BSHP members are among the most cited scientists in the world ranking
Eleven scientific members of the Brazilian Soil Health Partnership (BSHP) have been included in the list of the world’s most-cited scientists, compiled by Stanford University in collaboration with Elsevier. Updated in October 2026 using data from the Scopus database, the ranking assesses citation impact based on citations received in 2025. Six members also appear in the career-long impact ranking.
The database is curated by researcher John P. A. Ioannidis and identifies the top 100,000 scientists by composite c-score, as well as researchers ranking in the top 2% or above in their respective subfields. The c-score combines citation counts, the h-index, co-authorship, and authorship position in publications, prioritizing research impact over productivity.
Brazilian Soil and Environmental Science in the Spotlight
The 2025 impact ranking, which considers citations received throughout that year, includes researchers Pedro Henrique Santin Brancalion, Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri, José Alexandre Melo Demattê, José Leonardo de Moraes Gonçalves, Maurício Roberto Cherubin, Lucas William Mendes, Tiago Osório Ferreira, Carlos Alexandre Costa Crusciol, Cimélio Bayer, Ademir Sérgio Ferreira de Araújo, and Paulo Sergio Pavinato. Together, they received approximately 15,400 citations in 2025.
These researchers are affiliated with the University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo State University (Unesp), the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), and the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), highlighting the contributions of institutions from different regions of Brazil.
Among these researchers, Pedro Brancalion, whose work focuses on ecology and forest restoration, was the most-cited BSHP member in 2025, with 3,706 citations. José Alexandre Demattê, from USP, achieved the highest relative ranking in the Agronomy and Agriculture subfield, placing 271st among approximately 95,000 researchers.
Research Impact Built Over a Career
The career-long impact ranking, which accounts for citations accumulated throughout researchers’ scientific careers, includes six BSHP members: Ademir Araújo, Cimélio Bayer, Carlos Cerri, Carlos Crusciol, José Alexandre Demattê, and José Leonardo Gonçalves. Together, these six researchers have accumulated approximately 57,000 citations.
José Leonardo Gonçalves has the highest citation count among the group, with 15,008 citations, while Carlos Cerri has the highest h-index (61), followed by Cimélio Bayer (52) and José Alexandre Demattê (50). Demattê also holds the highest overall position among the six researchers in the career-long impact ranking.
Recognition of Brazilian Soil Science
The inclusion of eleven BSHP members in the ranking highlights the quality and international visibility of research conducted in Brazil in soil science, agronomy, ecology, and forest sciences. The database's authors emphasize that the ranking should not be interpreted as an absolute measure of scientific excellence and that researchers who are not included are not necessarily less scientifically influential.
For the Brazilian Soil Health Partnership, these results reinforce the importance of collaboration among research institutions in generating high-impact scientific knowledge and advancing more sustainable agriculture grounded in scientific evidence.
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