University of California San Diego researcher Prof Rob Knight was named in the 2021 Clarivate list of the world’s most highly cited researchers, as the only person to achieve "highly cited" status in four different science fields.
The Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate used citation data from the Web of Science and other metrics to identify 6600 researchers in 21 fields of the sciences and social sciences, based on the number of highly cited papers they produced from January 2010 to December 2020.
In a section headed "Exceptional Broad Performance", Clarivate wrote: "Of the researchers named as highly cited in the 21 essential science indicators (ESI) fields, 23 researchers showed exceptionally broad performance, recognised for being highly cited in three or more fields.
"Prof Rob Knight, from the University of California San Diego, was alone in being named for four ESI fields — biology and biochemistry, environment/ecology, microbiology, molecular biology and genetics."
Prof Knight was humble in his achievement, and credited the many people he had worked with to receive the honour.
"This is the result of a large number of very successful collaborations in different areas, as well as the hard work of a lot of students and other trainees, many of whom are on the highly cited list themselves."
Prof Knight attended Otago Boys’ High School and the University of Otago before completing his PhD on the origin and evolution of the genetic code at Princeton University.
He is professor of paediatrics, professor of bioengineering, professor of computer science and engineering, and founding director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation at the University of California San Diego.
His laboratory has produced many of the software tools and laboratory techniques that have enabled high through-put microbiome science.
He is also co-founder of the Earth Microbiome Project and the American Gut Project.
