RCPTM features strongly again in the Highly Cited Researchers 2019 list
The chemists Radek Zbořil and Rajender Varma have ranked on the list of Highly Cited Researchers 2019, prepared annually by Clarivate Analytics. These two RCPTM representatives belong to the elite group, which also includes 23 Nobel laureates. The trio of scientists who work at Palacký University, and repeatedly rank among the one percent of the world’s most cited researchers, is complemented by the analytical chemist and phytochemist Ondřej Novák from the Institute of Experimental Botany, part of the Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research.
As last year, the list features, in the Cross-field category, the expert on nanotechology Radek Zbořil, who has been behind the discovery of the thinnest insulator known to date, non-metal magnets, the first two-dimensional carboxylic acid, and bacterial resistance to nanosilver.
“This is professional recognition for RCPTM’s superb researchers and their innovative ideas. We’re doing multidisciplinary research covering applications to a great extent. Thanks to the RCPTM’s scientific performance, Palacký Univeristy, according to a citation index adjusted to the relevant scientific category (CNCI index according to the Web of Science database), has made it to the top of the Czech Republic for example in multidisciplinary materials science and nanotechnology. We have been even better at physical chemistry for the past couple of years than the universities of Cambridge and Oxford,” said Professor Zbořil.
Rajender Varma, who is also a staff member at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), considers this ranking a great honour. “It has always been very humbling experience for me to be listed in this highly prestigious list of researchers, and for my affiliated progressive institute, RCPTM at Palacky University, Olomouc, and importantly, in the company of distinguished colleagues at this center; institutions are made by researchers they house, nurture and encourage to excel,” he said.
The Highly Cited Researchers 2019 list features over 6,000 names of researchers from nearly 60 countries. These are scientists who have received great citation response in 21 respective fields, or across them, and therefore immensely contributed to the development of both knowledge and society. The list has been based on an analysis of publications from the years 2008 and 2018, according to the Web of Science database. Czech science is also represented in the list by the cardiologist Petr Widimsky, environmentalists Petr Pysek, Jan Pergl and Vojtěch Jarošík, chemist Martin Pumera, microbiologist Petr Baldrian or botanist Roman Pavela. Four foreign scientists active in the institutions of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic have also been ranked on the HCR list. The United States of America has the greatest number of representatives on the list (2737), with China finishing second (636), followed by the UK. Germany has 327 representatives on the list, Slovakia one and Poland seven.