Thirty-eight Sri Lankan scientists and researchers have entered the World’s Top 2 % Scientists rankings released by Stanford University in the US, this month. The highest number of researchers from Sri Lanka selected for the esteemed researcher's list for 2021was from Peradeniya University. Prof. J.B. Ekanayake, Prof. C.B. Dissanayake, Prof. S.A.M. Kularatne, Prof. R.P.N.P. Rajapaksha, Dr. S.A.H.A. Suraweera, Prof. B.E.P. Mendis, Prof. S.D. Dharmaratne, Prof. N. Senanayake, and Prof. A. Madagama from Peradeniya University were selected as some of the world’s top researchers.

“Nine researchers from the University of Peradeniya are among the top 2% of world scientists based on the ranking by the September 2022 edition of Stanford University. The University of Peradeniya is proud to be the university with the highest number of such researchers in Sri Lanka,” the University of Peradeniya said in a statement. Colombo University’s Emeritus Professor Kamini Mendis, Prof. Senaka Rajapakse, Prof. Saroj Jayasinghe, Prof. Nadira D. Karunaweera, Prof. K. M. Nalin de Silva, Prof. Priyanga Ranasinghe, Prof. Ranil Jayawardena, and Dr. Umesh Jayarajah were included in the outstanding researchers list prepared by Elsevier BV and Stanford University. Four professors from the University of Kelaniya’s Faculty of Medicine were also ranked among the World’s Top 2% of Scientists.

Janaka de Silva (Department of Medicine), Nilanthi de Silva (Department of Parasitology, and the Vice Chancellor), Anurahani Kasturiratne (Department of Public Health), and Asita de Silva (Department of Pharmacology) from the University of Kelaniya were included in the outstanding researcher's list. Prof. Meththika Vithanage, Dr. Anushka U, Rajapaksha, Prof. Neelika Malavige, Dr. Dhanushka Udayanga, and Dr. K. K. Asanka Sanjeewa from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura were also listed in the World’s Top 2% Scientists for 2021. “Only three USJ scientists were on the 2020 list, and for 2021 the number of scientists from USJ has increased to five.

Prof. Meththika Vithanage, Dr. Anushka U. Rajapaksha, and Prof. Neelika Malavige made it again to the 2021 list from the 2020 list,” the University of Sri Jayawardenapura said in a statement. International Water Management Institute, National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Munasinghe Institute for Development, University of Moratuwa, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, Uva Wellassa University, Rajarata University, and the University of Jaffna also had researchers included in the World’s Top 2% Scientists list.

The previous year only 24 Lankan-based scientists were selected for the list. This career-long database and single-year dataset considered 195,605 scientists and 200,409 scientists respectively from 22 scientific fields and 176 subfields. 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 report was prepared by a team of experts led by Prof. John Ioannidis, an eminent professor at Stanford University. -NF