170 Australian researchers on "Highly Cited" list

Australia has been ranked fifth globally on Clarivate Analytics’ Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) list.

Now in its fifth year, the citation analysis identifies influential researchers as determined by their peers around the globe — those who have consistently won recognition in the form of high citation counts over a decade. The Web of Science serves as the basis for the regular listings of researchers whose citation records position them in the top 1% by citations for their field and year.

Australia was the third-strongest performer, exhibiting growth of 112.5%, from 80 researchers named in 2014 to 170 in the ESI fields in 2018. Australian research institutes continue to impress, said Clarivate Analytics in a statement.

“The Highly Cited Researchers represent more than 60 nations, but more than 80% of them are from the 10 nations listed in the table below and 70% from the first five — a remarkable concentration of top talent.”

Key findings include: 

• Some 4000+ Highly Cited Researchers are named in 21 fields of the sciences and social sciences.
• The United States is home to the highest number of HCRs, with 2639 authors. The United Kingdom boasts 546. China (mainland) is gaining fast with 482. Harvard University keeps its pole position on the list.
• Among the 4058 researchers named as Highly Cited in the 21 Essential Science Indicator (ESI) fields, 194, or 4.8%, appear in two ESI fields. An elite 24 researchers, hailing from North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, appear in three fields.
• New for 2018 — approximately 2000 additional researchers have also been identified as having exceptional performance based on high-impact papers in several fields. Nations or regions with more than 40% of their Highly Cited Researchers selected in the cross-field category are Sweden (53%), Austria (53%), Singapore (47%), Denmark (47%), China (43%) and South Korea (42%).
• This year’s list continues to recognise researchers whose citation records position them in the highest ranks of influence and impact: it includes 17 Nobel laureates, including two announced this year: James P Allison, Physiology or Medicine, and William D Nordhaus, Economic Sciences. Also included are 56 Clarivate Analytics Citation Laureates (https://clarivate.com/2018-citation-laureates/ ) — individuals who, through citation analysis, have been identified as researchers “of Nobel class” and potential Nobel Prize recipients.
   

David Pendlebury, Senior Citation Analyst at Clarivate Analytics, explained: “This year, a new cross-field category has been added to recognise researchers with substantial influence in several fields but who do not have enough highly cited papers in any one field to be chosen. For example, an immunologist today is likely both a biochemist and molecular biologist, and a chemist is also a materials scientist and even an engineer. Breaking through the artificial walls of conventional disciplinary categories by the introduction of the new cross-field category aims to keep the Highly Cited Researcher list contemporary and relevant.”

Annette Thomas, CEO of the Scientific & Academic Research group, explained: “The advancement of scientific endeavour represents a critical activity for individual research institutions and entire nations. The Highly Cited Researchers 2018 list helps to identify the researchers who are having the greatest impact on the research community as measured by the rate at which their work is being cited by others, and that contributes so greatly to extending the frontier and gaining knowledge and innovations for society — contributions that make the world healthier, safer, richer and more sustainable.”

The methodology that determines the who’s who of high-impact researchers draws on the data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts from the Institute of Scientific Information at Clarivate Analytics. It uses Essential Science Indicators, a unique compilation of science performance metrics and trend data based on scholarly paper publication counts and citation data from the Web of Science, the premier web-based environment of scientific and scholarly research literature totalling over 33,000 journals. 

The 2018 Highly Cited Researchers list and executive summary can be found at https://clarivate.com/hcr/.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/vege