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Clarivate's 2025 Highly Cited Researchers List Tightens Integrity Rules as Math Returns

The overhaul aims to curb gaming of citation metrics through automated screens.

Overview

  • Clarivate recognized 6,868 researchers with 7,131 total designations across 60 countries and regions.
  • New screening removes highly cited papers linked to last year’s excluded authors and applies consistent filters for self- or group-citation anomalies, retracted work, hyper-prolific output, and papers with more than 30 authors.
  • The tougher checks led to 2,400 exclusions, including 432 for hyper-prolific publication, and lowered year-to-year retention to about 60%.
  • The United States leads with 2,670 awards (37%), Mainland China follows with 1,406 (20%), and 86% of awards are concentrated in the top 10 countries, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences topping institutions at 258.
  • Mathematics returns with 65 honorees after external validation by an independent algorithm run by mathematician Domingo Docampo confirmed Clarivate’s selections.