Insight and Influence

Ten UC Santa Barbara researchers have been named among the most influential scientists in the world, according to the 2022 Highly Cited Researchers list released by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters).

The annual list identifies researchers in the sciences and social sciences who demonstrated significant influence in their respective field or fields through publication of multiple highly cited papers during the past decade. Their 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.

For 2022, Clarivate awarded the distinction to 7,225 researcher awards from 69 countries and regions– 3,981 in specific fields and 3,244 for cross-field impact.

The highly cited researchers from UC Santa Barbara for 2022 are:

Leon Balents, physics

John Bowers, cross-field

Anthony Cheetham, cross-field

Benjamin Halpern, environment and ecology

Alan Heeger, cross-field

John Martinis, physics

Joshua Schimel, cross-field

Jonathan Schooler, psychiatry and psychology

James Thomson, cross-field

Chris Van de Walle, physics

“Research fuels the race for knowledge and it is important that nations and institutions celebrate the individuals who drive the wheel of innovation,” said David Pendlebury, head of research analysis at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate. “The Highly Cited Researchers list identifies and celebrates exceptional individual researchers at UC Santa Barbara who are having a significant impact on the research community as evidenced by the rate at which their work is being cited by their peers. These individuals are helping to transform human ingenuity into our world’s greatest breakthroughs – and it is an honor to celebrate their achievements.”

The Highly Cited Researchers 2022 list used both quantitative and extensive qualitative analysis to identify individuals from across the globe who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their chosen field or fields of research.

Culled from the highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index over the past decade, a preliminary list of highly cited researchers also identifies the research institutions and regions where they are based. The methodology that then determines the “who’s who” of influential researchers draws on data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate.

The complete list of 2022 awardees, as well as analysis, methodology and other information, can be found at https://clarivate.com/highly-cited-researchers/.