Six professors from the University of Science and Technology of China were named as Highly Cited Researchers, a yearly distinction released by Thomson Reuters.

A total of 143 Chinese researchers were named in the list, while the number of USTC is the largest among all Chinese universities.

Among the six professors, Pan Jianwei, Chen Xianhui and Wang Xiangfeng majored in physics, Wu Yuanbao and Zheng Yongfei in geosciences and Yu Shuhong in material science.

The Highly Cited Researchers 2014 list included more than 3,000 people who represent some of world's leading scientific minds.

The researchers earned the distinction by writing the greatest number of reports officially designated by Essential Science Indicators as Highly Cited Papers - ranking among the top 1 percent most cited for their subject field and year of publication, earning them the mark of exceptional impact.

Citation is a type of recognition by peers who give credit to the authors. Scientists named as the highly cited researchers were acknowledged as people of influence in science. The books or papers published by them were recognized by their peers as vital to the advancement of scientific research.

As one of the top universities in China, USTC, based in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province, has been renowned for scientific strength since it was founded in 1958.

USTC is on track to become one of the most influential universities in China and Asia, in terms of academic research.

The university's 37 academic papers published on Nature and 17 Nature research journals in 2013 ranked it the first among all Chinese universities and ninth among all Asian academic institutes in terms of the Nature Publishing Index 2013 Asia-Pacific.

"Quality and total output of papers should have equal importance attached, while pursuit of more original innovation should be the main task of Chinese scientists," said Yu Shuhong, a material science professor at USTC, earlier this year, after the release of the NPI ranking.