Corvinus Rector tops Hungary’s rankings in Research.com’s world evaluation of economics researchers
Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Rector of Corvinus University of Budapest, has been ranked as Hungary’s highest-rated researcher in both Research.com’s 2026 international ranking for Economics and Finance and its ranking for Business and Management. In the two categories, the academic platform evaluated more than 3,000 leading economics researchers from around the world in each field, with only four researchers from Hungary included across the rankings published in mid-April.
Research.com’s scientist rankings cover 26 academic fields and take researchers’ citation impact into account. They examine how many publications a researcher has in a given field that have been cited at least the same number of times. This is expressed by the so-called D-index, also known as the discipline-specific H-index: for example, if someone has an H-index of 10 in a particular field, this means they have at least 10 publications that have each been cited at least 10 times. The indicator is calculated based on data available as of 12 January 2026, using multiple databases. Only researchers with an index of at least 30 were eligible for inclusion in the rankings, but the share of their work specifically within the given discipline, as well as their recognition and awards, were also taken into account.
Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Rector of Corvinus University of Budapest, whose research focuses on innovation and patents, ranked first in Hungary in Economics and Finance, and 1,223rd globally. He also leads the Hungarian ranking in Business and Management, where he placed 979th internationally. His D-index is 50 and 49 in the two rankings, with around 11,000 citations in both fields.
“I am very pleased and proud of this result. It is an important recognition for me personally, but it also strengthens the international visibility and prestige of Corvinus University of Budapest and Hungary,” said Bruno van Pottelsberghe, rector of Corvinus.
Regarding Hungary’s Economics and Finance ranking, heath economics researcher Zoltán Kaló of Semmelweis University came second, placing 2,819th globally. Third place in the national ranking went to Imre Fertő, also affiliated with Corvinus, which corresponds to 3,280th place in the global ranking, with a D-index of 31 and more than 4,000 citations. In addition to his position at ELTE, Imre Fertő is a professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at Corvinus and head of the Corvinus Doctoral Programme in Sustainability Management.
A researcher with ties to Corvinus also ranks third in the global Economics and Finance list: Nobel laureate James J. Heckman, Professor at the University of Chicago, is an honorary doctor of Corvinus and plays a leading role in the long-term research collaboration launched in 2024 between Corvinus and the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago. He has a D-index of 182 and more than 264,000 citations. The first and second places in the global ranking are held by Joseph E. Stiglitz of Columbia University and Andrei Shleifer of Harvard University.
The other Hungary-based researcher included in the Business and Management ranking is László Szerb of the University of Pécs, who placed 1,794th globally. The world’s top-ranked researcher in this field is David B. Audretsch of Indiana University.
A Corvinus researcher was also included in the Computer Science ranking, which evaluated 12,000 scientists: Péter Baranyi placed sixth on the 12-member Hungarian list, corresponding to 8,147th globally, with a D-index of 42. In this category, the Hungarian ranking is led by Amir Mosavi of Óbuda University, while globally Yoshua Bengio of the University of Montreal was ranked first.