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Photo: Lackner/IQOQI

Today, the data company Clarivate has published the annually updated list of the most cited researchers worldwide. With the quantum physicists Rainer Blatt, Christian Roos and Peter Zoller, three Innsbruck physicists are among the "Highly Cited Researchers".

The current list of the most influential scientists in their respective fields for 2021 includes a total of 6,602 people from over 70 countries. Those researchers from 21 disciplines in the natural and social sciences whose work from 2010 to 2020 was cited most frequently were selected.

Unlike the first ranking of this kind in 2001, the sum of all citations was not used as a criterion. For some years now, Clarivate has only considered papers that are cited particularly frequently by colleagues, so-called "highly cited papers". This category includes one percent of the papers published each year in a subject area. The scientists included in the current list have published a certain number of such "Highly Cited Papers". In addition, the number of all citations of these papers exceeds a certain value. The aim of this annually published study by Clarivate is to identify those scientists who play a leading role in their respective fields. Innsbruck quantum physicists have been regularly represented in this prestigious listing for years.