can check each match yourself.
- Source
- The RevenueBase company graph: 60 million companies and 398.9 million professional contacts resolved from primary sources, queried with RevenueBase Smart Search, the natural-language company search available to every RevenueBase user.
- Coverage
- Every country. Country and city lists for public research universities are linked below.
- What qualifies
- Companies worldwide whose own description of what they do matches “public research universities”. Matching reads each company's description, not its industry code or its name.
- RevenueBase Smart Search
- RevenueBase Smart Search is how this list is assembled and how each row is rated. RevenueBase's data engine and AI assess a company's LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website and other publicly available information, then relate it to a category defined in a user's own words. Each row is rated strong evidence (its own description names public research universities), partial evidence (it names part of the category) or indirect evidence (the description shown names none of it and the match rests on the rest of the company's profile). The description supporting each rating is quoted on the row.
- What we exclude
- Companies whose own description does not clearly place them among public research universities, and records with no verified work email.
- Match quality
- In blind human judging of this matching method, 86% of matched companies were on target. Expect roughly 1 in 7 rows to be adjacent to the category rather than a pure play. Every row shows the company's own description and its RevenueBase Smart Search rating so you can judge each match yourself. Read the full methodology: how the lists are built, how the judging worked, and what the figure means.
- Ranking
- Team size, largest first: companies are ordered by the number of professionals RevenueBase tracks at each one. Employee ranges shown are reported bands, for context.
- Verification
- Every listed company carries at least one verified work email, 805,181 across the full list. Contacts re-verify on a rolling cadence, and each contact's own verification date is shown inside RevenueBase.
- Refresh
- This page's figures were pulled from the company graph on September 20, 2026. Lists refresh periodically as the graph is re-checked.
- Corrections
- Wrong category, wrong headquarters, or a company that has closed? Use “Report an issue” on any row. Reports go to the RevenueBase Data Team and feed back into the company graph.
Public research universities by location
9 lists · largest firstEvery Public research universities list RevenueBase publishes, by country and city. Counts are matching companies in each list as of its own refresh date.
Countries
- Public research universities based in the United States486
- Public research universities based in India111
- Public research universities based in China62
- Public research universities based in Brazil44
- Public research universities based in Iran40
- Public research universities based in Germany32
- Public research universities based in Türkiye30
- Public research universities based in Canada28
- Public research universities based in Japan27
Frequently asked
What is RevenueBase Smart Search?
RevenueBase Smart Search is how RevenueBase decides which companies belong on this list and how strongly each one fits. Its data engine and AI assess a company's LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website and other publicly available information, then relate it to the category the list is about. Each row is rated strong evidence when the company's own description names public research universities, partial evidence when it names part of the category, and indirect evidence when the description shown names none of it and the match rests on the rest of the company's profile.
How many public research universities are there worldwide?
RevenueBase identified 1,622 public research universities worldwide as of September 2026, matched on each company's own description of what it does rather than its industry code.
What is the largest company on this list?
University Of Florida, headquartered in Gainesville, tops this list with the largest team on record.
Which country has the most public research universities?
The United States leads with 486 companies, followed by India (111) and China (62). Every public research universities list by country and city is linked on this page.
Which city has the most public research universities?
Shanghai leads with 14 headquartered companies, followed by Kolkata (8) and Moscow (8).
How do I get contact information for these companies?
A free RevenueBase account lets you run this exact search and work the top results, verified emails and direct dials included. Upgrading unlocks all 805,181 verified decision-maker contacts tracked across these 1,622 companies.
How current is this list?
The list refreshes periodically as the company graph is re-checked. This page's figures were pulled on September 20, 2026.
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About this data
RevenueBase is a B2B data infrastructure company. Its company graph covers 60 million companies and 398.9 million professional contacts, with emails verified on a rolling cadence rather than scraped once and left to decay. These company lists are generated directly from that graph with RevenueBase Smart Search, the same natural-language company search every RevenueBase user has: describe a market in plain words, get the companies that match, and add verified emails and direct dials for the people at them. It is the same data that powers RevenueBase's B2B data products, and a free account includes 500 credits to start. How these lists are built and judged.