We are proud to announce that several IIASA researchers have been named on the annual Highly Cited Researchers list from Clarivate.

Clarivate, formerly a division of Thomson Reuters, unveiled its list of Highly Cited Researchers 2020 today. The highly anticipated annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the past decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science, the world’s largest publisher-neutral citation index and research intelligence platform. 

Around 6,000 researchers in 21 fields of the sciences, social sciences, and cross-field categories were selected based on the number of highly cited papers they produced over an 11-year period from January 2009 to December 2019. This is quite an elite group considering the number of research institutions and researchers around the world.   

Several IIASA researchers from across the institute once again made the cut, some even in multiple categories. They are: 

  • Volker Krey from the Energy Program in the cross-field category. 
  • Yoshihide Wada from the Water Program in both the environment and ecology, and geosciences category. 
  • Oliver Fricko from the Energy Program in the cross-field category. 
  • Petr Havlik from the Ecosystems Services and Management Program in the social sciences category. 
  • Zbigniew Klimont from the Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases Program in the geosciences category. 
  • KeywanRiahi from the Energy Program in both the geosciences, and social sciences categories. 
  • Hugo Valin from the Ecosystems services and Management Program in the cross-field category. 

A number of researchers not primarily associated with IIASA, but who nevertheless have strong ties to the institute also made the list, including: 

  • Joeri Rogelj from the IIASA Energy Program in the environment and ecology category. 
  • Shinichiro Fujimori a guest researcher in the Energy Program in the cross-field category.
  • Klaus Hubacek an alumnus of the IIASA Water Program in the cross-field category.
  • Michael Obersteiner from the Ecosystems Services and Management Program in the cross-field category. 
  • Andreas Richter a guest senior researcher in the Ecosystems Services and Management Program in the cross-field category. 

Congratulations to all these IIASA researchers for this exceptional achievement! 

David Pendlebury, senior citation analyst at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate said: “In the race for knowledge, it is human capital that is fundamental and this list identifies and celebrates exceptional individual researchers who are having a great impact on the research community as measured by the rate at which their work is being cited by others.” 

The full 2020 Highly Cited Researchers list and executive summary is available here.

News

Illustrative representation of the diversity of different people colored silhouettes

10 June 2026

Annual global migration has nearly tripled since 2000

Global migration has risen sharply from approximately 13 million people per year in 2000 to around 35 million people per year in 2023. This is according to a new dataset on human migration published in Nature by researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), IIASA, and the University of Hong Kong.
Group of senior retired friends. Happiness concept

09 June 2026

Life after work: Why social connections matter

Social networks may help protect cognitive functioning in later life, particularly among older adults who are no longer working, according to a new IIASA-led study. Drawing on data from 27 European countries, the researchers found that social connections can help compensate for the loss of mentally stimulating interactions linked to work, with different types of relationships benefiting women and men.
African kids carrying water in a dry landscape

02 June 2026

Climate-driven drought linked to rising violence among adolescents in Southern Africa

New research from IIASA and the University of Oxford provides the first quantitative evidence that drought exposure over the last 12 months is associated with increased risk of sexual, emotional, and physical violence among adolescents in Southern Africa. This risk rises substantially during cumulative droughts over two years.