PAU Scientist Dr Rajinder Kumar Dhall Named Among World’s Top 2% Scientists for Third Consecutive Year

Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) scientist Dr Rajinder Kumar Dhall has been named among the world’s top 2 per cent scientists in the 2026 Stanford University–Elsevier ranking, marking his third consecutive year on the prestigious list.

Dr Dhall, Principal Olericulturist in PAU’s Department of Vegetable Science, has earned international recognition for his research in vegetable science and crop improvement. He is the first scientist from the university’s College of Horticulture and Forestry to achieve this distinction.

The global ranking identifies influential researchers using standardised citation indicators that reflect the reach and impact of their scientific contributions.

Dr Dhall has published 157 research papers in reputed national and international journals, accumulating more than 3,040 citations. His research profile includes an h-index of 24 and an i10-index of 48.

His work has contributed to the development of improved vegetable varieties, particularly in peas, garlic and cucumber, with practical benefits for farmers. His notable achievements include four pea varieties — Matar Ageta-7, Matar Ageta-8, Punjab-90 and Punjab Mithi Phali-3 — along with the garlic variety PG-18, a Chinese cabbage variety and two parthenocarpic cucumber cultivars, Punjab Kheera-1 and hybrid PKH-11.

Matar Ageta-7 has received national-level identification and reportedly accounts for more than 70 per cent of the pea-growing area in Madhya Pradesh. The popularity of his pea and cucumber varieties has also prompted PAU to enter into memoranda of agreement with private seed companies to improve their availability to farmers.

Dr Dhall’s international academic experience includes a six-month stint as a Visiting Research Scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the United States and advanced training in Israel.

His honours include the Hans Raj Pahwa Award for Research Contribution in Horticulture for 2016–17, Fellowship of the Indian Society of Vegetable Science in 2021, Fellowship of the Society of Plant Research in 2025 and Springer Nature’s Editor of Distinction Award in 2026.

He has reviewed more than 150 research manuscripts for leading academic publishers, including Springer Nature, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Wiley and Oxford Academic. He also serves on the editorial board of BMC Plant Biology and has evaluated more than 100 accessions for plant germplasm registration at the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources in New Delhi.

Congratulating Dr Dhall, PAU Vice-Chancellor Sukhjeet Pal Singh, IAS, praised his sustained research excellence and the international recognition it had brought to the university. Director of Research Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt, Dean of the College of Horticulture and Forestry Dr Rishi Indra Singh Gill, and Head of the Department of Vegetable Science Dr Satpal Sharma also lauded his contributions to vegetable crop improvement and the application of scientific research to farmers’ needs.