Tulane University recognizes itself as a leading research institution with various research labs and programs on both Uptown and Downtown campuses. Tulane is a member of the Association of American Universities and is included in the 2% of universities ranked by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as universities with “very high research activity.”
This past year, Tulane was awarded a $23 million grant in 2024 for the MAGIC-SCAN project, which focuses on “improving cancer surgery outcomes,” and also renamed its School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine to the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine to honor alumna Celia Scott Weatherhead’s lifetime support of over $160 million to Tulane, which is supporting Tulane’s status as a top research institution by establishing cancer control and climate change research hubs.
According to the AD Scientific Index, 47 of the top 100 cited Tulane researchers belong to the medical and health sciences category, with 23 of the top 100 cited researchers belonging to the natural sciences and engineering and technology categories.
Using indicators such as the H-index, the AD Scientific Index ranks scientists according to their publication citations. The H-index was developed by Jorge Hirsch in 2005 as a method of quantifying the relevance of scientific research and is determined by using citation counts per number of papers written. The value “H” equals the greatest number of publications with H or more citations. Similarly, the i10 index represents the number of publications with 10 or more citations.
Dr. Charles Zeanah, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics as well as the director of the Infant Institute at Tulane, is ranked third with an i10 index of 309 and an H-index of 117. Dr. Zeanah studies “infant mental health and adverse early experiences.” His work focuses on designing interventions towards recovery in young children as well as approaches to understanding early childhood disorders.
All 100 researchers have an i10 index over 50 and an H-index over 30.
Dr. Jay Kolls is ranked second according to the index, the highest-ranking active professor at Tulane. Dr. Kolls is a professor of medicine and pediatrics and John W Deming Endowed Chair in internal medicine. A member of the American Thoracic Society since 1989 and a member of the Tulane Cancer Center, Dr. Kolls’ research focuses on host susceptibility to infection and the “mechanisms of mucosal host defenses” in the lungs of normal and immunocompromised patients. Dr. Kolls received a $6 million Outstanding Investigator award from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in 2018 to fund a seven-year research program to investigate immune system responses in the lungs and how to trigger those responses to combat lung infections.
Former Tulane professor of epidemiology Dr. Jiang He tops the chart with over 175,000 citations along with an i10 index of 696 and H-index of 158. Dr. He studies the “epidemiology and prevention of chronic diseases” using both clinical trials and translational and implementation research. The most cited researcher from Tulane, Dr. He received over $200 million in research funding over the course of 20 years and received Tulane’s Research Hall of Fame award, publishing approximately 700 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. He stepped down from his role as chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 2023 after 20 years in the role.
Researchers have posited concerns regarding rankings such as the AD Scientific Index due to the unclear parameters used for ranking, including the reliability of the H-index.
Since the H-index does not rely on citation count averages, it does not account for outliers such as one publication being significantly more popular than another, which can skew the data. Because the H-index can be used to represent a researcher’s entire career, rankings based on H-indexes can tend to favor longer-working researchers, posing a disadvantage to new scientists. Citation databases can also include self-citations, inflating the relevance of a publication in the scientific field.
The most common method to determine H-indexes is through Google Scholar, a free search engine whose role in systematic reviews is up for debate along with other online databases. As these databases and ranking systems can charge subscription fees and are not always peer-reviewed, some have deemed databases such as the AD Scientific Index as “predatory rankings” meant to misrepresent information for financial gain.
Despite its limitations, the H-index still impacts researcher rankings as well as university rankings, which rely on the role of citations and citation impact. A high H-index can also correlate with rates of success and acceptance into fellowships and research positions as well as the chance of receiving a Nobel Prize.
This data was collected in April of 2025 using AD Scientific Index.
