An online data analysis company in California, that specialises in tracking global scholarly activity, has rated three current academics from the College of Arts and Law as being in the top 0.5% of all scholars worldwide for their respective fields.
Professor Jeannette Littlemore in the Department of Linguistics and Communication, Professor Tom McCaskie in the Department of African Studies and Anthropology, Professor Lisa Bortolotti in the Department of Philosophy, and Professor Christopher Thornhill in the Birmingham Law School have all been awarded ‘Top Scholar’ status by ScholarGPS. The rankings were based on the academics’ digital archive of scholarly activity – including journals, books, conference papers, institutional affiliations and collaborators – weighting the quality of their publications, impact and contributions over the course of their careers.
ScholarGPS ranks the fields of Arts and Humanities and Law at the University of Birmingham as being 32nd and 69th in the world, with English and African/African American Studies featuring in the top ten for individual disciplines. The University is also ranked best in the world for specialist research of the Bible, and its most highly ranked scholar ever in the arts and humanities is the late Professor John Hick.
