An institution is an organisation which fulfills at least one of the following criteria:
- the organization is dedicated to education and research and grants academic degrees according to ISCED 2011 [ISCED] or equivalent internationally recognized degree levels.
- the organization is a research library or archive
- the organization is primarily dedicated to conducting research
- the organization is a teaching hospital
- any organization explicitly denoted as an education and research institution by a government entity in the jurisdiction where the claim of being a education and research institution is made
- the funding mechanism (private, public or mixed) is not a factor in the definition. For instance, privately funded research institutions may be included if they fulfill at least one of the criteria above.