International media research company Thompson Reuters has put the University of Otago at the top of a table featuring 30 universities and other research organisations in the field of oceanography.
University of Otago science pro-vice chancellor Prof Keith Hunter said oceanographers at Otago collaborated with nearly all of the other institutions listed on the Thompson Reuters table.
While Prof Hunter initially tried to play down the university's top oceanography institution ranking - attributing the result to a "statistical quirk" - the recognition was still an "immensely pleasing achievement".
As a founder of the university's centre for chemical and physical oceanography - set up in 1996 in conjunction with Niwa (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research) - Prof Hunter said he also derived a sense of "personally pleasing" satisfaction from the rankings.
University of Otago marine science head of department Prof Gary Wilson said oceanography programmes encompassed a range of research across the biological and physical science departments.
"While the ranking is only one statistical measure of research productivity and relevance, I think it recognises the interdisciplinary strength in oceanography here at Otago.
"We have a number of excellent individual researchers contributing to and leading internationally collaborative programmes," Prof Wilson said.
The ranking also reflected Otago's "unique natural opportunity" located on the doorstep of the Southern Ocean's "natural laboratory".
"We have ready access to components of the ocean system that are of international interest. We straddle the sub-tropical front where the Southern Ocean meets the warmer tropical Pacific Ocean resulting in significant oceanic biodiversity and our oceanographic-related research also stretches to the Antarctic, which has a significant impact on the global ocean and climate system," Prof Wilson said.
Being recognised in the Thompson Reuter's top 30 table would not have come without the university's national and international collaborations, which gave important access to international vessels and facilities, he said.
"These relationships and our international memberships are critical for a small country like New Zealand," Prof Wilson said.
The Thompson Reuters table was derived from its "Essential Science Indicators (ESI) database" of highly cited papers, published since 2000, and defined as ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field and year of publication.
