Published since 2009, the Shanghai Ranking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects is an international ranking of scientific institutions from around the world in 54 scientific subjects. These include natural sciences, exact sciences, social sciences, economics, as well as medical and technical sciences. The Poznań University of Life Sciences was ranked 151-200 in Food Science & Technology with a score of 41.6 points, 201-300 in Veterinary Sciences with a score of 23 points, and 301-400 in Agricultural Sciences with a score of 42.7 points - as the best university in Poland.

The parameters affecting the position of universities include the number of scientific publications and their quotations in a given field, percentage of foreign authors in publications, the number of articles published in the most significant scientific journals and papers presented at scientific conferences, and the number of employees who received a significant award in a given field.

The positions held in the ranking confirm the high quality of scientific research conducted at the Poznań University of Life Sciences. - says Prof. Dr Krzysztof Szoszkiewicz, Vice-Rector for Science and International Cooperation at the Poznań University of Life Sciences - We focus on the development of scientific research, as evidenced by 2500 publications in 2017, including 571 articles in journals operating in the international scientific community (with the so-called Impact Factor). Moreover, as many as 11 European grants (Horizon 2020, 7th Framework Programme, Polish-Norwegian Research Cooperation) and 81 grants from the National Science Centre (NCN), 17 projects from the National Centre for Research and Development (NCRD) and many projects from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development were implemented only in 2017 at the Poznań University of Life Sciences. - the Rector concludes - It was also a great success to obtain six research projects carried out as part of the strategic R&D programme "Environment, agriculture, and forestry" - BIOSTRATEG.

The Shanghai Index Ranking is the most important university ranking in the world, together with the World Times Higher Education World and World University Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) rankings.