We attack the problem of getting a strict ranking (i.e. a ranking without equally ranked items) of $n$ items from a pairwise comparisons matrix. Basic structures are described, a first heuristical approach based on a condition, the $\mathcal{R}-$condition, is proposed. Analyzing the limits of this ranking procedure, we finish with a minimization problem which can be applied to a wider class of pairwise comparisons matrices. If solved, it produces consistent pairwise comparisons that produce a strict ranking.