In 2018, IBS has recorded the largest number of Highly Cited Researchers (HCRs) among domestic institutions (9 out of the 53 Korean HCRs).

The global academic information service company Clarivate Analytics (formerly the Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters) annually reviews papers that ranked in the top 1% by citation by using its “Web of Science” and selects the HCRs. Because the selection is based on the number of citations for the past 10 years, HCRs can be regarded as those who have been consistently recognized by fellow researchers from all over the world.

Of the 6,000 HCRs selected in 2018, a total of 53 Korean researchers were named (a total of 58 including duplicate awards), of which nine were IBS researchers. In 2018, a new cross-field category has been added to recognize researchers with substantial influence in several fields but who do not have enough highly cited papers in any one field to be chosen as an HCR.

A total of nine IBS researchers were named in the listed of HCRs 2018. Rodney RUOFF (Director of the IBS Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials), was selected as the Citation Laureate 2018 and has been selected for five consecutive years in three categories: chemistry, materials science, and physics. HYEON Taeghwan (Director of the IBS Center for Nanoparticle Research) also appeared for the fifth consecutive year in chemistry and materials science. CHANG Sukbok (Director of the IBS Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalizations) has won recognition in chemistry for the fourth year.

▲ Director Rodney RUOFF of the IBS Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials was selected as the Citation Laureate 2018 and has been selected for five consecutive years in three categories: chemistry, materials science, and physics.
(Credit: Clarivate Analytics)

Four researchers were listed in the new cross-field category. CHEON Jinwoo (Director of the IBS Center for Nanomedicine), LEE Young Hee (Director of the IBS Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics), KIM Jin-Soo (Director of the IBS Center for Genome Engineering), and Axel Timmermann (Director of the IBS Center for Climate Physics) had their names listed as HCRs for the first time. Among emerging researchers, KIM Dae-Hyeong (Associate Director of the IBS Center for Nanoparticle Research) and Christopher Bielawski (Group Leader of the IBS Center for Nanoparticle Research) were selected as HCRs for the first time, in material science and chemistry, respectively.

▲ LEE Young Hee (Director of the IBS Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics), KIM Jin-Soo (Director of the IBS Center for Genome Engineering), and Christopher Bielawski (Group Leader of the IBS Center for Nanoparticle Research) had their names listed as HCRs for the first time.
(Credit: Clarivate Analytics)

To date, a total of 11 IBS researchers have been selected as the most influential researchers in five fields. KIM Kimoon (Director of the IBS Center for Self-assembly and Complexity) has been named for three consecutive years (2014-2016) in chemistry, while KIM V. Narry (Director of the IBS Center for RNA Research) was the first in Korea to be selected in the field of molecular biology and genetics.

IBS President KIM Doochul said, “We are glad that IBS researchers have been named as HCRs, an indicator recognized by peer scientists. We will do our best to support researchers so that they can conduct research that has a great impact on basic science.”