In its 2017 list of Highly Cited Researchers, an analysis of trends in citing published papers, Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters IP & Science business) selected Professor Jian Feng Ma and Associate Professor Naoki Yamaji, the Group of Plant Stress Physiology at
Okayama University Institute of Plant Science and Resources. They also won in 2015 and 2016, making this the third straight year for them to win this award.

Professors Ma and Yamaji have clarified many transport mechanisms for various minerals essential for plant growth, and are highly rated internationally as two the world’s most influential scientific researchers in the category of Plant & Animal Science.

Acclaimed worldwide each year, this list presents a selection of about 3,500 distinguished researchers (of whom about 75 work for Japanese research institutes) whose papers in 21 natural and social science research fields published during the eleven years from January 2005 to December 2015 have been cited a very high number of times. Exceptionally large numbers of citations is one criterion for determining a paper’s deeply significant utility to the scientific community.