How, and to what extent, do league tables of higher education and research establishments affect the way universities publicize themselves? In attempting to answer this question, the first part of this article looks to the sociology of science and technology and quantification, considering these league tables as an “instrument,” in other words a “social institution” with its own irreducible properties. In the second and third parts, the presence of these league tables on Paris university websites, together with their promotional material, is analyzed from the point of view of communication and discourse, and the recurrent discursive patterns they induce.