Thomas theorem in research evaluation

The well-known “Thomas theorem” in sociology is defined as follows: “if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences” (Thomas and Thomas, The child in America, Knopf, Oxford, 1928, p. 572). The theorem focuses on “objective consequences of human subjectivity” (Sztompka, Robert K. Merton: An intellectual profile, Macmillan Education, Limited, London, 1986, p. 229). In this Letter to the Editor, we transfer the thought content of the Thomas theorem to university rankings: if rank positions between two universities define performance differences as real, they are real in their consequences (although the university ranking shows only slight differences between the universities’ scores).