The ENIGMA Science Focus Area is thrilled to announce that several esteemed team members have been honored as Highly Cited Researchers for 2025, underscoring their remarkable contributions to science and innovation. The Highly Cited Researchers Lists, compiled by prestigious organizations such as Elsevier and Clarivate, play a significant role in recognizing and acknowledging the contributions of top-performing scientists worldwide. Citation databases such as Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection, identify individual researchers with exceptional citation records. While citation frequency is crucial, it is complemented by various quantitative metrics and qualitative assessments to identify those researchers who exhibit broad influence in their disciplines.
The Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers™ list represents a select segment of the global scientific community, with only 1 in every 1,000 scientists earning this distinction. These researchers have made significant and lasting impacts within their respective fields. Each individual recognized has published multiple highly cited papers, ranked in the top 1% by citation metrics within their specific field(s) and publication year, based on data from the Web of Science™ Core Collection over the past eleven years. Whereas Elsevier Highly Cited Researchers list, identifies the top 2% of scientists based on standardized citation metrics.
In the 2025 list, Clarivate™ recognized a total of 6,868 researchers from over 1,300 institutions across 60 countries, spanning 21 research fields. Notably, only 227 individuals (3%) were acknowledged in more than two fields.
We are proud to highlight the following ENIGMA members’ significant and lasting impacts within their fields.
Paul Adams (Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences) was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Cross-Field for the seventh consecutive year. Acknowledged for his interdisciplinary research in structural biology, Adams’ work integrates key aspects of the physical sciences and computing, which are essential in advancing biosciences research. He has garnered over 100,000 citations, notably for the Phenix software suite.
Paul Adams’ identifiers to publications and metrics:
Adam Arkin was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Cross-Field. He is a distinguished professor and scientist known for his groundbreaking research in microbial systems biology, synthetic biology, and computational biology. Arkin’s work focuses on the interactions within microbial communities and their applications in biotechnology and environmental science.
Adam Arkin’s identifiers to publications and metrics:
Daliang Ning was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Environment and Ecology. Ning is a renowned research scientist specializing in microbial ecology, particularly mathematical ecology and community assembly mechanisms, in environment engineering, and in responses to global change, with significant implications for environmental sustainability and management.
Daliang Ning’s identifiers to publications and metrics:
Susannah Tringe was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Microbial Ecology and Genomics, for the sixth consecutive year. As the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division Director, Tringe employs high-throughput sequencing and metagenomic approaches to study microbial diversity and its influence on biogeochemical processes across various environmental systems.
Susannah Tringe’s identifiers to publications and metrics:
Jizhong Zhou was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in the fields of Environment and Ecology, and Microbiology for the fourth consecutive year, and 9 years across multiple fields As the “George Lynn Cross Research Professor of microbiology at the University of Oklahoma, Zhou explores microbial ecology and biogeochemical cycles using advanced molecular techniques to uncover microbial roles in soil health and ecosystem functions.
Jizhong Zhou’s identifiers to publications and metrics:
Congratulations to these exceptional researchers for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the scientific community!