Congratulations to the 14 KAUST faculty members recognized on Clarivate’s 2024 Highly Cited Researchers list, reinforcing the University’s reputation for groundbreaking research and academic achievement. This accomplishment supports the Saudi Vision 2030 goal of elevating the rankings of the nation’s educational institutions.
Three KAUST researchers — Osman Bakr, Carlos Duarte and Yoshihide Wada — are highly cited across multiple categories. In total, seven percent of KAUST faculty are featured on this prestigious list, representing 61 percent of the Kingdom’s highly cited researchers in 2024 — the highest proportion among Saudi institutions.
“Being home to some of the world’s most highly cited researchers underscores KAUST’s leadership in advancing science and innovation, both for the Kingdom and the broader region, which is central to our mission,” said President Sir Edward Byrne AC. “This recognition by Clarivate further elevates KAUST’s global standing and is a tremendous honor for our distinguished faculty members, whose groundbreaking work is driving societal progress in Saudi and the world.”
The Clarivate Institute for Scientific Information, a leading global provider of transformative intelligence, annually identifies scholars whose work is most frequently cited by peers in their respective fields over the past decade. Those included in this year’s list are authors of studies ranking in the top one percent of scholarly citations worldwide.
In total, 6,886 highly cited researchers were recognized worldwide this year. Below is the full list of KAUST faculty honored as Highly Cited Researchers in 2024
| Full Name | Category | Division |
| Al-Babili, Salim | Plant and Animal Science | Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering |
| Bakr, Osman M. | Chemistry and Materials Science | Physical Science and Engineering |
| Beck, Hylke | Cross-Field | Physical Science and Engineering |
| Cavallo, Luigi | Cross-Field | Physical Science and Engineering |
| De Wolf, Stefaan | Cross-Field | Physical Science and Engineering |
| Duarte, Carlos M. | Environment and Ecology, and Plant and Animal Science | Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering |
| Eddaoudi, Mohamed | Chemistry | Physical Science and Engineering |
| Hirt, Heribert | Cross-Field | Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering |
| Han, Yu | Chemistry | Physical Science and Engineering |
| Maestre, Fernando | Environment and Ecology | Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering |
| McCabe, Matthew F. | Cross-Field | Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering |
| Mohammed, Omar F. | Cross-Field | Physical Science and Engineering |
| Wada, Yoshihide | Environment and Ecology + Geosciences | Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering |
| Zhang, Huabin | Cross-Field | Physical Science and Engineering |