purpose: based on the case of the top nine elite universities in china (i.e. c9 league), we evaluate the university discipline advantages in terms of outputs and influence of scientific articles. combining with the discipline collaboration analysis, we provide suggestions on discipline development and future collaboration for c9 league members.

design/methodology/approach: first, we carry out a correlation analysis. then, we obtain the new combination evaluation indicators through factor analysis on seven primary indicators from incite platform. afterwards, we assign the weighted values to different indicators in order to get the evaluation scores and the ranking for each c9 league member. then, we obtain the bibliographic data of the c9 league members for extracting the category classifications from the web and transforming them into degree-granting and personal trainning courses catalogue (dptcc). according to the original collaboration frequencies among c9 league members, we carry out the analysis on two-mode collaboration networks. finally, we propose some suggestions on the future collaboration and development.

findings: there is correlation relationship between the outputs of scientific papers and influence indicators, so it is necessary to use the various indicators to acquire the more scientific evaluation. meanwhile, league members are different in the discipline development level, and have inadequate collaboration with each other, which indicates that there exists the great potential for further collaborations.

research limitations: despite the relative high quality sci papers, preference for different disciplines of sci and different discipline features for c9 members probably exert negative influence on evaluation results.

practical implications: we provide a research thought and an operational approach to the disciplines evaluation, which would promote more methods for scientific discipline evaluation and reasonable management for universities.

originality/value: there are more and more articles on the universities evaluation indexes, but rarely on the relationship among the indicators. therefore, our approach would be helpful for the evaluation of university disciplines.

purpose: based on the case of the top nine elite universities in china (i.e. c9 league), we evaluate the university discipline advantages in terms of outputs and influence of scientific articles. combining with the discipline collaboration analysis, we provide suggestions on discipline development and future collaboration for c9 league members.

design/methodology/approach: first, we carry out a correlation analysis. then, we obtain the new combination evaluation indicators through factor analysis on seven primary indicators from incite platform. afterwards, we assign the weighted values to different indicators in order to get the evaluation scores and the ranking for each c9 league member. then, we obtain the bibliographic data of the c9 league members for extracting the category classifications from the web and transforming them into degree-granting and personal trainning courses catalogue (dptcc). according to the original collaboration frequencies among c9 league members, we carry out the analysis on two-mode collaboration networks. finally, we propose some suggestions on the future collaboration and development.

findings: there is correlation relationship between the outputs of scientific papers and influence indicators, so it is necessary to use the various indicators to acquire the more scientific evaluation. meanwhile, league members are different in the discipline development level, and have inadequate collaboration with each other, which indicates that there exists the great potential for further collaborations.

research limitations: despite the relative high quality sci papers, preference for different disciplines of sci and different discipline features for c9 members probably exert negative influence on evaluation results.

practical implications: we provide a research thought and an operational approach to the disciplines evaluation, which would promote more methods for scientific discipline evaluation and reasonable management for universities.

originality/value: there are more and more articles on the universities evaluation indexes, but rarely on the relationship among the indicators. therefore, our approach would be helpful for the evaluation of university disciplines.