In order to qualify for inclusion in the QS World University Rankings® -Psychology 2016, universities must offer a course or the option to specialize in these disciplines, and meet the discipline specific threshold for papers published.
| 2016 | 2015 | Institution | Country | Academic | Employer | Citations | H | Score |
| 1 | 1 | Harvard University | United States | 100.0 | 99.9 | 89.2 | 100.0 | 97.8 |
| 2 | 4 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 96.4 | 99.7 | 84.6 | 90.9 | 93.6 |
| 3 | 2 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 97.9 | 100.0 | 83.9 | 83.4 | 92.6 |
| 4 | 3 | Stanford University | United States | 95.2 | 88.6 | 89.5 | 93.9 | 92.5 |
| 5 | 9 | UCL (University College London) | United Kingdom | 96.4 | 75.8 | 85.0 | 98.6 | 90.4 |
| 6 | 5= | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | United States | 91.6 | 79.8 | 86.3 | 99.3 | 89.7 |
| 7 | 5= | Yale University | United States | 91.6 | 86.8 | 85.8 | 92.2 | 89.6 |
| 8 | 7= | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | United States | 93.1 | 79.7 | 88.5 | 91.8 | 89.2 |
| 9 | 20 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States | 87.6 | 90.2 | 89.4 | 76.8 | 86.3 |
| 10= | 10 | Princeton University | United States | 91.8 | 78.2 | 91.4 | 76.8 | 86.0 |
| 10= | 11= | University of Amsterdam | Netherlands | 88.2 | 74.4 | 86.4 | 92.6 | 86.0 |
| 12 | 18= | University of Toronto | Canada | 87.7 | 77.1 | 82.7 | 94.3 | 85.9 |
| 13 | 11= | New York University (NYU) | United States | 90.3 | 77.5 | 81.8 | 88.5 | 85.7 |
| 14 | 14 | The University of Melbourne | Australia | 88.2 | 93.4 | 80.3 | 78.1 | 85.6 |
| 15 | 13 | University of Pennsylvania | United States | 85.4 | 78.1 | 85.8 | 92.6 | 85.5 |
| 16 | 15 | The University of New South Wales (UNSW) | Australia | 87.0 | 92.2 | 79.6 | 80.5 | 85.3 |
| 17 | 21 | University of British Columbia | Canada | 84.9 | 77.3 | 86.7 | 92.2 | 85.2 |
| 18= | 16 | Columbia University | United States | 84.7 | 77.8 | 83.5 | 94.3 | 85.0 |
| 18= | 7= | University of Michigan | United States | 92.4 | 65.6 | 83.3 | 91.3 | 85.0 |
| 20 | 17 | University of Chicago | United States | 87.9 | 74.6 | 85.4 | 88.5 | 84.9 |
| 21= | 22 | King's College London (KCL) | United Kingdom | 80.2 | 75.6 | 85.9 | 92.2 | 82.8 |
| 21= | 18= | The University of Queensland (UQ) | Australia | 84.3 | 85.7 | 78.1 | 81.7 | 82.8 |
| 23 | 23 | McGill University | Canada | 86.1 | 73.6 | 82.8 | 84.0 | 82.5 |
| 24 | 24= | The University of Sydney | Australia | 81.5 | 94.7 | 75.7 | 74.8 | 81.6 |
| 25 | 35 | Duke University | United States | 78.8 | 67.6 | 87.7 | 91.3 | 80.8 |
| 26 | 38 | Northwestern University | United States | 77.2 | 63.9 | 89.7 | 90.4 | 79.7 |
| 27= | 41= | National University of Singapore (NUS) | Singapore | 83.5 | 91.9 | 76.2 | 62.5 | 79.5 |
| 27= | 30 | University of Ghent | Belgium | 77.1 | 75.2 | 83.0 | 85.0 | 79.5 |
| 29= | 26 | Australian National University (ANU) | Australia | 83.6 | 90.9 | 75.3 | 63.4 | 79.4 |
| 29= | 28 | The University of Auckland | New Zealand | 80.2 | 92.9 | 76.8 | 67.0 | 79.4 |
| 31 | 37 | University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 81.0 | 72.8 | 82.2 | 78.1 | 79.0 |
| 32 | 24= | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | United States | 82.5 | 60.3 | 84.6 | 84.5 | 78.9 |
| 33 | 32 | University of Texas at Austin | United States | 72.8 | 67.9 | 87.0 | 91.8 | 78.5 |
| 34= | 27 | The University of Western Australia (UWA) | Australia | 80.7 | 75.9 | 80.7 | 73.3 | 78.3 |
| 34= | 33 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | United States | 75.1 | 65.5 | 85.4 | 90.4 | 78.3 |
| 36 | 51-100 | Western University | Canada | 75.3 | 61.5 | 96.5 | 79.9 | 77.7 |
| 37= | 51-100 | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven | Belgium | 78.0 | 77.0 | 77.5 | 77.4 | 77.6 |
| 37= | 31 | University of Otago | New Zealand | 76.6 | 83.7 | 81.5 | 69.5 | 77.6 |
| 37= | 39 | VU University Amsterdam | Netherlands | 73.6 | 64.9 | 87.3 | 88.5 | 77.6 |
| 40 | 40 | London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) | United Kingdom | 87.6 | 92.7 | 65.6 | 53.7 | 77.4 |
| 41 | 34 | University of Hong Kong (HKU) | Hong Kong | 79.8 | 89.0 | 75.3 | 62.5 | 77.3 |
| 42 | 46= | University of California, San Diego (UCSD) | United States | 73.9 | 62.2 | 84.8 | 91.3 | 77.2 |
| 43= | 51-100 | Cornell University | United States | 72.6 | 71.3 | 84.8 | 82.9 | 76.8 |
| 43= | 41= | The University of Manchester | United Kingdom | 76.0 | 78.0 | 78.5 | 75.4 | 76.8 |
| 45 | 51-100 | Boston University | United States | 70.5 | 71.9 | 83.8 | 86.6 | 76.7 |
| 46 | 48= | Erasmus University Rotterdam | Netherlands | 74.4 | 72.9 | 82.7 | 78.7 | 76.6 |
| 47= | 50 | Radboud University Nijmegen | Netherlands | 74.5 | 58.7 | 84.5 | 90.4 | 76.5 |
| 47= | 29 | University of Minnesota | United States | 80.5 | 48.7 | 82.8 | 90.0 | 76.5 |
| 49 | 36 | Cardiff University | United Kingdom | 81.4 | 63.8 | 82.3 | 73.3 | 76.4 |
| 50 | 51-100 | Utrecht University | Netherlands | 73.8 | 63.8 | 84.1 | 85.6 | 76.2 |
