The Center for International Development (CID) is ranked the 4th best international development think tank in the world, according to the newly released 2012 Global Go To Think Tanks Index.

CID also ranked 4th among university-affiliated think tanks and 25th on the list of all think tanks in the United States.

The annual report - generated by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania – is the culmination of an 8-month process involving more than 1,900 expert panelists, journalists, scholars, and administrators.

The process has a vast global outreach, as more than 6,600 think tanks from 182 countries were invited to participate.

The report distinguishes think tanks by region, area of research, and special achievement.

"Our rankings process, as in the past, relies on a shared definition of public policy research, analysis, and engagement organizations, a detailed set of selection criteria, and an increasingly open and transparent nomination and selection process," writes James G. McGann, director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program in the University of Pennsylvania’s International Relations Program.

2012 marks the 4th consecutive year the Center for International Development is listed in the index.