Artur Ekert named among ‘Citation Laureates 2019’

Artur Ekert has been named a Citation Laureate by the Web of Science Group. The designation celebrates researchers "whose publications have been cited at high frequency - typically ranking in the top 0.1% by citations - and whose contributions to science have been transformative, even revolutionary".

CQT Director Artur Ekert is recognised among an elite group of ‘Citation Laureates’ by the Web of Science Group, which handles research information and publications.

According to the 24 September announcement, he is one of only 19 scientists around the world selected for the list this year. The choice is based on citations of the scientists’ work, receipt of prizes and other factors that analysts decide makes the scientists ‘Nobel Class’.

“In science, citations show that your work is valuable to your colleagues and your field, which makes me proud to be named a Citation Laureate,” says Artur.

The analysis is performed by the Institute for Scientific Information using Web of Science data.

Artur has more than 200 papers to his name. His most cited paper is "Quantum cryptography based on Bell’s theorem" published in Physical Review Letters in 1991. It describes a protocol to create and share encryption keys that uses the quantum property of entanglement.

This was a second independent discovery of quantum cryptography after another scheme was floated in the ‘80s. His paper sparked physicists’ interest, kick-starting development of quantum key distribution technology. This technology is now available as a commercial product. Meanwhile, according to statistics on Google Scholar, the paper has accumulated over 9800 citations.

In its publicity materials, the Web of Science Group states that “Out of some 47 million papers since 1970, only 18,700 (or .04 percent) have been cited 1,000 or more times and only 4,900 (or .01 percent) have been cited 2,000 or more times.”

Artur has a handful of publications in such highly-cited states, on topics ranging from quantum algorithms to quantum state transfer. Google Scholar estimates his total citation count to exceed 35,000 (and counting).

The Web of Science Group bestows the laureate status on Artur with this citation:

For contributions to quantum computation and quantum cryptography. Recognized for fundamental research that unites theoretical and experimental physics with computer and information science. He is the inventor of entanglement-based quantum cryptography.

As well as being Director of CQT, Artur is Lee Kong Chian Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapore and Professor of Quantum Physics at the University of Oxford, UK.