Prof. Dr. Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul Islam Ripon of the Department of Disaster Science and Management at Bangladesh’s Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur (BRUR), had been secured a place for the fourth consecutive time in the list of the world’s top 2% scientists prepared by Stanford University, USA, and the Dutch academic publishing company Elsevier.
At the same time, Dr. Md. Ferdous Rahman, Proctor of the university and Associate Professor of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), had also been ranked on this list. Alongside them, Abhijit Ghosh, a student of the same department from the 2017–18 academic session, had also been included—an extraordinary feat for the university’s students.
According to the list, Dr. Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul had been ranked among the world’s top 2% scientists for 2022, 2023, 2024, and now again in 2025. His main field of work was Geography and Environmental Science. Within the Environmental Science sub-field, his overall ranking was 282. He stands 28th in the sub-field’s H-index and 14th in the HM-index.
Meanwhile, in 2024 and 2025, BRUR Proctor, Dr. Md. Ferdous Rahman was listed for his contribution to the main field of Physics and Astronomy. In the sub-field of Applied Physics, his ranking was 595. In this sub-field’s H-index, he was positioned 30th, and in the HM-index, 8th.
Similarly, in 2025, Abhijit Ghosh, a student of Dr. Ferdous Rahman, secured his place in the same list for his work in Physics and Astronomy. In the sub-field of Applied Physics, he ranked 4032nd. In the sub-field’s H-index, he was 17th, and in the HM-index, an impressive 3rd.
Speaking about being listed among the world’s best scientists, Prof. Dr. Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul Islam Ripon said, “I am very happy to have been listed again. Being included in this list four times in a row, feels like the true recognition of my hard work.”
He added, “It feels wonderful that one of our students has also made it to this list. I believe more researchers from Begum Rokeya University will continue to achieve such recognition through their work.”
Dr. Ferdous Rahman said, “As a teacher and researcher of Begum Rokeya University, this achievement is a matter of great pride for me. I hope we can continue this endeavor. Alongside my colleagues, our students too are now proving their abilities in research. I believe the number will continue to grow.”
Abhijit Ghosh, former EEE student of BRUR and now listed in the ranking, said, “I have been involved in research for the past two and a half years. I never imagined that within such a short time I would be included in the world’s top 2% listed scientists.”
Expressing gratitude to his research supervisor, he said:
“I first learned that I was on the list through my supervisor Ferdous Sir’s Facebook post. For this, I am deeply grateful to him and to my other collaborators in research. Their inspiration and support have brought me this far. I hope to continue such works in the future.”
Prof. Dr. Md. Showkat Ali, Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Begum Rokeya University, said, “Such news is truly delightful. We congratulate all the researchers from BRUR, who have been listed among the world’s top 2% scientists.”
“I believe that those involved in research at Begum Rokeya University will maintain this consistency in their work. Both teachers and students will play a decisive role in bringing the university’s name to the global stage,” commented the VC.
It is worth noting that USA’s California-based Stanford University and Netherlands’ academic publicaction organization Elsevier jointly publish the world’s top 2% scientists list every year. This ranking is prepared by evaluating the quality of citations of the researchers’ publications worldwide. Based on Scopus-indexed research articles, scientists are categorized into 22 scientific fields and 176 sub-fields, covering both career-long and annual research performance. Each year, nearly 400,000 researchers are included to this list.
Despite insufficient budget allocations and other limitations in the research sector, the achievements of Dr. Abu Reza Md. Toufiqul, Dr. Ferdous Rahman, and Abhijit Ghosh will inspire other researchers at Begum Rokeya University, opined local experts. They further suggested that such achievements could also draw the attention of authorities toward greater government investment in research.
Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur was established by the caretaker government of Bangladesh in 2008 at the country’s northern division Rangpur. Since then, the university is playing a pivotal role to spread the light of higher knowledge in the region. More than 7000 students are studying at the university now.