Global Go To Rankings Results

In advance of presenting this year’s results, I would like to stress that the inclusion of an institution in the universe of leading think tanks does not indicate a seal of approval or endorsement of the institution, its publications, or its programs on the part of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program. Likewise, a failure to be nominated does not necessarily indicate a lack of quality and effectiveness or poor performance. There are 6,486 think tanks that are doing exceptional work to help bridge the gap between knowledge and policy. This report is no more than an effort to highlight some of the leading think tanks worldwide.

With that, it gives me great satisfaction and pleasure to present the results of the 2015 rankings process below.

The Research Team

Program Director

James G. McGann, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer at the Lauder Institute of the Wharton School and the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) at the University of Pennsylvania. He conducts research on the trends and challenges facing think tanks and policymakers around the world and provides advice and technical assistance to think tanks, governments and public and private donors on how to improve the quality and impact of policy research. He is also a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a think tank based in Philadelphia. Prior to coming to the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. McGann was an assistant professor of Political Science at Villanova University where he taught international relations, international organizations and international law. His current research interest include: assessing global trends in security and international affairs research; the role of think tanks in shaping US domestic and foreign policy; think tanks and policy advice in the BRICS and G20 countries and transnational threats and global public policy. He is the creator and author of the annual Global Go To Think Tank Index which 6, think tanks in every region of the world.

Dr. McGann has served as a consultant and advisor to the World Bank; the United Nations; the United States Agency for International Development; the Soros, Rockefeller, MacArthur, Hewlett, and Gates foundations; the Carnegie Corporation; and foreign governments on the role of non-governmental, public policy, and public engagement organizations in the US and developing and transitional countries. He has served as the senior vice president for the Executive Council on Foreign Diplomats, the public policy program officer for the Pew Charitable Trusts, the assistant director of the Institute of Politics, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also served as a senior advisor to the Citizens’ Network for Foreign Affairs and the Society for International Development.

Among Dr. McGann’s publications are "Competition for Dollars, Scholars, and Influence in the Public Policy Research Industry" (University Press of America 1995); "The International Survey of Think Tanks" (Foreign Policy Research Institute 1999); "Think Tanks and Civil Societies: Catalyst for Ideas and Action", co-edited with Kent B. Weaver (Transaction Publishers 2000); "Comparative Think Tanks, Politics, and Public Policy" (Edward Elgar 2005); "Think Tanks and Policy Advice in the U.S.: Academics, Advisors, and Advocates" (Routledge 2007); "Global Trends and Transitions: 2007 Survey of Think Tanks" (Foreign Policy Research Institute 2008); "The 2007 Global Go to Think Tanks" (Foreign Policy Research Institute 2008); "Think Tank Index" (Foreign Policy Magazine 2009); “Think Tanks, Policy Advice and the Foreign Policy Challenges Facing Emerging Powers (Forthcoming late 2014).