They have made it to the list of the most influential scientists in the world.

Seven academics from Yaşar University have been included in the list of “The Most Influential Scientists in the World.” The study prepared by Stanford University includes a total of 223,152 scientists from around the world who fall within the top 2% of their respective fields, with 1,518 scientists listed from Turkey.

Under the leadership of Dr. John Ioannidis from Stanford University in the United States, a special research team prepares the annual list of “The Most Influential Scientists in the World 2024,” which consists of 223,152 scientists who fall within the top 2% globally. The list is created based on an evaluation of various variables such as the number of publications and citations of scientists, as well as author rankings. The study, which lists scientists in 22 main disciplines and 176 sub-disciplines, utilized data from the Scopus database to identify academics with the most significant research impact.

Among the 1,518 scientists from Turkey included in the 2023 evaluation were Prof. Dr. Yiğit Kazançoğlu, Vice-Rector of Yaşar University; Prof. Dr. Meltem Gürel, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture; Prof. Dr. İsmail Türkan, Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technologies; Prof. Dr. Arif Hepbaşlı, Faculty Member of the Energy Systems Engineering Department; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Banu Yetkin Ekren, Faculty Member of the Industrial Engineering Department; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mir Jafar Sadegh Safari, Faculty Member of the Civil Engineering Department; and Prof. Dr. Duygu Türker Özmen, Faculty Member of the Business Department.

“Our goal is to increase this number to 10”

Yaşar University Rector Prof. Dr. Levent Kandiller commented on the success of the academics: “As Yaşar University, we were on this list last year with 6 academics, and this year we are represented by 7. We are very happy. It is particularly encouraging and pride-inducing to have such a number of our world’s most prestigious scientists from a university that works with a small number of effective academics. Our goal is to increase this number to 10 over the years. We hope to achieve this goal just as we have risen in the world rankings of Times Higher Education.”

First in indexes

Prof. Dr. Yiğit Kazançoğlu, Vice-Rector, who continues his work in areas such as operations management, supply chain management, green logistics, sustainability, circular economy, Industry 4.0, and multi-criteria decision-making methods, has ranked first among researchers working at universities in Turkey in the past five years in the “ABCD Journal Quality List”, “Scimago Journal Ranks”, “HCERES”, and “Handelsblatt” indexes. This year, he received the “Most Distinguished Professor in Logistics” award from the International Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Society (IEOM) and is a member of the Circular Economy Committee of the Netherlands Research Council (NWO), which aims to promote quality and innovation in science.

One of the leading scientists in energy

Prof. Dr. Arif Hepbaşlı, a faculty member in the Energy Systems Engineering Department at Yaşar University and a full member of TÜBA, is among the leading scientists in our country with his work in energy. His research focuses on the analysis and application of exergy, exergonomic, and exergodynamic methods, as well as the performance evaluation of solar energy-supported systems. He has been involved in organizing numerous national and international scientific events and holds positions such as reviewer and editor for many national and international journals related to energy.

Plant research in space

Prof. Dr. İsmail Türkan, Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technologies at Yaşar University, conducts scientific studies in plant biology and molecular biology, primarily focusing on the physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of plants to drought and salinity stresses. With numerous high-quality works published in world-renowned journals and many citations, Prof. Dr. Türkan received the TÜBİTAK Basic Sciences Award in 2020. Additionally, this year, an experiment named EXTREMOPHYTE, designed by a three-member team including Prof. Dr. Türkan, was conducted at the International Space Station as part of the Turkish Astronaut and Science Mission Project.

Received numerous grants and awards

Prof. Dr. Meltem Gürel, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, works on the intercultural history of modern architecture, space-culture, space-gender relations, migration, displacement-space relationships, and design education within the field of architectural theory and criticism. She has received many grants and awards for her research, and her articles have been published in significant journals such as the Journal of Architectural Education, Journal of Architecture, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Gender, Place and Culture, Journal of Design History, and Journal of Architectural and Planning Research.

Established a hydraulic and hydrology laboratory

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mir Jafar Sadegh Safari, who collaborates with dozens of international and renowned researchers, aims to develop original methods to reduce the fragility of water resource systems and enhance their sustainability and resilience, considering climate change uncertainties and variability. His past and current research has been published in high-impact factor journals. With over 100 peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Safari has made valuable contributions to hydraulics, hydrology, and water resources. He established a hydraulic and hydrology laboratory in the Civil Engineering Department at Yaşar University and actively serves as a reviewer and editor for over 60 SCI journals.

Recipient of national and international awards

Prof. Dr. Duygu Türker Özmen, a faculty member in the Business Department, continues her studies on corporate social responsibility, sustainability, business ethics, environmental management, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and inter-organizational relations. She has received numerous awards at both national and international levels and has many publications, presentations, articles, books, and book chapters related to European Union and corporate collaboration projects.

Conducted research in the USA

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Banu Yetkin Ekren, a faculty member in the Industrial Engineering Department, focuses on areas including automated storage systems, facility layout problems, supply chain, logistics, simulation, simulation-based optimization, and stochastic modeling. After completing her doctorate, she worked on a postdoctoral project at the University of Louisville between 2011-2012 and conducted a simulation-based performance improvement study at the largest defense state agency depot in Pennsylvania, USA.