Peking University clinched the No 1 spot for the third straight year in the top 50 rankings by a research institution of Renmin University of China, Beijing Times reported on Tuesday.

The top five retained the same positions from the previous year: Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Renmin University of China and Zhejiang University, followed by University of Science and Technology of China, Nanjing University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Beijing Normal University and Nankai University.

Two universities, Beijing Language and Culture University and China University of Geosciences, made the list for the first time, with Northeastern University and Northeast Normal University out.

Two indexes were newly considered in this year's rankings, Social Sciences Citation Index and the students abroad index.