Victoria University has leapt to the top of the government's ranking of tertiary institutions' research quality.
But other universities are also claiming victory from other criteria in the Performance Based Research Fund results published on Thursday.
The results determine how nearly $1 billion of research funding will be allocated during the next six years.
They also provide average scores for institutions' research quality which Wellington-based Victoria topped, followed by Auckland University and the University of Otago.
The last time the ranking was compiled six years ago, Victoria was fourth.
However, the University of Auckland says the results show it is the leading research institution, because it gets the biggest share of the Performance Based Research Fund.
Other universities say they topped the rankings by measuring the number of researchers per student and per post-graduate student.
The University of Otago says it has the best ratio of researchers to post-graduate students.
