New Delhi / Bangalore, Oct 13 (IANS) : The Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore has been rated the best in South Asia in terms of visibility and scholarly papers on the net in the latest ranking of such institutions by Cybermetric Lab, the largest public research institution in Spain.

The Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, the National Informatics Centre in Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai make up the top five universities in the subcontinent.

In fact all the top 10 slots are for institutions in India, with two universities in Sri Lanka - University of Moratuwa and University of Colombo placed 10th and 11th on the list.

The highest ranked institution from Pakistan is the Lahore University of Management Sciences at the 17th position.

The other names in the top 10 are: The Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai, the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad, the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, the University of Delhi and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

"Candidate students should use additional criteria if they are trying to choose university. Webometrics ranking correlates well with quality of education provided and academic prestige," said a statement from Cybermetric Lab.

A total of 15,000 universities globally were analysed, of which about 5,000 were ranked in the list.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, US was the top-ranked university in the world with the rest 20 positions also held by American universities.