Research into environment and ecology undertaken by Aberdeen-based Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (Macaulay) is among the most influential in Britain, according to new data. A survey published by Times Higher Education has ranked Macaulay in the top 20 UK institutions which have produced the most influential papers of the last ten years within the category of environmental and ecological sciences. A total of 52,900 institutions were included in the survey designed to reveal scientific papers published that had the most impact in this field which includes biodiversity, climate change, soil and plant sciences environmental toxicology, fishery studies, hydrology and water resources, forestry studies and zoology.

The survey analyzed the average number of times research papers were cited by other scientists, revealing an impact factor for British institutions that published 300 or more papers in environmental sciences and ecology, during the period from January 2000 to February 2010.

During this decade, experts at Macaulay published 350 journal articles in publications indexed by Thomson Reuters and these papers were cited in other research papers on 5,000 occasions; achieving an average of 15.09 citations per paper. Macaulay was placed number 17 in the UK and number 111 worldwide on the database which lists a total of 303 institutions fitting the criteria within the category of environmental and ecological sciences.

Professor Richard Aspinall, Chief Executive of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, says, “This excellent ranking clearly demonstrates the influence that Macaulay has and the importance of its work in the international environment and ecology research arena. Macaulay is a small institute with only 300 employees and as such we were up against much larger institutions and a range of leading universities. We’re very proud of the high-impact work performed by our scientists and this survey, which highlights the quality of our work by independent evaluation, gives us confidence that we’re continuing to fulfill our objectives. This result is a real tribute to the skills, enthusiasm and commitment of the whole team.”

The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute was founded in 1930 and is an international centre for research and consultancy on the environmental and social consequences of rural land uses. With an annual income from research and consultancy of over £14m, the Institute is the largest interdisciplinary research organisation of its kind in Europe, and aims to provide evidence to help shape future environmental and rural development policy on a national and international basis.

Visit www.macaulay.ac.uk for further details about the work of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute.

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Notes to Editors

• Data for the survey was provided by Thomson Reuters from its Essential Science Indicators
• The survey is available online at: www.timeshighereducation.co.uk