View of Praça do Relógio (Clock Square) and the Rectory Building on the campus of the University of São Paulo (USP) in São Paulo – Photo: Marcos Santos/USP Images.

Article originally in Portuguese, published on July 21, 2023, by Adriana Cruz.

The academic portal Research.com ranked 236 professors from the University of São Paulo (USP) among the world’s best scientists. The second edition of the ranking, launched in 2022, was released in early June and evaluates 26 areas of knowledge. Brazil has 980 scientists classified on the list.

The position of each researcher is based on the so-called D-index (Discipline H-index), which exclusively considers the number of articles and the quantity of citations for each examined discipline. To make the selection, bibliometric data from various sources were combined, including OpenAlex and CrossRef. The information was collected in December 2022.

USP stands out in the field of Chemistry, with 32 professors among the most cited in the world. In total, Brazil had 117 classified professors. The second area with the most classified USP professors is Biology and Biochemistry, with 28 researchers among the most cited (among 104 Brazilians), followed by Animal Science and Veterinary (26 USP researchers); Medicine (19); Environmental Sciences (16); Neuroscience (14); Ecology and Evolution (13); Earth Sciences, Immunology, and Agronomy, with 12 cited professors in each area; among others. In the area of Business and Administration, USP is the only Brazilian institution to have a researcher listed in the ranking. However, USP had no researchers classified in the areas of Economics, Law, and Political Science.

The portal also presents the ranking of the best universities by area and by country. In this classification, USP is the first Brazilian institution in 16 areas.

According to the platform, the initiative aims to “inspire academics, companies, and administrative bodies worldwide to examine where top experts are heading and provide a tool for the entire scientific community to know who the leading experts are in specific areas of study, in different countries, or even within research institutions.”