Hunan University (HNU) ranked the 23rd among all Chinese universities, according to the list of Most Cited Chinese Researchers released by Elsevier on February 27, 2017. Sixteen HNU researchers in nine professional sectors were selected on the list:

Zeng Guangming in environmental sciences, Tang Guangfa in general engineering, Guo Shangjiang in mathematics, Shi Caijun in civil construction, Han Zhiyu in automotive engineering, Han Xu in mechanical engineering, Tan Weihong, Yang Shicheng, Yu Ruqin, Chen Jinhua, Li Jinheng, Shen Guoli, and Wang Kemin in chemistry, Xiao Yan, and Yi Weijian in civil engineering and structure, and Li Shutao in computer science.

The list updated the results in 2015, to recommend 1,776 most influential Chinese researchers worldwide to the academic circles and the public.

"Most cited researchers” refers to those whose papers, written by them as the first or corresponding author, have been cited for most times in comparison with all Chinese (mainland) researchers in respective disciplines. It indicates that the listed researchers are worldly influential, and their research results are remarkably contributive to the professional sectors.

The list was based on data from Elsevier’s Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature.

Elsevier is one of the world’s major providers of scientific, technical, and medical information and a technology company. Its products include journals such as The Lancet and Cell, the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, the Trends and Current Opinion series of journals, and the online citation database Scopus. Scopus covers nearly 22,000 titles from over 5,000 publishers, of which 20,000 are peer-reviewed journals in the scientific, technical, medical, and social sciences (including arts and humanities).