UC San Diego has the 10th highest number of highly-cited researchers in the world, slipping three spots in the annual rankings produced by Clarivate, a British analytics company whose list is closely followed by scientists.
The La Jolla campus is home to 55 of the world’s most elite researchers, tying with the University of Hong Kong. It’s the only University of California campus to make the top 10. Last year, UCSD finished in seventh place with 71 highly-cited researchers, one place behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The number can fluctuate because scientists sometimes change institutions, or their work is surpassed by others’ in its influence. The scientists who made the list rank in the top 1 percent by citations for their fields and their publication in the Web of Science database over the past decade, Clarivate said.
UCSD’s neighbors in and around the Torrey Pines mesa also fared well. The Salk Institute and La Jolla Institute for Immunology each have 10 highly-cited researchers, and Scripps Research has nine. Sanford Burnham Prebys, San Diego State University and the J. Craig Venter Institute each have two.
The local scholars on this year’s list span the spectrum of science, engineering and medicine.
Joseph Wang at UCSD develops highly sensitive, wearable health sensors, including one that helps monitor diabetes. Fred Gage of the Salk explores the adult central nervous system, work that’s led to major findings in brain disorders.
Jean Twenge of SDSU studies differences in generations and is known to some of members of the public for her insights about Generation Z. And Shane Crotty of the La Jolla Institute has become known internationally for fighting infectious diseases, including Covid-19.
