Ruth Ley and Detlef Weigel among the world´s most cited researchers

Max Planck scientists Ruth Ley and Detlef Weigel have been identified as among the most influential researchers in their fields. In a recent announcement, the Web of Science index recognizes their extraordinary scientific influence, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly-cited papers that rank in the top 1 percent by citations. Located at the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Ley and Weigel represent the Max Planck Society as one of the world's top 10 scientific institutions.

Each year, Clarivate, an analytics specialist in the areas of bibliometrics and scientometrics, reveals its list of highly cited researchers at universities, research institutes and commercial organizations that have demonstrated a disproportionate level of significant and broad influence in their field. Clarivate is known to calculate the Impact Factor. In 2022, fewer than 0.1 percent of the world's researchers across multiple fields have earned this exclusive distinction.

Ruth Ley is the Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen and is heading the Department of Microbiome Science as a Director. She investigates the evolutionary history of gut microbes, how they have adapted to life inside humans and how they affect human biology and health. Ley´s roles include co-Speaker for the Cluster of Excellence "Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections" with the University of Tübingen, Germany. She is a member of EMBO, of the European Academy of Microbiology and of the American Academy of Microbiology. She is an elected member of the Leopoldina German National Academy of Sciences. She also is the recipient of the 2020 Otto Bayer award.

Detlef Weigel is the Director of the Department of Molecular Biology and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen. He explores both the molecular mechanisms and the evolution of adaptive traits in plants using the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. Weigel is an elected member of the EMBO, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the US National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of London, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Weigel holds the GSA Medal of the Genetics Society of America and received the Novozymes Prize in 2020.

According to research.com, another provider of metric data and services, Detlef Weigel is also the second most cited biologist at the Max Planck Society, ranking 719th worldwide, and thus has been honored with the Best Scientist Award.

(Text: Daniel Fleiter/MPI for Biology)