The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) aims to enhance the lives of all South Africans. This is achieved through both conducting and funding responsive research that is aligned to the priority needs of the country. Within its ranks, the organisation boasts a wealth of esteemed researchers that are renowned both nationally and internationally, across various research disciplines.
According to Research.com, a leading academic platform for researchers, which has just released the 2023 Edition of their Ranking of Best Scientists in the field of Microbiology, several SAMRC researchers are featured and were included in the top 10 within South Africa. The 2023 report examined more than 43,000 profiles of scientists on OpenAlex, CrossRef, and other bibliometric sources. The eligibility of each scientist was determined using several indicators, which included the scientist’s publications, awards, and achievements.
Based on the report findings, Prof Paul van Helden, a Distinguished Professor at SAMRC and Stellenbosch University, has ranked #1 in South Africa and #400 in the world and has also been recognised with the Microbiology Leader Award for 2023.
Following closely was Prof Rob Warren, Unit Director – Centre for Tuberculosis Research based at Stellenbosch University, who ranked #2 in the country and #603 globally.
Making up the top 10 within the country was the SAMRC’s President and CEO, Prof Glenda Gray, placed at #10 in South Africa and #2307 overall.
The ranking system is based on D-index (Discipline H-index) metric, which only includes papers and citation values for an examined discipline. The ranking includes only leading scientists with D-index of at least 40 for academic publications made in the area of Microbiology.
The report aims to motivate researchers, decision-makers, and entrepreneurs worldwide to explore the different research topics leading scientists in microbiology are conducting and offers a means of acquiring information on the top experts in diverse microbiology research domains across nations, universities, and research institutions.
Our heartfelt congratulations to our esteemed scientists and researchers on their excellent work and this internationally recognition within the field of Microbiology. Being present within the ranking is definitely a great achievement for them personally as well as of that of their respective research institutions.
The full ranking for South Africa is available | HERE
The full world ranking is available | HERE
Read an article summarizing the statistics and trends from the ranking report | HERE