In 2016, Clarivate sent a congratulatory email to many researchers who had not actually received the designation. It was not disclosed how many researchers the congratulations were erroneously sent to.[4]
Over 1,000 researchers were excluded from the 2023 list in total, largely for unethical citation practices and other examples of poor academic integrity.[5] Specifically, researchers affiliated withSaudi Arabian universities saw a sharp decline from the previous years' rankings in 2023.[6] In April 2023,El País revealed that Saudi universities had been paying researchers to add their institution as an affiliation.[7] After correction, the number of HCRs affiliated with Saudi institutions dropped by 30%.[8] Following the incident, Clarivate released a statement supporting integrity in researcher affiliations.[9]
The proportion of women in the HCR list has been studied, with results suggesting that research by women receives less citations, as they represented only 16% of the researchers on the list.[11] Research has also shown that in the fields ofchemistry,computer science,engineering,mathematics, andphysics andastronomy, where the biggest disparity occurs, women constitute 4–7% of the HCRs although they make up over 25% of authors in the field.[12] (For further information, see:Women in STEM fields andSexism in academia)
As of their 2022 list, Clarivate uses"performance statistics" from data in theWeb of Science. There are 21 specific fields, and one forinterdisciplinary science—Clarivate creates a list of papers that are in the top 1% most highly cited in their field,[a] and admission to the HCR list is based on an author's number of papers in the top 1%.[13]
The resulting list of highly cited researchers can be manipulated by citation cartels. After it was found that obscure researchers had displaced eminent mathematicians in the list, Clarivate had to remove the whole field of mathematics from the list in 2023.[14]
The list of HCRs has been used to create a specific list of authoritative researchers; one study specifically used HCRs to show trends ofretractions inIran.[20]
As of 2019, the list is also used as a factor in determining the rank of a college in theAcademic Ranking of World Universities, which uses the number of affiliated HCRs in its ranking criteria.[21]
