20 EMU ACADEMICS GAIN 34 RECOGNITIONS ON THE ‘MOST INFLUENTIAL SCIENTISTS IN THE WORLD’ LIST OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Twenty academics from Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) have earned a place among the world’s most highly cited scientists in the “World’s Most Influential Scientists” lists published on 7 October 2026. The lists were compiled as part of a study conducted by a team of American and Dutch researchers under the coordination of Stanford University in the United States. Notably, nearly all of the EMU academics included in these internationally recognized lists are citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), making this achievement a significant source of pride for both EMU, as a state university, and the country.

The study, conducted with the support of Elsevier B.V. using data from Scopus, identified the world’s most highly cited scientists, with 249,310 researchers featured on the “Single-Year Impact” list and 243,949 scientists included on the “Career-Long Impact” list.

20 EMU Academics Featured on the Single-Year and 14 on the Career-Long Impact List

EMU achieved a total of 34 academic distinctions in the World’s Most Influential Scientists rankings, with 20 academics featured on the Single-Year Impact list and 14 recognized on the Career-Long Impact list.

Career-Long Impact List

Scientist	Field	World (Europe)	Türkiye	TRNC
Prof. Dr. Osman M. Karatepe	Sports, Leisure & Tourism	10th (3rd in Europe)	1st in Field / 15th Overall	1st
Prof. Dr. Ali Övgün	Nuclear & Particle Physics	865th	1st	1st
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Akeem Adeyemi Oladipo	Chemical Engineering	427th	7th	1st
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Babak Safaei	Mechanical Engineering & Transportation	545th	5th	1st
Prof. Dr. Nazım İ. Mahmudov	General Mathematics	184th (57th in Europe)	3rd	1st
Prof. Dr. Hasan Kömürcügil	Electrical & Electronics Engineering	186th	3rd	1st
Prof. Dr. Salih T. Katırcıoğlu	Economics	407th	1st	1st
Prof. Dr. İzzet Sakallı	Nuclear & Particle Physics	3.456th	14th	3rd
Dr. Emad Sobhani	Civil Engineering	1.339th	31st	1st
Prof. Dr. Seyedhabibollah Mazharimousavi	Nuclear & Particle Physics	2.944th	11th	2nd
Prof. Dr. Hasan Demirel	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	6.370th	82nd	1st
Prof. Dr. Omar Mustafa	Nuclear & Particle Physics	3.482nd	16th	4th
Prof. Dr. Osman Kükrer	Electrical & Electronics Engineering	650th	8th	2nd
Prof. Dr. Benedek Nagy	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	10.88th.	145th	3rd

Single-Year Impact List

Scientist	Field	World (Europe)	Türkiye	TRNC
Prof. Dr. Osman M. Karatepe	Sports, Leisure & Tourism	14th (6th in Europe)	1st in Field / 8th Overall	1st
Prof. Dr. Ali Övgün	Nuclear & Particle Physics	44th (17th in Europe)	1st in Field / 20th Overall	1st
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Akeem Adeyemi Oladipo	Chemical Engineering	31st (7th in Europe)	2nd in Field / 49th Overall	1st
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Babak Safaei	Mechanical Engineering and Transformation	91st (19th in Europe)	5th in Field / 67th Overall	1st
Prof. Dr. Nazım İ. Mahmudov	General Mathematics	83rd (33rd in Europe)	3rd	1st
Prof. Dr. Hasan Kömürcügil	Electrical & Electronics Engineering	101st (32nd in Europe.)	1st	1st
Prof. Dr. Salih T. Katırcıoğlu	Economics	467th	1st	1st
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Arran Fernandez	General Mathematics	252nd	6th	2nd
Prof. Dr. İzzet Sakallı	Nuclear & Particle Physics	893rd	4th	2nd
Dr. Emad Sobhani	Civil Engineering	396th	10th	1st
Prof. Dr. Seyedhabibollah Mazharimousavi	Nuclear & Particle Physics	1.489th	9th	3rd
Prof. Dr. Hasan Demirel	Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing	9.898th	141st	4th
Prof. Dr. Mustafa Gazi	Polymers	2.530th	39th	1st
Prof. Dr. Omar Mustafa	Nuclear & Particle Physics	3.093rd	18th	4th
Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ali Özarslan	General Mathematics	1.521st	24th	3rd
Prof. Dr. Osman Kükrer	Electrical & Electronics Engineering	1.406th	14th	2nd
Dr. Mehdi Darbandi	Networking & Telecommunication	4.393rd	48th	2nd
Prof. Dr. Müberra Koşar	Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry	2.151st	38th	2nd
Prof. Dr. Qasım Zeeshan	Aerospace Engineering	1.294th	13th	1st
Prof. Dr. Benedek Nagy	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	10.841st	162nd	5th

International Recognition across Diverse Scientific Disciplines

EMU academics have earned recognition in the rankings across a wide range of disciplines, including tourism, physics, mathematics, economics, chemistry, various branches of engineering, artificial intelligence, and image processing. These achievements highlight the citation impact and international reach of the scientific research conducted at the University across multiple fields.

Among the distinguished academics featured in the rankings, Prof. Dr. Osman M. Karatepe ranked 10th worldwide, 3rd in Europe, and 1st in Türkiye in the field of Sports, Leisure & Tourism on the Career-Long Impact list, while also securing 15th place in Türkiye’s overall rankings. On the Single-Year Impact list, Prof. Dr. Karatepe ranked 14th globally, 6th in Europe, and 1st in Türkiye in the same field, achieving 8th place in Türkiye’s overall rankings.

On the Single-Year Impact list, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Akeem Adeyemi Oladipo ranked 31st worldwide, 7th in Europe, and 2nd in Türkiye in the field of Chemical Engineering, while also securing 49th place in Türkiye’s overall rankings. Prof. Dr. Ali Övgün ranked 44th globally, 17th in Europe, and 1st in Türkiye in the field of Nuclear & Particle Physics, achieving 20th place in Türkiye’s overall rankings. Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. Nazım İ. Mahmudov secured 83rd place worldwide, 33rd in Europe, and 3rd in Türkiye in the field of General Mathematics.

Also featured on the same list, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Babak Safaei ranked 91st worldwide, 19th in Europe, and 5th in Türkiye in the field of Mechanical Engineering & Transportation, while securing 67th place in Türkiye’s overall rankings. Prof. Dr. Hasan Kömürcügil, meanwhile, achieved 101st place globally, 32nd in Europe, and 1st in Türkiye in the field of Electrical & Electronic Engineering.

EMU Academics Make Their Mark on TRNC Rankings

EMU academics continued to demonstrate their outstanding achievements in the overall rankings of the TRNC. Six EMU academics secured positions among the top 10 in the TRNC Career-Long Impact rankings. Prof. Dr. Osman M. Karatepe ranked 1st overall in the TRNC, followed by Prof. Dr. Nazım İ. Mahmudov in 4th place, Prof. Dr. Salih T. Katırcıoğlu in 5th, Prof. Dr. Ali Övgün in 6th, Prof. Dr. Hasan Kömürcügil in 8th, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Babak Safaei in 9th. Similarly, five EMU academics ranked among the top 10 in the TRNC Single-Year Impact rankings. Prof. Dr. Osman M. Karatepe once again claimed the top position, while Prof. Dr. Ali Övgün ranked 3rd, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Akeem Adeyemi Oladipo 4th, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Babak Safaei 6th, and Prof. Dr. Nazım İ. Mahmudov 9th.

“We Are Proud of Our Academics”

Commenting on this remarkable achievement, EMU Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Kılıç stated:

“The foundation of our University’s success in research lies in the dedication and hard work of our academics, who consistently produce high-quality scientific research. International collaborations, research projects conducted with our master’s and doctoral students, scientific publications, and the citations these publications receive all contribute to strengthening EMU’s research capacity and international visibility.

We take great pride in seeing our academics featured on both the Single-Year and Career-Long Impact lists. It is particularly encouraging to see not only our distinguished academics, who have contributed to our University for many years, but also our emerging researchers receiving international recognition. I firmly believe that these achievements serve as a source of inspiration and motivation for our students and fellow researchers.

I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all our academics who have earned a place on these prestigious lists and express my sincere appreciation to the research teams and postgraduate students who have contributed to their scientific endeavors. Enhancing our University’s research environment and supporting high-quality scientific output will remain among our foremost priorities.”