Director Frank Neese belongs to the highly cited researchers 2020

Scientific success is often measured in terms of bibliometric data. Not withstanding the shortcomings of this approach, the recognition that scientists find is related to how often their publications are cited by other researchers. The Web of Science Group - the world's largest, most trustworthy and yet publisher-neutral citation index - has now published its annual list of highly cited researchers of 2020. As in the previous year, the director of the Department of Molecular Theory and Spectroscopy at the MPI für Kohlenforschung, Professor Frank Neese, is one of the most frequently cited and thus most influential scientists this year.

"In Germany there are only 14 chemists on the list of Clarivate’s highly cited researchers and four of them work at a Max-Planck-Institut," explains Frank Neese. In his research area of theoretical chemistry, he says, the worldwide selection of the most frequently cited scientists comprises only five researchers. He is particularly pleased that his colleague Professor Stefan Grimme from the University of Bonn, who will be assume the position of a Max-Planck Fellow at the institute in 2021, has also been honored. The Max Planck Society was able to increase the number of award-winning researchers across all scientific areas by ten to a total of 96 awardees in 2020.

The announcement of Clarivate can be found here.