Table 1.

Overview of China’s hospital ranking systems.

Characteristic	Best Hospitals ranking [11]	STEMa [12]	Hospital competitiveness ranking [13]	Best Clinical Disciplines ranking [14]
Primary objective	To provide guidelines for patients seeking treatments	To measure a hospital’s value in scientific research	To identify the top hospitals with the best competitiveness	To provide a tool to help patients find skilled specialty care
Domains of measure	Social reputation The ability of sustainable development (scientific research outcomes)	Scientific research inputs, outputs, and impacts	Medical service Academic impacts Resource management Hospital operation	Unclear
Indicators	Social reputation scores SCIb papers National awards	Key laboratories and projects Researchers Clinical trials SCI papers Medical standards Medical association leaders National awards	Inpatients and outpatients Beds Health workers Medical facilities Personnel Medical fee Length of stay Academic leaders Key laboratories and projects National awards	Perioperative mortalities Readmissions Postoperative complications Timely care Finance
Data sources	National surveys	SCI database and official documents	Reporting data voluntarily	Medical records
Publication frequency	Annually	Annually	Annually	Only in 2015
Transparency of methodology	Provided	Provided	Provided	Not provided

^aSTEM: Science and Technology Evaluation Metrics.

^bSCI: Science Citation Index.