CIC energiGUNE Places 10 Scientists Among the World’s Most Influential Researchers in the Stanford/Elsevier Ranking

Nine researchers from the centre stand out for their scientific impact during 2025, while five are recognised for their career-long impact, further consolidating CIC energiGUNE’s international position.

CIC energiGUNE, the Basque research centre specialising in electrochemical energy storage and conversion and thermal energy storage and conversion, has 10 scientists ranked among the world’s most influential researchers in the latest edition of the ranking compiled by Stanford University and the academic publisher Elsevier.

This result takes into account the two categories included in the ranking: one assessing scientific impact specifically during 2025, in which CIC energiGUNE is represented by nine researchers, and another evaluating cumulative impact throughout an entire research career, in which five scientists from the centre are included.

As four researchers appear in both classifications, the combined result amounts to 10 different CIC energiGUNE scientists featured in at least one of the two rankings.

The researchers included are Michel Armand, Heng Zhang, Javier Carrasco, Montse Casas-Cabanas, Damien Saurel, Elena Palomo del Barrio, Yaroslav Grosu, Max García-Melchor, Shanmukaraj Devaraj and Daniel Carriazo.

Michel Armand, Number One in the Basque Scientific Ecosystem

Professor Michel Armand, Honorary Scientific Director of CIC energiGUNE, once again leads the centre’s results and reaches positions of international prominence.

Armand ranks 506th globally in the 2025 scientific impact ranking, excluding self-citations, making him the highest-ranked researcher in the Basque scientific ecosystem. Within his field of expertise, he holds 15th place worldwide in energy, out of a pool of more than 370,000 researchers.

His leadership is maintained when considering the cumulative impact of his entire scientific career: Michel Armand ranks 659th globally and 10th in the world in energy, placing him within approximately the top 0.003% of researchers in his speciality.

“Michel Armand’s results are exceptional and a source of great pride for CIC energiGUNE. However, the real value of this edition also lies in confirming that behind this leadership there is a growing critical mass of researchers with international scientific impact. Having ten scientists recognised in these rankings demonstrates the strength of our scientific project and our ability to attract, develop and consolidate world-class talent,” said Montse Casas-Cabanas, Scientific Director of CIC energiGUNE’s Electrochemistry Area.

Nine Researchers Stand Out for Their Scientific Impact in 2025

Beyond Michel Armand’s individual leadership, the results highlight the collective strength of CIC energiGUNE’s scientific team and its ability to maintain a high level of international impact. The presence of researchers at different stages of their careers combines highly established profiles with a growing base of scientists who are achieving significant influence through their most recent work.

The centre accounts for approximately 44% of the researchers in the Basque Country identified in the annual ranking whose main scientific field is energy, and has four representatives among the ten highest-ranked researchers in the Basque scientific ecosystem in this discipline.

“For a centre such as CIC energiGUNE, excellence cannot depend solely on a few individual figures. Our goal is to build teams capable of sustaining an international scientific standard over the long term, generating new talent and transforming knowledge into solutions that contribute to the energy and industrial transformation of the Basque Country and Europe,” said Elena Palomo, Scientific Director of CIC energiGUNE’s Thermal Energy Area.

These results further reinforce CIC energiGUNE’s international standing and highlight a combination of scientific leadership, specialisation, international impact and critical research mass, all of which are essential elements for maintaining research excellence and translating this knowledge into the development of the energy technologies of the future.

The Stanford/Elsevier Ranking provides a standardised assessment of the scientific impact of researchers worldwide, based on a range of bibliometric indicators related to citations, authorship and co-authorship of research papers, and the impact of publications. The ranking offers two complementary perspectives: impact within a specific year and cumulative impact throughout an individual’s professional career.