Did you know that the University of Tartu ranks among the top 1% the world’s most highly-cited research institutions in the world? This [but not only, of course] makes it one of Northern Europe’s leading universities and the highest-ranked university in the Baltics (according to Times Higher Education). Not bad, especially considering that Estonia is the smallest Baltic country in both area and population & the third most sparsely populated in the EU, isn’t it?

This is also somewhat supported by the latest Stanford Elsevier Top Scientists List of what they call to be “the top 2% of scientists“, which, as any list of this kind, should not be taken too seriously, but rather with an extreme caution, since of course quantitative metrics such as the number of publications and citations are far from perfect indicators for measuring research quality and impact❗ But, in the lack of alternatives…

Indeed all the “be cautious” for various reasons* and “do not overestimate those who is in it” that have been discussed at length should be “on,” going through the list, with reasons spanning from serious cases of scientific misconduct to the fact that, according to the list, Einstein published for over 120 years, with his recent paper in 2021 (perhaps we should stop complaining on our own schedules :D) and several other debates around the list (see here, here & here). However, nonetheless, finding yourself among colleagues you truly respect does make the colors around a bit brighter (though in the single recent year impact category (again, citations-based “impact”)).

Back to the point, more than 40 researchers from the University of Tartu—including 4 from my own University of Tartu Institute of Computer Science, incl. myself (? not sure of the total # as there are 300+ people in the Institute, so the count is filtered by Artificial Intelligence, ICT, Information Systems)—listed in Stanford’s single-year category, with slightly below 40 – career-long!

As for me, I’m taking this as a green light to treat myself by grabbing some yummy that I feel somewhat deserved 🍨 🚀as this is a sort of – one small step for research and the university (or not so small), one giant leap for an early career researcher (in the age of 18 years, with 10+ years of experience :D)