AD Scientific Index ranks VSU as 15th best university in PH; Devcom Prof Emeritus as top cited scientist

VSU’s overall ranking climbed three notches higher from rank 18th published yesterday (January 28) to rank 15th today (January 29) as updated in the AD Scientific Index website.

This major change in VSU’s overall ranking is mainly attributed to the inclusion of Dr. Victor B. Asio who ranked number 2 in the list of top-cited scientists in VSU.

Unlike other rating systems that only provide evaluations of journals and universities, the AD Scientific Index is a ranking and analysis system based on the scientific performance and the added value of the scientific productivity of individual scientists. 

This evaluation system provides rankings of institutions based on the scientific characteristics of their affiliated scientists. Based on Google Scholar’s total h-index scores, all academicians who are ranked in the world in the top 10,000 and top 100,000 in university rankings were included in this assessment.

In a special note provided on their website, AD Scientific Index admitted that their ranking is still in its beta version, that's why changes are still possible as the other fields in the world, region, country, and university rankings in terms of Total H score are still being edited.

Here in VSU, Dr. Monina M. Escalada, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Development Communication (DDC), was rated as the top-cited scientist of the university with her most cited paper about the use of communication media in changing rice farmers’ pest management practices in Vietnam.

Dr. Escalada is a multi-awarded international communication scientist who won the prestigious St. Andrew’s Prize for the Environment in 2002 because of her successful initiatives in persuading rice farmers in North Vietnam to stop spraying insecticides.

Recently, she’s also the first Viscan to bring home the Glory Awards accorded by the College of Mass Communication (CMC) of the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). Dr. Escalada is the founding mother of DDC and one of the pioneers of development communication work in both the Visayas and Mindanao.

As previously mentioned, Dr. Asio who is the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS) followed Dr. Escalada in an updated ranking provided by AD Scientific Index.

He is the longest-serving Dean of CAFS and a highly published soil science scholar whose research focused on soil development, soil degradation, human impact on soils, nutrient cycling in agro and forest ecosystems including the relationship between soil and climate change in Asia and the Pacific region.

Third on the list is Dr. Janet Alexis A. De los Santos from the College of Nursing (CoN) who was recently awarded as a Distinguished Health Researcher in Eastern Visayas because of the many publications she wrote about psychological support and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ranking fourth in VSU’s roster of most cited scientists for this year is Dr. Arturo A. Pasa of the College of Forestry and Environmental Science (CFES) who published articles on watershed management and forest landscape restoration.

Completing the top 10 in VSU’s most cited scientists according to AD Scientific Index ranking are Dr. Harvie P. Portugaliza of the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), Dr. Moises Neil V. Seriño of the College of Management and Economics (CME), Dr. Rotacio S. Gravoso of DDC, Dr. Marlito M. Bande of the Institute of Tropical Ecology and Environmental Management (ITEEM), Dr. Lucia M. Borines of the Department of Pest Management (DPM), and Dr. Deejay S. Maranguit-Lumanao of the Department of Soil Science (DSS).

Please note that Dr. Romel B. Armecin of DSS slid down to the number 11th spot because of the recent corrections made in the updated AD Scientific Index for VSU scientists. An updated list of the top 10 most cited VSU scientists and researchers can be found here. 

Only 64 institutions in the Philippines made it to the cut of the 2022 top universities in the country according to the AD Scientific Index. Aside from VSU, no other university in Region 8 was included in this list.

Surprisingly though, Mindanao State University Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) was declared as the top university in the country for this year’s edition of this ranking system eclipsing the University of the Philippines (2nd) including other big universities in the country like De La Salle University-Manila (3rd), Ateneo De Manila University (5th), and the University of Santo Tomas at number 10.

Meanwhile, for the world rankings, Harvard University was rated as the number one university across 14,519 universities included in this assessment followed by Stanford University, and the University of California Berkeley.