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Five researchers from Ulm among the “Highly Cited Researchers 2021”
Worldwide publication ranking list measures scientific influence

Ulm University

Scientists from Ulm University and the Ulm University Medical Centre are again listed among the world’s influential researchers for 2021, the “Highly Cited Researchers”. The annual analysis of scientific publications lists the Ulm professors Hartmut Döhner, Steven Jansen, Fedor Jelezko, Martin Plenio and Stephan Stilgenbauer as some of the most frequently cited thinkers in their respective fields.

In the publication “Highly Cited Researchers”, the American database and analysis company Clarivate lists the most frequently cited and thus most influential researchers in 22 fields. The ranking is based on an analysis of scientific publications from the previous ten years that are listed in the citation index “Web of Science”. The more frequently an author is cited by other researchers in their field, the higher their citation index. The highly cited researchers are the top one per cent of the most frequently cited researchers in their research field for a particular year.

The research topics for which Ulm University and the Ulm University Medical Centre have been represented for many years in the Highly Cited Researchers list range from clinical medicine and botany to quantum physics.

For many years, Professor Hartmut Döhner has been one of the most frequently cited researchers in his field of expertise. The medical director of the University Department of Internal Medicine III is an expert in the field of leukaemia in adults and spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Centre 1074: “Experimental Models and Clinical Translation in Leukaemia”.

Professor Stephan Stilgenbauer also focuses on cancer research, playing a leading role in chronic lymphatic leukaemia research. Stilgenbauer has also been the director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Ulm since July.

The research interest of the botanist Professor Steven Jansen, who has repeatedly been included on the list,  is water transport in plants and the impact of drought stress on plants.

The two professors Fedor Jelezko and Matin Plenio also appear on the Highly Cited Researchers 2021 list. Together, these quantum physicists have established a new field of research at the interface between quantum technology and biomedicine and have repeatedly been the recipients of one of the rarely awarded Synergy Grants from the European Research Council.

Professor Stefano Passerini, who, as the director of the Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU), has close ties to Ulm University, was also included in the list of most frequently cited researchers. The HIU is a facility for research on batteries of the future and was founded by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Ulm University, along with other partners.

A total of 6,600 researchers from more than 70 countries and regions were included in the current comparison of frequently cited researchers. In a comparison of countries, Germany achieved 5th place worldwide with 331 highly cited researchers, coming in behind the USA, China, the UK and Australia.

Text and mediacontact: Daniela Stang

The current highly cited researchers from the Ulm University Medical Department: (from left) Prof Stephan Stilgenbauer and Prof Hartmut Döhner (Photos: Ulm University Medical Centre / H Grandel, Elvira Eberhardt/Uni Ulm)
Prof Fedor Jelezko, Prof Martin Plenio and Prof Steven Jansen (from left), members of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Ulm University, are among the world’s most frequently cited researchers (Photos: Elvira Eberhardt/Uni Ulm)