BU Social Scientists Rank Among Top 2% of Highly Cited Scholars
CISS intern Samyuktaa (Samy) Jayakrishnan, a sociology major with interests in data science and public health,and CISS administrator Shannon Landis provided valuable research assistance with this article.
A recent Stanford University report ranked more than 300 Boston University researchers campus-wide among the top 2% of highly-cited scholars worldwide, including more than three dozen social scientists.
The report identifies the top 100,000 scientists worldwide based on several metrics, including number of papers authored, total citations and impact of published research, among other indicators.
Rankings were based on career-long and single-year data for 2021, with scientists classified into 22 fields and 174 sub-fields. The report, which is updated periodically, aims to standardize citation metrics.
BU social scientists included in this year’s rankings are:
Top-ranked BU researchers based on career-long data
| Nancy T. Ammerman (CAS/Sociology; Emerita) |
| David H. Barlow (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Belinda Borrelli (School of Dental Medicine/Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research) |
| Timothy A. Brown (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Deborah Carr (CAS/Sociology) |
| Wendy J. Coster (Sargent College) |
| Randall Ellis (CAS/Economics) |
| Alice Cronin-Golomb (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Larry G. Epstein (CAS/Economics) |
| Joseph Fewsmith (CAS/International Relations & Political Science) |
| Raymond Fisman (CAS/Economics) |
| Susan Fournier (Questrom) |
| Bruce Fraser (Wheelock College of Education & Development) |
| Frank H. Guenther (Sargent College) |
| Robert W. Hefner (CAS/Anthropology) |
| William A. Kahn (Questrom) |
| James Katz (College of Communications) |
| Deborah Kelemen (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Robert G. King (CAS/Economics) |
| Swathi Kiran (Sargent College) |
| Loretta Lees (Initiative on Cities) |
| Robert Margo (CAS/Economics) |
| Susan R. McGurk (Sargent College) |
| Kim T. Mueser (Sargent College) |
| Dilip Mookherjee (CAS/Economics) |
| Michael W. Otto (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Joseph S. Perkell (Sargent College) |
| Pierre Perron (CAS/Economics) |
| Richard B. Primack (CAS/Biology) |
| Kate Saenko (CAS/Computer Science) |
| Vivien A. Schmidt (CAS/International Relations & Political Science) |
| Henrik Selin (Pardee School and CAS/International Relations) |
| Benjamin Sovacool (Institute for Global Sustainability) |
| Renée Spencer (School of Social Work) |
| Gail Steketee (School of Social Work) |
| Helen Tager-Flusberg (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Pratyusha Tummala-Narra (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Robert Weller (CAS/Anthropology) |
| Muhammad Zaman (Center for Forced Displacement) |
Top-ranked BU researchers for single year (2021)
| Michelle A. Amazeen (College of Communication) |
| Nancy T. Ammerman (CAS/Sociology) |
| Bruce T. Anderson (CAS/Earth & Environment) |
| Michel Anteby (Questrom) |
| David H. Barlow (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| James Bessen (School of Law) |
| Alisa Bokulich (CAS/Philosophy) |
| Belinda Borrelli (Dental Medicine/Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research) |
| Timothy A. Brown (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Catherine L. Caldwell-Harris (CAS/Department of Psychology) |
| David M. Carballo (CAS/Archeology) |
| Deborah Carr (CAS/Sociology) |
| Wendy J. Coster (Sargent College) |
| Alice Cronin-Golomb (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Randall P. Ellis (CAS/Economics) |
| Larry G. Epstein (CAS/Economics) |
| Joseph Fewsmith (CAS/International Relations & Political Science) |
| Bruce Fraser (Wheelock College of Education & Development) |
| Frank H. Guenther (College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College) |
| Robert W. Hefner (CAS/Anthropology) |
| Lucy Hutyra (CAS/Earth and Environment) |
| William A. Kahn (Questrom School of Business, Center for Antiracist Research) |
| Yasuko Kanno (Wheelock College of Education & Human Studies) |
| Deborah Kelemen (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Robert G. King (CAS/Economics) |
| Swathi Kiran (College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College) |
| Kevin Lang (CAS/Economics) |
| Loretta Lees (Initiative on Cities) |
| John M. Marston (CAS/Archeology) |
| Susan R. McGurk (Sargent College) |
| Ashley Mears (CAS/Sociology) |
| Dilip Mookherjee (CAS/Economics) |
| Kim T. Mueser (Sargent College) |
| Gael I. Orsmond (Sargent College) |
| Michael W. Otto (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Joseph S. Perkell (Sargent College) |
| Richard B. Primack (CAS/Biology) |
| Kate Saenko (CAS/Computer Science) |
| Vivien A. Schmidt (CAS/International Relations & Political Science) |
| Benjamin Sovacool (Institute for Global Sustainability) |
| Renée Spencer (School of Social Work) |
| Gail Steketee (School of Social Work) |
| Ian Sue Wing (CAS/Earth and Environmental Science) |
| Helen Tager-Flusberg (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Pratyusha Tummala-Narra (CAS/Psychological & Brain Sciences) |
| Muhammad Zaman (Center for Forced Displacement) |
CAS Dean Stan Sclaroff and BU President Robert Brown also were recognized for both career and single-year impact. Congratulations to these scholars on their influential work! If you noted any omissions on our list, please inform Deborah Carr (carrds@bu.edu) and we will promptly update.