The Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST, President Kang Do-hyung) announced that Dr. Shim Won Joon, director of the South Sea Research Institute, has been listed on the 2023 Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) list released by Clarivate Analytics, a United States-based company that organizes the SCIE ^(*).

* Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE): a database of research theses and academic studies

Every year, Clarivate Analytics publishes a list of researchers who have published papers that have ranked in the top 1% of highly cited papers over the past 10 years in each of several research areas: environment and ecology, chemistry, engineering, materials science, microbiology, and social science. These researchers represent 0.1% of all researchers globally.

Dr. Shim was selected for his research in the field of the environment and ecology, making him the first scientist from KIOST and one of only two scientists from a government-funded research organization to be selected this year.

He graduated from the Department of Oceanography at Seoul National University in 1990 and received his PhD from the same university in 2000. Since joining the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI, the predecessor of KIOST) in 2003, he has been conducting research in the field of marine pollution at the Ecological Risk Research Department of the South Sea Research Institute. Dr. Shim is a world-renowned authority in the field of microplastic pollution, which has recently emerged as an important environmental issue. To date, he has published 196 papers in international journals, including papers on the theme of hazardous chemical pollution, garnering more than 12,000 citations in total, of which 28 papers have been cited more than 100 times.

Of particular note, Dr. Shim has made significant contributions to the assessment of pollution and identification of the environmental behavior of microplastics in the marine environment by, among others, demonstrating that plastics previously thought to be poorly degradable can generate a huge amount of microplastics in a shorter period of time than expected through natural weathering. Other studies by Dr. Shim on related topics have been recognized as playing an important role in domestic and international policy-making based on scientific results.

Dr. Shim said, "The HCR evaluates the impact of a paper from the perspective of a natural scientist who publishes their findings through papers, and being included on the list is an honor greater than any award." He added, "I hope that, in the future, many young Korean scientists in the field of the environment and ecology, which is a public domain, will produce good research results and also be included on the HCR list.”