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Prof Abdon Atangana highest-ranked UFS scientist in top 2% of global scientists

09 November 2023 | Story André Damons | Photo SUPPLIED

Prof Atangana — Prof Abdon Atangana, a professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of the Free State (UFS), is the highest-ranked UFS scientist included in Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% Scientists list.

A professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of the Free State (UFS) is again the highest-ranked scientist from the institution included in Stanford University’s annual ranking of the top 2% of scientists in the world.

Prof Abdon Atangana from the UFS’s Institute for Groundwater is ranked number one in applied mathematics, mathematical physics, mathematics, and statistics in the world, and number 260 in all of science, technology, and engineering in the Stanford University World’s Top 2% Scientists list. He is also ranked highest (5 620) of all the UFS scientists included in the career-long data set.

‘Africans in Africa can impact the world’

“The ranking provides us with the impact of our outputs, and it shows that Africans can contribute to the development of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics while still in Africa,” Prof Atangana said. “This also shows that Africans in Africa can have impact on the world. My motivation is to tell the next generation that Africans do not always need to graduate from the top universities of the global North to make a global impact.

“We must work hard to make our African universities reach the same level of those from the global North, such that a student from the global North will wish to enroll in our universities. The development of our continent does not rest on sport, music, and so forth alone, but on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Having the best scientists, mathematicians, and engineers in the world in Africa should be the strive of all Africans.”

Three of the UFS’s SARChI Research Chairs have also been included in this list: Prof Hendrik Swart, Chair: Solid-state Luminescent and Advanced Materials (Applied Physics, ranked 40 269 in the single-year dataset); Prof Melanie Walker, Chair: Higher Education and Human Development (ranked 68 337); and Prof Maryke Labuschagne, Chair: Disease Resistance and Quality in Field Crops (Plant Sciences, 165 780).

Other UFS scientists included in the single-year data set are: Prof John M. Carranza (Geology, 4 837); Prof Muhammad Altaf Khan ( Applied Mathematics, 6 366); Prof Maxim Finkelstein (Statistics/ Mathematical Statistics, 63 394); Prof Marianne Reid (School of Nursing, 72 861); Prof John Owen (Centre for Development Support, 103 368); Prof Brownhilder Neneh (Department of Business Management, 73 635); Prof Jorma Hölsä (Research Fellow: Department of Physics, 88 833); Prof Johann Beukes (Philosophy & Classics, 6 547 764); Rian Venter, (829 709); Dr Yuri Marusik (Zoology and Entomology, 553 619); Prof Robert Schall (Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, 276 681); Prof Deborah Posel (Department of Sociology, 275 535); Dr Vijay Kumar (Physics, 274 541); Dr Abhay Prakash Mishra (Pharmacology, 229 625); Prof RE Kroon (Physics, 226 554); Dr Krishnan Anand (Chemical Pathology, 235 300); Prof Andrew Marston (Chemistry, 147 147); Dr Seda Igret Araz (Applied Mathematics,125 824); Prof Jeanet Conradie (Chemistry, 106 521); Prof Louis Scott (Plant Sciences, 73 874); Prof Johan Grobbelaar (Plant Sciences, 97 722); Prof David Motaung (Physics, 53 553); Dr Samuel Nambile Cumber (Health Systems Research and Development, 555 563).

Career-long data set

The Stanford University rankings also include a list of the top 2% of world-class researchers based on citations over their full careers. Scientists are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields. Field- and subfield-specific percentiles are also provided for all scientists with at least five published papers. Career-long data is updated to the end of 2021, and single recent-year data pertain to citations received during calendar year 2021. The selection is based on the top 100 000 scientists by C-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above in the sub-field.

The career-long data set includes the names of:

Prof Carranza (17 466); Prof Scott (55 882); Prof Reid (57 173); Prof Hölsä (64 402); Prof Grobbelaar (71 094); Prof Walker (78 239); Prof Andrew Marston (Chemistry, 84 484); Prof Schall (90 268); HA Snyman (Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences, 96 374); Prof Swart (103 895); Robert WM Frater Cardiovascular Research Centre (111 896); Prof Frederick Kruger (Centre for Environmental Management,117 971); Prof Finkelstein (124 118); Prof Johan Visser (Geology, 125 331); Prof James C du Preez (Biotechnology, 168 841); Prof Posel (172 295); Prof Conradie (178 157); Prof Michael D MacNeil (Dairy and Animal Science, 184 193); Prof Khan (201 101); Prof Owen (262 897).

“The representation of our researchers from a variety of disciplinary domains in this prestigious ranking, is confirmation of their excellence, impact, and the global esteem they hold. UFS is proud to be a home to scholars in our midst who take us incrementally forward as an institution because of their cutting-edge research,” said Prof Vasu Reddy, UFS Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation.

Prof Atangana has also been shortlisted as one of the finalists for the prestigious Alkebulan Immigrants Impact Awards (AIIA) 2023, in the South African Flag Carrier category. Voting started on 1 November, and the award ceremony is set to take place on 23 November in Johannesburg.

Prof Melanie Walker, Chair: Higher Education and Human Development, is ranked 68 337 in the single-year data set.

Prof Brownhilder Neneh, from the Department of Business Management and Vice-Dean for Research Engagement and Internationalisation, is ranked 73 635.

Prof Marianne Reid from the School of Nursing is ranked 72 861.

News Archive

Researcher in mathematics ranks among world’s top peer reviewers

2016-10-07

Description: Abdon Peer Review Tags: Abdon Peer Review

Prof Abdon Atangana, from the UFS Institute
for Groundwater Studies.
Photo: Johan Roux

Thirty-year-old Prof Abdon Atangana has received the prestigious Sentinels of Science Award 2016. This award honours the highest achievers in peer review across the world’s journals. The elite contributors to scholarly peer review and editorial pursuits internationally are also honoured with this award. Recipients have demonstrated an outstanding, expert commitment to protecting the integrity and accuracy of published research in their field.

Prof Atangana, who ranks number one in the mathematics discipline with a merit of 324, is a professor at the Institute for Groundwater Studies at the University of the Free State (UFS).

He is editor of 17 international journals, editor-in-chief of two international journals and also reviewer of more than 200 international accredited journals. He has been lead and guest editor of some special issues. He is also editor of 19 journals of applied mathematics and mathematics and has presented and participated in more than 20 international conferences.

Prof Atangana’s research interests are methods and applications of partial and ordinary differential equations, fractional differential equations, perturbations methods, asymptotic methods, iterative methods, and groundwater modelling.

“Editors in more than 100 journals
trust my opinion to assess
whether a submitted paper
can be published or not.”

Peer review requires a respected expert in a given field

According to the professor, reviewers play a central role in scholarly publishing. “In the academic field, peer review is the process of subjecting an author’s scholarly work, research, or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field, before a paper describing this work is published in a journal or as a book. The peer review process helps the publisher to decide whether the work should be accepted, considered acceptable with revisions, or rejected.

“Peer review requires a respected expert in a given field, who is qualified and able to perform the review in a given timeframe. Due to the impact of my research papers in the field of mathematics and applied mathematics, and also my international recognition in the field of applied mathematics, many editors in more than 100 journals of applied mathematics trust my opinion to assess whether a submitted paper in a given journal of mathematics and applied mathematics can be published or not. Only this year I was able to review more than 100 papers from different journals of applied mathematics, applied physics, mathematics, engineering and hydrology,” he said.

A successful peer reviewer displays passion for the development of science

Key to his success as peer reviewer is his passion for the development of science, his ability to write fair reports about a given manuscript, as well as his knowledge on what has been done and what are the challenges in a given field to be able to give a report that will help the advancement of science.

Currently he is developing new mathematics tools that will be used to accurately model statistical problems as well as physical problems with many layers.

“To be the number one peer reviewer in the world in mathematics is a product of love, patience and determination to enhance science,” Prof Atangana said.

His advice to young researchers is to put their trust in God and to work hard. “Not necessarily for money but for love because the future of Africa is in the hands of young Africans,” he said.

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