ParseForge
Shanghai GRAS Subject Rankings Scraper
parseforge/shanghai-gras-rankings-scraper
Developer toolsAutomationOther
Scrapes ShanghaiRanking GRAS subject rankings for any subject and year. Returns each university as a flat row with rank, score, and country.
- Total users
- 2
- Monthly active
- 1
- Total runs
- 68
- Bookmarked
- 0
- Rating
- Not rated yet
- Last modified
- 9 days ago
Overview
Shanghai GRAS Subject Rankings Scraper
Scrape ShanghaiRanking GRAS subject rankings for any subject and year, up to a million universities per run. Each university comes with its world rank, score, country, and subject details. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) publishes the top universities per subject, but the official site has no bulk export and the tables are split across pages. This Actor reads the public ranking pages directly, filtered by subject and year, and returns each university as one flat row.
| Who uses it | What they scrape ShanghaiRanking GRAS for |
|---|---|
| University administrators | Benchmark their institution's subject performance against global peers |
| Education consultants | Build subject-specific ranking datasets for client reports |
| Researchers | Analyze trends in academic subject rankings over time |
| Students | Compare universities for a specific subject before applying |
What it does
This Actor collects ShanghaiRanking GRAS subject rankings by subject name or code and year, and returns each university as a flat row with its rank, score, and country.
- ๐ Subject filter: Enter a subject name like Computer Science or a GRAS code like AS0210.
- ๐ Year selection: Choose 2021, 2022, 2023, or 2024 rankings.
- ๐ข Max universities: Limit how many rows to collect, from 1 to 1,000,000.
- ๐ Flat output: Each university is one row with rank, score, country, and subject.
Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.
What you can do with ShanghaiRanking GRAS data
๐ Benchmark university performance.
A university administrator runs the Actor for Mathematics 2024 to see where their institution stands against global competitors.
๐ Track subject trends over time.
A researcher collects Computer Science rankings for 2021 to 2024 to analyze how top universities have shifted.
๐ Guide student applications.
An education consultant scrapes Physics rankings to recommend target schools for a student applying abroad.
๐ Compare countries by subject.
A policy analyst pulls all subjects for 2023 to compare which countries dominate in engineering versus humanities.
Why choose this scraper
| What you get | |
|---|---|
| No API key | Reads public ranking pages directly, no registration needed |
| Subject-specific | Filter by any GRAS subject, not overall university rank |
| Historical data | Access rankings for 2021 through 2024 |
| Scalable | Collect up to a million universities per run |
How it compares
No other Store actor targets ShanghaiRanking GRAS the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.
| Shanghai GRAS Subject Rankings Scraper | Build it in-house | By hand | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | Run it now, zero config | Days of engineering | None, but hours per pull |
| When ShanghaiRanking GRAS changes | Maintained for you | You fix it | You re-learn the page |
| Proxies, retries, anti-bot | Built in | Your problem | Browser only |
| Output | Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export | Whatever you build | Copy-paste |
| Cost | Pay per result | Engineering time | Analyst hours |
Configure the run
Drive the Actor with a subject name or GRAS code and a ranking year, and set a maximum number of universities to collect. The Input tab lists every parameter.
A first run with the defaults:
{
"maxItems": 10
}
A larger pull:
{
"maxItems": 200
}
Pricing
Pay-per-result: $0.006 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.
| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $0.60 |
| 1,000 results | $6.00 |
| 10,000 results | $60.00 |
New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.
Free users
Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.
Run it
- Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
- Open the Shanghai GRAS Subject Rankings Scraper.
- Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
- Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.
Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.
Use with AI agents (MCP)
Give an AI agent live access to ShanghaiRanking GRAS through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/shanghai-gras-rankings-scraper"
Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.
Troubleshooting
Why am I getting no results?
Check that the subject name or code is correct and that the selected year has published rankings. Try a common subject like Computer Science.
The run is slow or times out.
Reduce the maxItems value or narrow the subject filter. The Actor reads pages sequentially, so fewer rows means faster runs.
I see duplicate universities.
Duplicates can occur if the ranking page lists a university multiple times. Use a deduplication step in your downstream processing.
The score column is empty.
Some universities may not have a published score. Check the GRAS website to confirm the data exists for that subject and year.
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is ShanghaiRanking GRAS? | GRAS stands for Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, published by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. It ranks universities worldwide for specific subjects like Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics. |
| Do I need an API key or login? | No. This Actor reads the public ranking pages directly, so no registration or API key is required. |
| Which years are supported? | The Actor supports 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Select the year in the input. |
| Can I filter by subject? | Yes. Enter a subject name like Computer Science or a GRAS subject code like AS0210. If left empty, it defaults to Computer Science & Engineering. |
| What data does each row include? | Each row includes the university's world rank, score, country, and the subject and year of the ranking. |
| How many universities can I collect? | You can set a maximum from 1 to 1,000,000 universities per run using the maxItems input. |
| What export formats are available? | You can export the results to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset. |
| Is the data updated live? | The Actor scrapes the current public pages each time it runs, so you get the latest published rankings. |
| Can I run this on a schedule? | Yes, you can schedule recurring runs in Apify to track rankings over time. |
| What if I enter an invalid subject? | The Actor will return no results or an error. Check the subject name or code against the GRAS website. |
Related actors
Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.
๐ Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.
โ ๏ธ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.
Input
| Field | Type | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| maxItems | integer | How many universities to collect per run. | 10 |
| year | string (4 options) | GRAS year. | 2024 |
| subject | string | Optional. Subject name (e.g. Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics) or GRAS subject code (e.g. AS0210). Defaults to Computer Science & Engineering. | not set |
Pricing
from $5.43 per 1,000 results
| Charged for | What it is | Price each |
|---|---|---|
| result | Single result in the default dataset. | $0.00543 to $0.006 |
Tiered: the lower figure is the price on a higher Apify plan. Billing and the free credit live on Apify.
API
One POST returns the dataset directly. Same shape for every scraper in the library, so swapping the slug is the only change.
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parseforge~shanghai-gras-rankings-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"helloWorld": 123
}' Examples
Input that runs as-is.
{
"helloWorld": 123
} Reviews
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Issues
We build and maintain this scraper, so a problem with it comes to us. Report it on the Apify listing and the thread stays attached to the scraper where the next person can find it: open an issue.
Broken and urgent, or you would rather not post in public? Write to parseforge@protonmail.com and it reaches the people who wrote it.
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