Dundee half-dozen named among world’s most influential

University of Dundee researchers have been named “six of the best” in a new list of the world’s most influential academics.

Four experts from the University’s School of Life Sciences, and a further two from the School of Medicine, have been named in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2021 list. They take their place there alongside 24 Nobel laureates.

The annual list identifies researchers from across the globe who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. The Highly Cited Researchers’ names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index.

The Dundee academics named in the prestigious list are:

• Professor Dario Alessi (School of Life Sciences)
• Professor Albena Dinkova-Kostova (School of Medicine)
• Professor Grahame Hardie (School of Life Sciences)
• Professor Blair Smith (School of Medicine)
• Professor John Peters (School of Life Sciences)
• Professor John Raven (School of Life Sciences)

Professor Iain Gillespie, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University, said, “The innovative and groundbreaking research that takes place here is of global significance, and that is borne out by the fact six Dundee academics have rightly taken their place alongside experts from some of the world’s prestigious international institutions.

“This fantastic result is testament to the exceptional work that these researchers have carried out over many years and to the research environment at Dundee that helps to facilitate this excellence. Our mission is to transform lives, and everyone in the University community can take pride in this result and the role they are playing in helping to make accolades such as this possible.”

The methodology that determines the list of influential researchers draws on the data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate. It also uses the tallies to identify the countries and research institutions where these scientific elite are based.

Joel Haspel, SVP Strategy and Science at Clarivate, said, “This year’s data reflect a decade’s worth of research publications from the global scientific community. As well as documenting the ‘Eureka!’ moments, our data tell the story of late nights spent filling in grant applications, poring over results in the lab, the unsung work of peer reviewing contemporaries’ manuscripts, and the many small failures that ultimately lead to bigger successes and accelerating innovation.”

The full 2021 Highly Cited Researchers list and executive summary can be found here.