Prof. Illig is one of the most cited epidemiologists in Germany
04.01.2022
Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Illig is one of the most frequently cited epidemiologists in Germany. Thomas Illig is Scientific Director of the Hannover Unified Biobank, the central biobank of Hannover Medical School (MHH).
Prof. Thomas Illig heads the central biobank of Hannover Medical School (MHH), the "Hannover Unified Biobank (HUB)". The MHH is one of the largest medical faculties in Germany with over 60 Institutes and more than 9,000 employees. Prof. Illig is setting up a modern high-throughput biobank at the MHH. He has many years of experience in biobanking as well as in environmental, molecular and genetic epidemiology. Prof. Illig is the author of more than 600 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Genetics, Plos Genetics, Lancet and the American Journal of Human Genetics.
Until now, a more precise analysis of the publication activities and citations of German epidemiology was hardly possible, as the necessary data and, above all, the assignment of the authors to the subject "epidemiology" were not available. In the Stanford list of the 2% most frequently cited scientists published in 2020, individual data on publication activities and citation indicators are made available for the first time. These are evaluated for epidemiologists working in Germany [1].
Citations are the most important currency in the scientific community. Results that scientists publish in specialist journals can be used by other researchers for their own work if they mark them as citations. However, the number of citations is not the only indicator of the scientists' influence; the reputation of the journal in which an article is published also plays an important role.