Our Highly Cited Researchers in 2025
The Sainsbury Laboratory is delighted to spot two of our group leaders on the Highly Cited Researchers™ list for 2025. Now in its 12th year, the list recognises the most influential researchers on a global scale, representing those ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field.
Analysts from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)™ at Clarivate™ recognized 6,868 individuals with 7,131 awards* from more than 1,300 institutions in 60 countries and regions. The rigorous evaluation and selection process draws on data from the Web of Science Core Collection™, and uses quantitative metrics and qualitative analysis to identify individuals whose work has had a genuine, global influence on their fields.
The Sainsbury Laboratory researchers who make the list for 2025 are Professor Jonathan Jones FRS and Professor Cyril Zipfel.
The list offers valuable insights into the global landscape of top research talent and identifies trends across countries, regions and institutions. The United States is the world leader, while Mainland China and the United Kingdom maintain their respective second and third positions on the list. This trend reflects a geographic, political and cultural rebalancing of top-tier scientific and scholarly contributions.
“TSL group leaders have been part of the highly cited researcher list since its creation, demonstrating the influence and impact of the research that we carry out." says Professor Nick Talbot FRS, Executive Director of The Sainsbury Laboratory.
"I am very proud to see the research at TSL recognised in the 2025 list. This achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire TSL family, including postdocs, students, and staff from across the institute. I am deeply grateful for their invaluable contributions, which extend beyond our institute to enrich the entire field of molecular plant-microbe interactions."
Professor Jonathan Jones studies how plants resist disease, and how pathogens evade or suppress the detection and resistance mechanisms of their plant hosts.
Professor Cyril Zipfel studies the molecular basis of plant innate immunity and aims to decipher signalling events linking the perception of pathogen-associated molecules to the establishment of immunity.
The UK is ranked third overall with 570 highly cited researchers behind the US (2,670) and China (1,406). This is a particularly high number of researchers at the very top of their fields in terms of citation impact, given that the United Kingdom has a population 1/5 the size of the United States and 1/20 the size of Mainland China.
