Catalonia ranks 20th in the world for most internationally cited researchers

Catalonia's research and university system ranked 20th worldwide in the 2024 ranking of the most internationally cited researchers.

According to the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers 2024 report, Catalonia outperformed countries such as Ireland, Norway and Finland.

The results are based on a list of nearly 7,000 researchers, 38 of whom are affiliated with Catalan universities and research centers.

These researchers represent 0.55% of the world total and 38% of all those from Spain, securing Catalonia's 20th place in the world.

Catalonia also achieved a ratio of 4.81 highly cited authors per million inhabitants, placing the region 16th in this specific ranking - well ahead of Spain as a whole, which ranks 29th.

The report highlights a "significant" increase in the representation of Catalan female researchers among highly cited authors. Their share increased from 14% in 2023 to 22% in the latest report, exceeding the overall Spanish figure of 14%.

Finally, the study highlights that Catalan researchers have a "particularly influential" impact in fields such as neuroscience and behavior (2.6% of the global total), social sciences (2%), clinical medicine (1.6%), plant and animal sciences (1.5%), and environment and ecology (1.4%), among others.