Stanford/Elsevier ranks researchers based on several criteria, including number of citations. Kes McCormick, professor at IMS, is listed among the top two percent of researchers in environmental science.
It is of course humbling to find yourself on the list. And also fun to see so many colleagues and collaborators in there too (including from SLU).
On the one hand, the list is recognition that publications where I am an author are being used and cited. That’s fantastic! On the other hand, I engage in a diversity of activities across research and teaching, which often involve collaborations with a mix of people and organizations. This work beyond publications is in fact more important (in my eyes).
My main goal in my research, teaching and collaborative activities is to contribute to creating positive and sustainable impacts in the world. It’s great that my publications are being used and cited, but it’s only part of my activities.
I enjoy working in teams and almost exclusively publish with others as I think the best writing comes from creative thinking together. This also means I am in many publications. I have perhaps also written on some emerging topics, like the bio-economy, urban living labs and nature-based solutions.
Over the past decade, I have engaged a lot with online learning. I have been involved in creating 5 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which have attracted over 125,000 participants. I started this work when I was based at Lund University, and I plan to continue in this space of lifelong learning and online capacity building at SLU.
The Stanford/Elsevier ranking is based on publicly available data such as citations and co-authorships. Over 100,000 leading researchers from around the world are included in the database and the ranking lists the top two percent.
Read more on Elsevier's website.