According to the Research.com rankings, which evaluate universities and their prominent experts, Masaryk University (MU) excels in the field of natural sciences, and especially in Physics or Environmental Sciences, both in comparison with other Czech universities and internationally. MU also holds an important position in the fields of Plant Sciences and Agronomy and Ecology and Evolution.
In the Environmental Sciences category, MU is ranked 240th amongst world universities. The MU Faculty of Science even has three representatives in the TOP 5 best-rated Czech scientists in this field, thanks to Prof. Jana Klánová, who was recently awarded an honorary Doctorate at the University of Örebro, doc. Klára Hilscherová and Prof. Ivan Holoubek from the MU Recetox Centre.
In the Physics category, MU is ranked 439th amongst world universities, closely followed by Charles University. Prof. Norbert Werner from the Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics at the MU Faculty of Science, an expert in the field of black holes and intergalactic gases and currently collaborating in the development of small satellites, was voted the 4th best-rated Czech physicist.
According to the Research.com rankings, the Department of Botany and Zoology is also producing high-quality research. Prof. Milan Chytrý led the ranking of Czech experts in the Plant Sciences and Agronomy category (320th in the world), and holds 2nd place amongst Czech universities in the fields of Ecology and Evolution. The outputs from both these MU departments were highly rated, even in international comparisons, with MU ranked 204th in the Ecology and Evolution category, and 291st in the field of Plant Sciences and Agronomy.
The Faculty of Science also holds a strong international position in the fields of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, being ranked among the 200 best universities in the world. Even in other fields offered at the MU Faculty of Science, such as chemistry or genetics, MU holds its own in international comparisons of the best universities (Genetics 434th, Chemistry 541st)
The 2nd edition of Research.com’s ranking of the best universities was created using data consolidated from a wide range of data sources, including OpenAlex and CrossRef. The bibliometric data for estimating citation-based metrics were acquired on 21/12/2022. Position in the ranking is based on the sum of D-indices (Discipline H-index) of all ranked scholar’s affiliated to a given institution. The D-index only considers publications and citation data for the field researched.
Honorary doctorates were awarded, by decision of the Scientific Council of Masaryk University, to Professor Thomas Robert Cech, who made a significant contribution to the formation of the field of biological sciences; and Professor Peter Wolfram Michor, who made a significant contribution to the development of mathematics.
A team of botanists has revealed significant changes in the distribution of species in the Czech flora. Their study, published in the international scientific journal Biological Conservation, analyzed the decline and increase of individual plant species in the Czech Republic since 1960.
