Academics' opinions of an institution can be swayed by its published ranking, according to a recent study. The report, 'Anchoring effects in world university rankings', presented on 3 May at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Denver, Colorado, examined whether world university rankings in the Times Higher Education affect peer judgements of reputation. The rankings take into account assessments by faculty members and administrators. The study, led by Michael Bastedo of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, found that universities that had high marks in 2004, the first year of the Times rankings, received higher reputation scores the following year. The authors conclude that staff are influenced by “external assessments of their institutions”.