Rattan Lal has been ranked #111 among the 100,000 most productive scientists in the world, according to a specialized publication. Lal leads the “Living Soils of the Americas” initiative launched by IICA.
San Jose, 15 February 2021 (IICA) – Ohio State University professor Rattan Lal, the leading authority in soil science and a Goodwill Ambassador of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), has been included in a list of the 100,000 most productive and influential scientists in the world, ranking first in the field of Agriculture and Agronomy.
The ranking, which forms part of a study carried out by Stanford University researchers, was recently published by the PLOS Biology journal.
Led by physician, scientist, author and Stanford University professor, John P. A. Ioannidis, the researchers reviewed scientific articles up to 2019, published by more than seven million researchers in 22 fields of knowledge.
As part of this process, they developed a ranking based on a series of factors, including number of research articles, citations and the H-index, which measures the professional quality of scientists based on the number of times their articles have been cited.
Lal, 2020 World Food Prize winner, co-laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize, and now one of the top 2% scientists in the world (ranking 111th overall), leads the “Living Soils of the Americas” initiative together with IICA, which aims to unite public and private efforts in the fight against soil degradation – a widespread phenomenon that threatens to undermine countries’ capacity to sustainably meet the food demand.
The PLOS Biology article—which ranks more than 100,000 professionals in the field of science, out of 7 million male and female scientists in the world—ranks Lal first among his colleagues at Ohio State University.
“Professor Lal is greatly pleased to see that the top scientists in Agronomy and Agriculture are composed primarily of fellow soil scientists and environmentalists, a testament to the impact that soil has on the field, literally and figuratively”, Ohio State University stated in a press release.
“Working alongside Professor Lal on the ‘Living Soils of the Americas’ initiative is an honor and a challenge for IICA. On behalf of the Institute and the 500 million people who have benefited from his research, I wish to congratulate Dr. Lal and express our gratitude to him, as we bolster our institutional commitment to soils and the program aimed at protecting and restoring them”, stated Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA.
“Living Soils of the Americas” is spearheaded by IICA and the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (CMASC) at Ohio State University, which is managed by Rattan Lal. This ambitious international initiative will serve as a bridge between governments, international organizations, universities, the private sector and civil society organizations to assist in slowing land degradation and agricultural processes that are depleting organic matter in soils, using the most advanced management strategies.
Soils are an essential natural resource for human development and maintaining the health of cultivated land is one of the most important challenges for agriculture in the Americas.
The press release by Ohio State University is available at:
https://cmasc.osu.edu/news/dr-rattan-lal-highly-ranked-among-top-2-scientists-world
The article published by PLOS Biology journal is available at:
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000384
More information:
Institutional Communication Division of IICA
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
