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Additional information
Kalmer Lauk
Grant Office
Statistics and Analysis
Analyst of Research and Development
statistics and analysis of research and development activities, confirming ETIS publications and coordination of funding for research collections, research funding database Pivot-RP
+372 737 6532
Ülikooli 18a–112

Highly cited researchers and research fields

The University of Tartu provides opportunities for high-level research. We rank in the top 1% of the world’s most highly-cited research institutions in fourteen fields of research. Several of our researchers are among the world’s top-ranked researchers in their field.

Highly cited researchers

The impact of researchers’ work is demonstrated by the international citation rate of the scientific articles presenting their research. This is measured by means of the Essential Science Indicator (ESI) analytics tool of the Web of Science, one the largest research databases in the world.

ESI brings together one per cent of the world’s most highly cited publications in 22 broad fields.

The annual highly-cited lists compiled by the Clarivate analytics company include 6,000 most influential researchers of the last eleven years. The compilers of the list derive data from the Essential Science Indicator (ESI) analytics tool of the Web of Science, excluding studies carried out by more than 30 institutions. The number of researchers selected in each field is based on the square root of the population of authors listed on the field’s highly-cited papers. All researchers are then ranked by citations, and those above the threshold are admitted to the list.

University of Tartu researchers in the Clarivate list 2025

Bahram, Mohammad

Mohammad Bahram

Associate Professor in Molecular Ecology

Fields of research: ecology, biosystematics and -physiology, mycology

Profile in ETIS

Leho Tedersoo

Leho Tedersoo

Professor in Mycorrhizal Studies

Fields of research: ecology, biosystematics and -physiology

Profile in ETIS

Elin Org
Elin Org

Professor of microbiomics

Fields of research: genetic component of complex traits

ETISe profiil

Frank Witlox
Frank Witlox

Visiting Professor

Fields of research: mobility studies

ETISe profiil

Highly cited research fields

The University of Tartu ranks among the most highly cited research institutions in 15 research fields. The data is derived from the Web of Science international database of journals using the Essential Science Indicator (ESI) analytics tool. The ESI analysis covers more than 11,000 journals published worldwide, ranking the authors, institutions, countries and journals of 22 fields by publication and citation indicators. Due to the methodology of the database, the analysis does not include the humanities. The data are based on a ten-year period and the number of publications and citations is updated every two months.

Data as at September 2026

Number of PapersNumber of CitationsCitations per paperCitations per paper in the world
ALL FIELDS1340349978437,2917,09
BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY6032821446,7921,58
CHEMISTRY10451954018,719,87
CLINICAL MEDICINE143412630388,0815,71
ENGINEERING487966719,8515,97
ENVIRONMENT/ECOLOGY12564282334,0920,06
IMMUNOLOGY7151666023,316,84
GEOSCIENCES1761028258,4221,94
MATERIALS SCIENCE5631260422,3923,87
MICROBIOLOGY3421258036,7820,06
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS8508100295,328,67
NEUROSCIENCE & BEHAVIOR4542638258,1120,22
PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY311595519,1516,95
PLANT & ANIMAL SCIENCE10722892226,9812,35
PSYCHIATRY/PSYCHOLOGY5541338424,1614,9
SOCIAL SCIENCES, GENERAL13201697212,8610,72

Data on the impact of the researchers of the University of Tartu is also visible on the statistics workdesk of the University of Tartu - https://statistika.ut.ee/ut/

Data as at September 2026

ESTONIALATVIALITHUANIAFINLANDWORLD
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES16,6516,9413,9922,8216,4
BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY69,1937,0425,9725,4821,6
CHEMISTRY18,4715,3414,6837,5919,9
CLINICAL MEDICINE 73,6843,826,2922,9815,7
COMPUTER SCIENCE33,34013,3730,5614,3
ECONOMICS & BUSINESS11,179,599,5224,7215,2
ENGINEERING15,8911,712,8321,3716
ENVIRONMENT/ECOLOGY32,2218,3417,5421,4620,1
GEOSCIENCES19,8011,5529,2716,8
IMMUNOLOGY50,2632,3738,3226,0721,9
MATERIALS SCIENCE19,513,5214,7930,1723,9
MATHEMATICS5,3503,7624,325,95
MICROBIOLOGY33,2826,4322,287,3320,1
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS87,3165,1639,1629,9228,7
MULTIDISCIPLINARY43,5951,366,3857,1920,6
NEUROSCIENCE & BEHAVIOR51,67021,5335,9220,2
PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY22,1918,714,3129,7717
PHYSICS25,5922,1719,0724,5614,6
PLANT & ANIMAL SCIENCE23,6512,311,3824,3312,4
PSYCHIATRY/PSYCHOLOGY2215,7113,5618,1214,9
SOCIAL SCIENCES, GENERAL11,988,859,2118,3510,7
SPACE SCIENCE40,26040,4713,1621
ALL FIELDS32,23017,1342,6417,1

Data on the impact of the researchers of the University of Tartu is also visible on the statistics workdesk of the University of Tartu - https://statistika.ut.ee/ut/