The Australian, the most widely read national daily newspaper in Australia, last week announced its "2026 Research magazine" – a list of the country's most influential universities and researchers for 2026.
This marks the eighth time the newspaper has published this list. It is based on the number of citations for articles published in 20 leading journals in each field over the past 5 years, using data from Google Scholar.
Researchers were honored across 250 specialties within eight fields: Business, Economics and Management; Chemical and Materials Sciences; Engineering and Computer Science; Medical and Health Sciences; Humanities, Literature and Arts; Life and Earth Sciences; Physics and Mathematics; and Social Sciences.
Vinh was recognized as the most influential researcher in organic chemistry, a specialty within Chemical and Materials Sciences.
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Associate Professor Nguyen Thanh Vinh. Photo: UNSW Sydney website |
Associate Professor Nguyen Thanh Vinh. Photo: UNSW Sydney website
Nguyen Thanh Vinh currently serves as an associate professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), an institution ranked among the top 20 globally by the QS 2026 rankings. His research primarily focuses on organocatalysis, aromatic cation activation, the synthesis of natural and biologically active compounds, asymmetric synthesis, and medicinal chemistry.
Previously, Vinh was an alumnus of Lam Son High School for the Gifted in Thanh Hoa. In 2000, he was the runner-up of the first season of the Road to Olympia competition and one of four members of the Vietnam team that competed in the International Chemistry Olympiad, earning a silver medal. He also became known to the 8X generation (those born in the 1980s) for his role as Nam in the film 'Phia truoc la bau troi'.
In 2001, Vinh studied Industrial Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, then earned a doctoral degree in organic chemistry from the Australian National University. He began teaching at UNSW in 2015.
Beyond Vinh, The Australian also recognized five other researchers of Vietnamese origin. Specifically:
| No. | Name | Affiliation | Field | Specialty |
| 1 | Dinh Phan | La Trobe University | Business, Economics and Management | International Business |
| 2 | Sara Quach | Griffith University | Business, Economics and Management | Marketing |
| 3 | Vinh Nguyen | University of New South Wales Sydney | Chemical and Materials Sciences | Organic Chemistry |
| 4 | Kiet Tieu | University of Wollongong | Engineering and Computer Science | Mechanical Engineering |
| 5 | Thuc Duy Le | University of South Australia | Engineering and Computer Science | Bioinformatics & Computational Biology |
| 6 | Bui Minh | Australian National University | Life and Earth Sciences | Evolutionary Biology |
The citation index of a publication, proposed in 1955, refers to the number of times it has been cited or referenced in other publications. Since then, it has been an important metric for evaluating research works and forms the basis for defining other metrics for journals and scientists.
Khanh Linh
