Dr. Elie Akl, tenured professor of medicine and vice provost for research at the American University of Beirut (AUB), has once again earned a distinguished spot on Clarivate’s 2024 Highly Cited Researchers list. According to Clarivate’s website, “Highly cited researchers are 1 in 1,000,” representing the top 0.1 percentile of the world’s population of most influential scientists.
Appearing in the social sciences category (encompassing health sciences), Dr. Akl stands as the only researcher from the Arab world to be recognized in this category in 2024. His inclusion marks the ninth time in a row he has received this prestigious recognition, highlighting his sustained excellence and influence in the global academic community. The work that has earned him this recognition is mainly in health research methodology, particularly practice guidelines.
The Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list identifies individuals with numerous publications over the past eleven years that rank among the top 1 percent by citations in their respective fields, as indexed in the Web of Science. This year’s list of highly cited researchers includes 6,636 leading researchers across 20 fields, representing 59 countries worldwide. Notably, only 34 researchers from the Arab world appear on the list in 2024, a significant drop from 94 in 2023 due to Clarivate’s stricter measures to address questionable authorship, affiliation, collaboration, and citation practices.
Among the Arab world’s twenty-two countries, ten institutions are represented in this year’s rankings as primary affiliations of the researchers: the American University of Beirut, King Abdullah University for Science and Technology, King Saud University, Qatar University, Khalifa University, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Kuwait University, Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia, NYU-Abu Dhabi, and Taif University.
Reflecting on his achievement, Dr. Akl shared, “I am very pleased to be included on this list for the ninth time. I am particularly proud that all of the highly cited publications from the past eleven years, which earned me this recognition, had AUB as my primary affiliation and were based on research conducted at AUB. I am very hopeful that many of my colleagues listed in the 2024 Stanford ranking of the world’s 2 percent most cited scientists will also make the Clarivate list in the near future.”
Dr. Akl also leads the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics (GIMG) at the AUB Medical Center (AUBMC). With a prolific publication record exceeding 500 peer-reviewed papers, Dr. Akl’s research has consistently demonstrated global impact, solidifying his place among the top 0.1% of scientists and social scientists worldwide. His impactful research has been recognized internationally through his memberships on the executive committee of the GRADE working group, the board of trustees of the Guidelines International Network (GIN), as well as the WHO Advisory Panel on International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) and the highly influential WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Evaluation.
AUB’s continued representation in the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list reflects its steadfast commitment to research excellence and its pivotal role in advancing scientific and social knowledge in the Arab world and beyond.