The HCR list, based on the Web of Science database, is published annually by Clarivate Analytics and is made up of names drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1 percent by citations in 21 fields of science  between 2010-2020.

The six Poles from the list of 6,602, are: cardiologist Professor Piotr Ponikowski, Rector of the Wroclaw Medical University (the first Polish scientist to be included for the 7th time); chemist Professor Jacek Namieśnik (deceased in 2019), former Rector of the Gdańsk University of Technology (included for the 3d time); and plant physiologist Professor Mohamed Hazem Kalaji from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (included for the 3d time).

Also included are mathematician Professor Vicentiu D. Radialcu from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków (included for the 4th time); surgeon and oncologist Professor Piotr Rutkowski (the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Institute - Oncology Centre); and pharmacologist Atanas G. Atanasov, affiliated to the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Researchers from over 70 countries and regions were distinguished this year, 3,774 in specific fields and 2,828 for interdisciplinary research. The list includes 24 Nobel laureates, including five announced this year: David Julius, University of California San Francisco (Physiology or Medicine); Ardem Patapoutian, Scripps Research, La Jolla, (Physiology or Medicine); David W. C. MacMillan, Princeton University, (Chemistry); David Card, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley (Economics); Guido Imbens, Stanford University, (Economics). 

Also included are 77 individuals recognized by Clarivate as 'of Nobel class' and potential Nobel Prize recipients.

Clarivate Analytics 77 "Laureates of quotations" recognized as potential Nobel prizes. Twenty-three researchers showed exceptionally broad performance and were highly cited in three or more fields. Professor Rob Knight from the University of San Diego California was alone in being named for four ESI fields (Biology and Biochemistry; Environment/Ecology; Microbiology; Molecular Biology and Genetics).

The most researchers in the list are affiliated with institutions in the United States (2,622, which amounts to 39.7 percent, down from 41.5 percent last year). In just four years, Mainland China has nearly doubled its share of the Highly Cited Researchers population.

The United Kingdom comes in third with 492 researchers (7.5 percent). Although the country's participation dropped, it is still very high given that the United Kingdom has a population 1/5 the size of the United States and 1/20 the size of Mainland China.

Australia has narrowly overtaken Germany in fourth place, with 332 researchers, and the Netherlands is sixth, with 207 researchers (5 percent), which is remarkable for countries of 25 million and 17 million, respectively, compared to Germany's 83 million. Canada, France, Spain and Switzerland close the top 10.

For the first time, researchers from Bangladesh, Kuwait, Mauritius, Morocco and the Republic of Georgia are included.

American universities represent six out of the top 10 in terms of the number of most frequently cited scientists, and Harvard University is once again the institution with the highest concentration of Highly Cited Researchers in the world (214). (PAP)

Author: Paweł Wernicki

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