Eight scientists from the Medical University of Sofia (MU-Sofia) have been included in this year’s so called “Stanford ranking” of the world’s most-cited scientists—a list comprising the top 2% (approximately 100,000 individuals), evaluated based on their publication activity and citation records. Five of these scientists are from the Faculty of Pharmacy at MU-Sofia, while three are from the Faculty of Medicine.
They are: Prof. Krasimira Yoncheva, DSc (Pharmacy); Academician Vanyo Mitev, PhD, DSc (Biology); Prof. Irena Kostova, DSc (Pharmacy); Prof. Lyudmila Boyanova, DSc (Medicine); Prof. Irini Doychinova, DSc (Chemistry); Assoc. Prof. Dimitrina Zheleva-Dimitrova, PhD (Pharmacy); Prof. Zdravko Kamenov, DSc (Medicine); and Prof. Ivan Dimitrov, PhD (Chemistry).
Prof. Irini Doychinova and Prof. Irena Kostova from the Department of Chemistry (Faculty of Pharmacy), as well as Prof. Lyudmila Boyanova from the Department of Medical Microbiology (Faculty of Medicine), have appeared in this ranking for several years. Last year, the list also included Assoc. Prof. Dimitrina Zheleva-Dimitrova from the Department of Pharmacognosy and Prof. Ivan Dimitrov from the Department of Chemistry (both within the Faculty of Pharmacy); both have retained their positions this year. The new entries from the Medical University of Sofia, included based on their contributions for 2025, are:
Prof. Krasimira Yoncheva, Vice-Rector for Science and Accreditation at the Medical University of Sofia and a faculty member in the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy at the Faculty of Pharmacy;
Academician Vanyo Mitev (MD, DSc), Director of the Research Institute for Innovative Medical Science at MU-Sofia and a faculty member in the Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine;
Prof. Zdravko Kamenov (MD, DSc), a faculty member in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine.
The ranking, developed by a team led by Prof. John P. A. Ioannidis from Stanford University, utilizes data from Scopus (Elsevier) and various bibliometric indicators to identify scientists with the most significant impact on global science. It highlights the top 2% of influential scientists across 20 scientific fields and 174 subfields. The methodology is based on standardized data regarding citations (including and excluding self-citations), the H-index, the co-authorship-adjusted Hm-index, and citations of papers based on the authors’ specific positions in the author list.
The number of scientists from the Medical University of Sofia included in this prestigious ranking underscores the exceptional significance and international impact of the research conducted by its academic community.
