According to a recent analysis of data from
Essential Science Indicators from
Thomson
Reuters, the University of Maribor has entered
the
top 1% of institutions in the field of
Physics—and of the nine institutions entering the
top 1% in this field, the University of Maribor did so
with the highest number of citations.
The University's current citation record in Physics includes 511 papers
cited 4,580 times between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2007. In
addition to these papers, officials at the university have also identified
50 other papers with a total of 526 citations, which have been classified
in other fields in the database but that actually stem from their
physicists.
In the interview below, Prof. Dr. Natasa
Vaupotic, the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and
Mathematics, talks with ScienceWatch.com about the
development of physics research at the University of
Maribor.
Are there specific areas of research within the
realm of Physics on which the University of Maribor particularly
focuses?
The physicists at the University of Maribor work in the following major
fields: theoretical physics, medium- and high-energy physics, experimental
physics of elementary particles, condensed and soft matter physics, and
biophysics.
How do you account for the University of Maribor's
increase in the number of citations in the field of Physics in recent
years? Does this reflect a deliberate plan to enhance the University's
research effort in this field, or was this an unexpectedly happy
development? What factors or circumstances led the University to its
work in this field?
The increase in the number of citations is due to the systematic
development of research in physics. In the past there were only a few
physicists at the University of Maribor and they were only a support to
study programs and research at the technical faculties which cover the
fields of electrical, civil, and mechanical engineering.
In the past two decades several new physicists came to the University whose
research work was originally strongly connected to the research at the
Institute Jozef Stefan in Ljubljana. Although most of the physicists in
Maribor are still partly engaged in the research at that institute, they
have, in these years, developed their unique field of research at the
University of Maribor, and can now be considered in an equal partnership
with the Institute Jozef Stefan in the fields of condensed and soft matter
physics and biophysics.
"We believe
that interdisciplinary physics is
going to become the dominant and
strongest research and educational
activity in physics at the
University of Maribor..."
The development of theoretical physics began in the 1990s when the Center
for Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics was established at the
University of Maribor. The Center has since become a frontier center in
theoretical physics in Slovenia. Several top scientists in the field of
theoretical physics are originating from this Center, beginning their
research work in the Center as young researchers or postdocs from Slovenia
and from abroad (Italy, Germany, Belarus, PR China, and Singapore).
The field of biophysics started to develop at the University of Maribor in
the 1990s with the first graduate students of physics at the University. At
that time the graduate study of physics was at the Faculty of Education,
the faculty which, in 2007, transformed into several faculties, one of them
being the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Research in
biophysics was further enhanced by the establishment of the Medical Faculty
in 2003 and the Faculty of Health Sciences in 2007. At this stage the
University of Maribor is becoming an important institution in the field of
biophysics.
Medium- and high-energy physics has developed at the Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering within a research group that includes Universities of Maribor,
Ljubljana, and Nova Gorica, as well as the Institute Jozef Stefan.
Research in experimental physics of elementary particles is a result of the
international collaborations, primarily with the Bell Collaboration and the
HERAB Collaboration.
What is your prediction for the state of our knowledge
about this particular field 10 years from now?
We are now preparing a new Ph.D. study program in Physics, which is going
to bring all physicists at the University of Maribor together. We are also
working on the improvement of our research infrastructure (laboratories).
So, because of all these activities we can safely predict that the research
in physics is going to further increase at the University in the coming
years.
What research fields or capabilities do you see as
critical for the future of the University? What are the implications
of the University's work for the future of this particular field or
neighboring fields?
All the research fields discussed above are essential for the future
development of the University of Maribor. However, the fields that are
inherent to our university—namely theoretical physics, condensed and
soft matter physics, and biophysics—are those in which the University
endeavors to become even better known in the international physical
community, by offering these areas even stronger support.
The graduate studies of Physics at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and
Mathematics and the graduate studies at the Medical and Engineering
Faculties will lead to new doctors of science in the field of physics and
related fields, especially in the context of interdisciplinary research.
This will increase the number of researchers in the fields and will foster
infrastructure and research in the natural sciences. We believe that
interdisciplinary physics is going to become the dominant and strongest
research and educational activity in physics at the University of Maribor,
in which the Center for Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
continues to play a key role, also by organizing international scientific
conferences and schools.
Prof. Dr. Natasa Vaupotic, Dean
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
University of Maribor
Maribor, Slovenia
University of
Maribor's most-cited paper with
240 cites to date:
Cvetic M, Shiu G, Uranga AM, “Chiral four-dimensional
N=1 supersymmetric type IIA orientifolds from intersecting
D6-branes,” Nucl. Phys. B 615(1-3): 3-32, 12
November 2001. Source:
Essential Science Indicators
from
Clarivate.