ABSTRACT The global ranking of universities has grown substantially within both academia and industry. This study aims to explore how scientific publications, their visibility, and citations contribute to improving university rankings. A survey was conducted online involving 2000 faculty members at the University of Dhaka. Email addresses were gathered from the university website, and 311 faculty members provided responses, resulting in a response rate of 15.55%. Faculty members acknowledged that writing scientific articles for top-ranked journals requires statistical, analytical and other relevant skills. The benefits of publishing in prestigious journals indicating a generally positive perception among the respondents. This study empirically demonstrated that publishing in journals listed in databases like Scopus or Web of Science enhances visibility, which in turn leads to more citations. Together, these factors contribute to improving university rankings. Dhaka University must focus on increasing its publications in top-tier journals by implementing incentive programs, fostering research collaborations, and allocating additional research grants. By understanding these universal standards for scholarly excellence, other universities can tailor their strategies to enhance faculty support and foster a culture conducive to impactful research publication. The findings from this study offer valuable insights that can be applied to other universities worldwide.