Dr. Li Sanzhong, a professor in the College of Marine Geosciences at Ocean University of China (OUC), was recognized in Thomson Reuters’ list of Highly Cited Researchers in 2015 for exceptional impact in his fields. Prof. Li was the first OUC scientist who earned the 2015 Thompson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers award. 

Among the 2,975 scientists and scholars who earned this distinction in 2015, 148 are from China, 12 of them are engaged in the field of geosciences, including two from the University of Hong Kong.

Prof. Li Sanzhong’s research fields include Precambrian Geology, Structural Geology and Tectonics, and Marine Geology. Over the past 20 years, Prof. Li has focused his research on pre-plate tectonics, deep subduction processes of continental crust, intraplate deformation mechanisms as these issues cannot be satisfactorily explained by the Plate Tectonics Theory.

Prof. Li started to cooperate with Prof. Zhao Guochun, Prof. Sun Min from the University of Hong Kong in 2002, in the field of Precambrian Geology, particularly in Precambrian geodynamics which cannot be fully explained by Plate Tectonics Theory. 

So far, he has published more than 330 scientific papers, over 120 of them are SCI-indexed. He proposed firstly that the Jiao-Liao-Ji Belt in the Eastern Block of the North China Craton was intracontinental orogen, based on which he made a big contribution to reveal the Paleoproterozoic tectonic evolutionary history of the North China Craton and to reconstruct Supercontinent Columbia as an important investigator. After the associated declaration, Professors Zhao, Sun and Li won Second Class National Prize of Natural Science of China in the spring of 2014. 

In addition, Prof. Li Sanzhong has also achieved success in the research of continental orogens. He won the Second Class Prize of natural science in Shandong Province as the first investigator in 2009. Recently he won the Second Prize of natural science awarded by the Ministry of Land and Resources as the co-investigator in 2015. Prof. Li is currently working on a new research project in Marine Geodynamics, focusing on tectonics of the Western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. 

Highly Cited Researchers launched by Thomson Reuters is an annual list recognizing leading researchers in 21 main fields of natural and social sciences. Highly Cited Papers are defined as those that rank in the top 1% by citations and these data derive from Essential Science Indicators (ESI). Those researchers who, within an ESI-defined field, published Highly Cited Papers were judged to be influential in the world academic community. 

Translated by Ellen GUO

Proofread by William ZOU