The rankings also place the law school 6th in the UK. Edinburgh is the only Scottish university to feature in the top 20.

First place in the league table went to Harvard, which was followed by Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and Stanford.

The QS World University Rankings by subject are compiled annually to help prospective students identify the leading universities in a particular subject.

Research citations, along with the results of major global surveys of employers and academics are used to rank universities. They are one of the leading ranking systems used by prospective students.

View the rankings here