Radek Zbořil and Rajender Varma — Highly Cited Researchers 2021

The chemists Radek Zbořil and Rajender Varma appear again on the Highly Cited Researchers 2021 list, which is published annually by Clarivate Analytics. The list comprises about 6600 scientists from 70 countries, including 24 Nobel laureates. There are also ten scientists in this elite group who affiliate to domestic institutions or universities.

The list includes personalities who are pioneers in their fields. Their research over the past decade has resulted, among other things, in high-profile publications ranking in the top one percent of the most cited papers on Web of Science in the respective field in one year.

Chemist Rajender Varma, who works at the Environmental Protection Agency in the US and is a member of the Environmental Nanotechnologies group at CATRIN, has been ranked repeatedly among the most highly cited scientists.

“I am very pleased to be included for the fifth time on this elite list, which contains 240 chemists from all over the world. I really appreciate such an entirely independent evaluation of my research, with nearly 52,000 citations over the last decade,” said Varma.

For four consecutive years, the Highly Cited Researchers list has included Radek Zbořil, a nanomaterials research expert, who focuses mainly on the use of nanomaterials in medicine, chemistry and environmental cleaning technologies. This year, he’s listed in the Chemistry category. He and Varma are the only two representatives in it with domestic affiliations.

“It’s not easy at all to secure one’s position in this growing competition. The key to success is the right choice of topics and the ability to identify key challenges in the area, and, of course, a great team of scientists who can turn ideas into findings and sell them in the world’s best journals. I have people like these around me. My thanks and a part of this award go to every one of my colleagues in Olomouc and Ostrava,” commented on his success Radek Zbořil, Scientific Director of CATRIN-RCPTM, who is also active in the Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies of VSB-TUO.

Among the Czech scientists appearing on the list are Ondřej Novák, Petr Baldrian, Petr Pyšek, Tomáš Jungwirth, Jan Pergl or Francesco de Bello from the Czech Academy of Sciences, Roman Pavela from the Research Institute of Crop Production, or Kamil Kuča from the University of Hradec Králové.

The United States remains to have the highest number of the most highly cited researchers. This year, they have 2,622 names on the list, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the global total. Mainland China boasts an all-time strongest showing, with 934 highly cited researchers this year. In third place is the UK, with 492 researchers. Neighbouring Germany has 330 representatives, Austria 46, Poland 6, and Slovakia 4.

Highly Cited Researchers list is available on https://recognition.webofscience.com/awards/highly-cited/2021/