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Business School academics recognised among world's top scholars
By: Serena Mitchell
Last updated: Wednesday, 21 October 2026
University of Sussex Business School
University of Sussex Business School academics rank among the world's top researchers in the prestigious Stanford–Elsevier global dataset of influential scientists, highlighting the School's international research strengths across energy, climate change, innovation, business, marketing and finance.
The latest data, published in October 2026, recognises scholars through internationally standardised measures of citation impact, highlighting both recent research influence and sustained contributions over an academic career.
Seven Business School academics feature among the world's top 100 researchers in their respective subfields for citation impact in 2025, with further outstanding performances in the career-long rankings.
Professor Benjamin Sovacool, from the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), ranked first globally in Energy, a field encompassing more than 371,000 researchers and an exceptional 33rd worldwide across all disciplines
Other impressive results include Professor Adrian Smith, ranked 18th worldwide in Science Studies, Professor Ben Martin, ranked 31st in the same field, Professor Richard Tol, ranked 37th in Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences, together with Professor Felix Creutzig, ranked 45th in that field.
Professor Karoline Rogge is ranked 53rd worldwide in Science Studies, while Professor Michael Beverland, from the Department of Strategy and Marketing, is ranked 79th in Marketing for 2025.
The data demonstrates excellence right across the School's academic community. Professor Amany Elbanna is ranked 232nd worldwide in Information Systems, Professor Nachiappan Subramanian 235th in Operations Research, and Professor Ana Canhoto 266th in Marketing.
The career-long rankings highlight further significant achievements, with Professor Andrew Godley ranked 47th worldwide in the History of Social Sciences and Professor Carol Alexander ranked 230th in Finance.
The School's strength in business and management research is also reflected in the recognition of Professor Stephan Manning, who features in both the single-year and career-long rankings.
Professors Steve Sorrell, Andrew Davies, Matthew Lockwood, Tim Foxon, Jeremy Hall and Daniele Rotolo, are also ranked demonstrating the depth and breadth of research expertise across the Business School.
Together, these achievements reflect the international influence of research taking place across the Business School’s departments: SPRU, Economics, Management, Strategy and Marketing, and Accounting and Finance. Studying alongside academics at the forefront of their fields gives our students access to cutting-edge research, fresh perspectives and insights into the real-world challenges shaping business and society.
From developing solutions to climate change and sustainable energy transitions to advancing understanding of business innovation, responsible management and technological change, Sussex academics are contributing knowledge that can help address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
The Stanford–Elsevier database uses a range of citation-based indicators to recognise researchers' scholarly influence, providing separate assessments of recent and career-long research impact.
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