17 FLASS Scholars Named World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University

Seventeen scholars from FLASS made it on the list of the top 2% most-cited scientists in the world, according to the latest annual rankings published by Stanford University in October 2023. Among them were Professor Jim Chi-yung, Advisor and Adjunct Chair Professor (Geography & Environmental Science) from the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies and Professor Wong Ming-hung, Advisor (Environmental Science) from the Department of Science and Environmental Studies (SES).

The list of the world’s top 2% scientists was compiled by a research team at Stanford University from a database that includes more than 100,000 top scientists across 22 scientific fields and 176 sub-fields. The database of top-cited scientists provides standardised information on citations, h-index, co-authorship adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions and a composite indicator (c-score). The selection of the world’s top 2% scientists was based on their career-long citation impact or single-year citation impact in 2022.

FLASS scholars fared well in their respective fields. Notably, Professor Jim Chi-yung, also known as “Dr Tree”, ranked first out of over 30,000 scholars in the field of forestry, representing the high citation rate and significant impact of his research output. Professor Wong Ming-hung also ranked 8th out of nearly 100,000 scholars in environmental sciences.

Among the FLASS scholars, Professor Rudolf Wu Shiu-sun, Advisor (Environmental Science) from SES, was ranked top 2% under the Marine Biology & Hydrobiology category. Professor Wu is a member of a team which has invented “artificial mussels”, an effective tool that can monitor radioactive contamination in waters around the world. Professor Li Wai-keung, Dean of FLASS, and Professor Keith Ho Wing-kei, Acting Head of SES, were also included on the list under Statistics & Probability and Physical Chemistry categories respectively.

While congratulating FLASS scholars for achieving high rankings in the Stanford University’s annual ranking, Professor Li Wai-keung said, “The high citation rates of our scholars mean that our faculty are conducting leading and impactful research works in their fields. Many of these scholars have been included in the prestigious list of most-cited scientists for several years, reflecting the continuous recognition of their academic contributions. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them for working relentlessly in producing high-quality research. Together, we are building up the reputation of the faculty’s research capability.”

Based either on their career-long citation impact or single-year citation impact in 2022, seventeen FLASS scholars were selected to be on the list of the top 2% most-cited scientists in the world. Eleven of them were on the list of top 2% most-cited scientists according to their career-long citation impact and sixteen were selected according to their single-year impact. Ten were included both according to their career-long or single-year impact.

University-wide, thirty-eight EdUHK scholars were included on the list, including Professor John Lee Chi-Kin, who assumed the President’s position in September and Professor Chetwyn Chan Che-hin, Vice President (Research and Development).

FLASS scholars on the top 2% scientists list (In alphabetical order of surname):