Stanford University updates its list of the world's most important researchers with 2023 data. The URV has second highest rate of influential researchers among its permanent teaching and research staff out of all the universities in Spain and Catalonia

The number of citations an article receives is an indicator of the impact a particular study has within the scientific community. Researchers look to previous studies to advance their own research, which in turn serves as a foundation for new researchers further down the line. By looking at the number of citations researchers accumulate, we can determine the impact of their research and their influence in the scientific community. This is precisely the reason behind the database of the most important researchers, which is published by Stanford University and compiles standardized citation indicators. The database includes 57 researchers from the URV, representing 10% of the university’s permanent teaching and research staff. The Universitat Rovira i Virgili has second highest rate of influential researchers among its permanent teaching and research staff out of all the universities in Spain and Catalonia.

The report includes a dual analysis: first, it takes into account the researchers’ activity over the last year, that is, the number of citations they received in 2023. In this instance, out of the 223,152 researchers included, 42 are from URV. The report then looks at data from throughout the researchers’ entire academic careers, including last year; in this case, of the 217,097 researchers, again 42 are from the URV. In terms of the ratio between the number of its researchers in the ranking and the number of its permanent teaching and research staff (PDI), the URV has the second highest number of influential researchers in Spain, which is an improvement on its position in the previous report, where it ranked third. If only the impact of 2023 research is considered, URV ranks third among Catalan and Spanish universities for its ratio of influential researchers relative to permanent teaching and research staff.

A total of 57 URV researchers appear in the rankings, with 27 included in both the list of influential researchers for the last year and for their entire careers. Departments with a high number of influential researchers among permanent staff include the Department of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry, the Department of Analytical and Organic Chemistry, the Department of Electronic, Electrical, and Automatic Engineering, and the Department of Basic Medical Sciences. Considering researcher age, a slight variation between the two lists is observed. While the average age of the URV’s most influential researchers in the last year is 55.5 years, it rises to 60 years when considering researchers’ entire careers.

In terms of research impact for 2023 alone, nine URV researchers rank among the twenty most influential in Spain in their field of study.

To calculate the ratios, the number of URV researchers in the rankings was determined and normalized in relation to the permanent teaching and research staff employed by the university. In creating this database, Stanford University considered factors such as the order of authorship in publications, as well as self-citations by authors, among other criteria. Each factor has a set weight, and the sum provides a reference value that ranks researchers according to their impact, over the last year or throughout their academic careers.