A study by researchers at Stanford University looked at the citation records dating back to 1965 of nearly 7 million academics living and dead around the world. K.W. Michael Siu, UWindsor’s vice-president, research and innovation, said he is delighted 28 professors from the University of Windsor ranked in the top two per cent in their respective disciplines.
Researchers at the University of Windsor rub elbows with Nobel laureates and other great minds in a new database listing the world’s top academics in their respective disciplines.
The searchable database, developed by researchers at Stanford University, lists more than 100,000 of the most-cited academics in their fields of study. Twenty-eight current and retired UWindsor professors rank in the top two per cent of most-cited researchers in the world.
“This list shows the quality and quantity of ground-breaking work being done by UWindsor researchers across the spectrum of disciplines,” said K.W. Michael Siu, UWindsor’s vice-president, research and innovation. “I’m delighted so many of our academics have been recognized in this way.”
The study, published recently in the journal Plos Biology, is based on metrics that assess the publication records and citations of more than 6.88 million academics from 1965 to 2019. The formula corrects for self-citations.
Of the 28 UWindsor researchers on the list, eight are from the Faculty of Engineering, including dean Mehrdad Saif.
“I am honoured to be on the list of the top two per cent of engineers in the world,” said Dr. Saif. “It is also an honour to be in the company of 27 other past or present distinguished scholar colleagues and friends from the University of Windsor. I congratulate them all for their notable research accomplishments and look to see more members of our university community joining the list in future years.”
Dean of science Chris Houser also made the list. He explained that there are faculty members with more publications and citations than he has, but they got edged out because they are in more crowded disciplines.
Fifteen of the UWindsor researchers on the list are from the Faculty of Science. Also on the list are two former business professors and three from the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
—Sarah Sacheli
