The professor and director of the URV's Human Nutrition Unit is among the most influential scientists in the world due to the impact of his research, according to the "Highly Cited Researchers 2021" list

The “Highly Cited Researchers” is a list of the most influential scientists in each field of study worldwide. It is compiled by analysing the number of articles published by each researcher that have been in the top 1% of the most cited articles from 2010 to 2020. Experts from the Institute for Scientific Information analyse bibliometric data to determine who should form part of this list. The list for 2021 includes 6,602 researchers from more than 70 countries, who carry out research in different scientific fields and of whom around thirty work in research centres and institutions in Catalonia. Among them is the URV’s Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, ICREA Academy Researcher and Director of the University’s Human Nutrition Unit, who has been included in the list for the fourth consecutive year.

Jordi Salas is Clinical Director of Nutrition of the Internal Medicine Service of the Sant Joan University Hospital in Reus, and principal investigator of the CIBERobn network and of the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute. In addition, he is a member of the Experts Network of the Public Health Agency of Catalonia, a Catalan Government entity that plays an important role in assessing food risks. He is also Director of the Catalan Centre for Nutrition of the Institute of Catalan Studies (CCNIEC), the main objective of which is to contribute to the advancement of basic and applied research in nutrition and to improve the quality of information and training of society in this area. He is a full member of the Biological Sciences Section of the Institute of Catalan Studies, a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia, chairman of the World Forum for Nutrition Research and Dissemination, and a member of an international committee of experts in the field of the International Nut Council (INC) for the promotion, development and dissemination of research into the relationship between nuts and health.

Jordi Salas recently received the Narcís Monturiol medal for scientific merit awarded by the Catalan Government and is the director of the World Forum for Nutrition Research on Tree Nuts and Dried Fruit (WFNR), whose mission is to promote the transfer of knowledge and innovation regarding nuts and dried fruit through research into the relation between health, nutrition and consumption.

One of Jordi Salas’ main research lines of focuses on the effects of the Mediterranean diet on cardiovascular risk and metabolic diseases, in particular through the Predimed study, the largest clinical study on nutrition to date, which has shown that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with green olive oil and dried fruit is capable of reducing the incidence of cardiovascular problems. After almost five years, the study has shown that this diet reduces the risk of heart attack, stroke, cardiovascular death and other chronic diseases, by up to 30%. Jordi Salas is currently leading the PREDIMED-Plus study, a multicentre study involving 23 research groups from all over Spain who aim to demonstrate the effectiveness of a hypocaloric Mediterranean diet and physical exercise in combatting cardiovascular disease in more than 6500 overweight/obese participants

The United States leading the way

Of the 6,602 scientists on the list, the highest number are from the United States, at 39.7% of the total, a figure slightly lower than the 44% of 2018. Harvard University, with 214 people, has the highest number of the most cited researchers in the world, followed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Stanford University.

The 2021 list includes 24 Nobel Prize winners, five of whom have received their award this year, these being: David Julius, from the University of California San Francisco; Ardem Patapoutian, from La Jolla; David W. C. MacMillan, from Princeton University; David Card, from the University of California Berkeley; and Guido Imbens, from Stanford University.