In order to qualify for inclusion in the QS World University Rankings® -Sociology 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 | University of California, Davis (UCD) | United States | 97.0 | 81.8 | 93.1 | 98.4 | 94.7 |
| 2 | 2 | Cornell University | United States | 100.0 | 72.7 | 96.1 | 94.2 | 94.4 |
| 3 | 3 | Royal Veterinary College , University of London | United Kingdom | 99.9 | 36.2 | 96.6 | 98.4 | 92.1 |
| 4= | 8 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 90.6 | 100.0 | 96.0 | 85.2 | 91.5 |
| 4= | 19 | University of Pennsylvania | United States | 79.4 | 76.6 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 91.5 |
| 6 | 9= | University of Liverpool | United Kingdom | 81.8 | 85.9 | 98.9 | 94.2 | 91.1 |
| 7 | 5 | Utrecht University | Netherlands | 95.2 | 54.0 | 94.0 | 95.9 | 90.9 |
| 8 | 4 | University of Guelph | Canada | 83.7 | 67.3 | 93.7 | 100.0 | 90.0 |
| 9 | 11= | The University of Sydney | Australia | 85.2 | 84.8 | 93.6 | 92.3 | 89.8 |
| 10 | 17= | University of Copenhagen | Denmark | 86.4 | 75.1 | 93.2 | 94.2 | 89.7 |
| 11= | 11= | University of Bristol | United Kingdom | 79.7 | 90.0 | 96.4 | 92.3 | 89.5 |
| 11= | 9= | University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 88.9 | 84.5 | 92.8 | 88.4 | 89.5 |
| 13 | 13= | Colorado State University | United States | 83.0 | 59.2 | 96.5 | 98.4 | 89.3 |
| 14 | 6 | Texas A&M University | United States | 89.7 | 62.3 | 94.3 | 90.4 | 88.6 |
| 15 | 21 | Michigan State University | United States | 79.5 | 64.3 | 95.5 | 98.4 | 88.5 |
| 16 | 7 | University of Glasgow | United Kingdom | 90.5 | 57.4 | 97.2 | 86.3 | 87.9 |
| 17 | 20 | North Carolina State University | United States | 78.4 | 59.8 | 96.3 | 95.9 | 87.2 |
| 18 | 28 | The University of Melbourne | Australia | 78.9 | 98.5 | 95.1 | 83.0 | 87.0 |
| 19 | 16 | Wageningen University | Netherlands | 84.8 | 86.8 | 91.7 | 83.0 | 86.5 |
| 20 | 27 | University of Ghent | Belgium | 78.3 | 66.9 | 92.1 | 94.2 | 86.1 |
| 21 | 23 | Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona | Spain | 77.5 | 57.8 | 97.3 | 92.3 | 85.9 |
| 22 | 25= | Ohio State University | United States | 73.7 | 67.2 | 95.9 | 93.3 | 85.6 |
| 23 | 25= | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München | Germany | 68.7 | 75.0 | 97.2 | 92.3 | 85.0 |
| 24 | 17= | University of Florida | United States | 76.7 | 62.2 | 90.4 | 92.3 | 84.0 |
| 25= | 15 | Massey University | New Zealand | 78.7 | 90.8 | 88.8 | 81.8 | 83.9 |
| 25= | 32 | University of Zurich | Switzerland | 72.1 | 57.2 | 94.2 | 94.2 | 83.9 |
| 27 | 24 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | United States | 72.6 | 70.5 | 94.2 | 88.4 | 83.6 |
| 28 | 13= | University of Minnesota | United States | 76.8 | 51.9 | 93.9 | 90.4 | 83.5 |
| 29 | 22 | The University of Queensland (UQ) | Australia | 65.9 | 83.3 | 94.4 | 88.4 | 82.9 |
| 30 | 43= | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | Sweden | 80.0 | 36.0 | 92.4 | 91.4 | 82.7 |
| 31 | 40 | University College Dublin (UCD) | Ireland | 74.2 | 71.5 | 94.4 | 83.0 | 82.6 |
| 32 | 30 | Purdue University | United States | 72.3 | 62.2 | 93.8 | 87.4 | 82.3 |
| 33 | 43= | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | United States | 67.8 | 64.7 | 93.8 | 89.4 | 81.8 |
| 34 | 29 | University of Missouri, Columbia | United States | 65.4 | 50.9 | 96.6 | 93.3 | 81.7 |
| 35 | 45= | The University of Nottingham | United Kingdom | 77.0 | 67.1 | 93.4 | 79.3 | 81.6 |
| 36 | 33 | University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna | Austria | 85.7 | 36.2 | 86.9 | 85.2 | 81.0 |
| 37 | 38 | Murdoch University | Australia | 72.3 | 88.2 | 87.8 | 78.0 | 80.3 |
| 38 | 36 | Universidade de São Paulo (USP) | Brazil | 83.5 | 91.9 | 72.7 | 79.3 | 79.8 |
| 39 | 37 | Washington State University | United States | 75.5 | 54.4 | 89.2 | 81.8 | 79.4 |
| 40 | 31 | The University of Georgia | United States | 68.7 | 34.4 | 88.8 | 95.1 | 79.2 |
| 41 | 35 | Iowa State University | United States | 71.4 | 43.8 | 92.4 | 84.1 | 78.8 |
| 42 | 39 | Norwegian School of Veterinary Science | Norway | 71.4 | 36.2 | 97.0 | 81.8 | 78.7 |
| 43 | 50 | Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) | Spain | 68.2 | 59.0 | 91.3 | 81.8 | 78.3 |
| 44= | Freie Universität Berlin | Germany | 69.6 | 56.9 | 87.8 | 84.1 | 78.1 | |
| 44= | 42 | Université de Montréal | Canada | 61.8 | 59.7 | 93.3 | 85.2 | 78.1 |
| 46 | 45= | Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho" | Brazil | 75.1 | 80.4 | 70.8 | 84.1 | 77.0 |
| 47 | Università degli Studi di Milano | Italy | 59.7 | 48.6 | 93.0 | 85.2 | 76.2 | |
| 48 | Università di Bologna (UNIBO) | Italy | 63.5 | 54.0 | 88.7 | 83.0 | 76.0 | |
| 49 | University of Liege | Belgium | 53.2 | 75.8 | 91.3 | 83.0 | 75.8 | |
| 50 | 47 | University of Saskatchewan | Canada | 70.5 | 46.5 | 85.4 | 80.6 | 75.6 |
