Highly cited researchers

The quality and impact of scientific research are increasingly being assessed based on calculations and analyses of the number of times researchers cite each other’s publications. This page introduces you to a number of researchers at the University of Helsinki whose work is cited the most by other researchers.
How did we choose these highly cited researchers?

Especially in the natural and life sciences, citation numbers are documented carefully in various citation databases. The most widely recognised of these are Scopus, owned by Elsevier, and Web of Science, owned by Clarivate Analytics.

The researchers presented on this page belong to the Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate Analytics. To be included in the list, researchers must rank among the top one per cent by citations for their field in the Web of Science database. In general, the humanities and social sciences are poorly covered in citation databases.

The disciplinary categorisation on this page follows that of the Highly Cited Researchers list. It is based on the field of publications in which the researcher’s articles have been published as well as on the researcher’s own assessment. The categorisation is not based on, for example, the faculty or unit in which the researcher works.

The number of citations is not the only way to measure the quality of research. Nevertheless, the most highly cited researchers are undoubtedly among the top in their field.

Atmospheric sciences

Time and again, atmospheric sciences are strongly represented on the lists of the most highly cited researchers.

Their success partly stems from the research environment of the Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR), which houses some of the world’s most prominent competence in aerosols.

Markku Kulmala

Markku Kulmala studies the formation mechanisms of atmospheric aerosol particles. He has been the world’s most highly cited geoscientist since 2011.

Kulmala heads the Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) and the Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center (ACCC). He is also an Academy Professor.

Tuukka Petäjä

Tuukka Petäjä is known for his aerosol research and especially for his development efforts focusing on aerosol research stations, measuring devices and techniques. He has played a key role in the development of measuring devices for the University of Helsinki research stations.

Petäjä heads the development of observation equipment for aerosol particles at the Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR).

Douglas Worsnop
Life sciences

Research in life sciences has grown stronger at the University of Helsinki especially after the establishment of HiLIFE – Helsinki Institute of Life Science.

Liisa Holm
Health and medical sciences
Tero Aittokallio

Tero Aittokallio with his research group focuses on developing and applying integrated computational-experimental 

approaches to tackle biomedical questions, such as how genes function as interaction networks to carry out and 

regulate cellular processes, how alterations in these networks contribute to complex traits, such as human diseases, 

and where and how in the disease network one should target to optimally inhibit the disease phenotypes, such as tumor growth.

Tero Aittokallio leads Computational systems medicine research group at FIMM, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland

which is part of Helsinki Institute of Life Science HiLIFE.

Markus Jokela

Markus Jokela has PhD in Psychology and another PhD in epidemiology His research focuses on the interplay between individuals and populations. At the individual level, he is interested in characteristics and behaviors such as personality, intelligence, and person’s life course trajectories. At the population level, he is interested in population mental health, chronic diseases, spatial patterns, and the population processes of mortality, migration, and fertility.

Mika Kivimäki
Mikael Knip
Tommi Vatanen
Willem de Vos

Willem de Vos studies the human microbiome, its contribution to health and diseases, as well as how, by shaping the microbiota, we can treat and prevent diseases.

De Vos leads a research group focused on the study of microbiota.

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