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ACU scientists top research rankings

Australian Catholic University researchers have been named global leaders in the areas of psychology, and social sciences and humanities based on new international research rankings.

Professors Richard Ryan and Herb Marsh, of ACU’s Institute for Positive Psychology and Education (IPPE), have been named among the world’s top 10 psychology scientists, with Research.com ranking them seventh and ninth respectively. They were also ranked first and second place nationally.

Professor Bryan Turner, of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, and Professor Bob Lingard, of the Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, were named among the top 25% scientists globally out of 1000 social science and humanities peers, in addition to being named ninth and tenth in Australia respectively.

The Research.com rankings are based on the number of published scientific papers and how often they are cited, demonstrating the global reach of ACU academics.

Other ACU researchers recognised nationally as leading psychology scientists were Professor Reinhard Pekrun (31), Professor Joseph Ciarrochi (62), Professor Johnmarshall Reeve (85), Professor Chris Lonsdale (204), Professor Peter Wilson (233), Professor Rhonda Craven (264), Professor Philip Parker (302), and Professor Alex Yeung (362).

Those who also ranked highly as top social sciences and humanities scientists nationally were Professor Sandra Jones (146), Professor John Gleeson (153), Professor Susan Edwards (289) and Associate Professor Catherine McLoughlin (374).

Professor Ester Cerin was ranked 176 nationally in the top medicine scientists list.

The latest research rankings follow a successful showing among ACU researchers in the annual Highly Cited Researchers 2021 list from Clarivate.

Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) James McLaren congratulated those recognised and said the rankings demonstrated the long-standing contributions made by ACU researchers nationally and internationally.

“These researchers and the university generally are helping to drive innovation and best practice across multiple fields,” he said.