A Fiji-born Indian academic has been ranked among the top 25 young economists in the world by Research Papers in Economics.
Professor Paresh Kumar Narayan, 33, of the Deakin University in Victoria, Australia, is originally from Navua and was also educated in Suva, Fiji.
RePEc is the world's largest institute in terms of ranking academics and academic institutions - it ranks 16,200 individuals and 10,700 institutions.
The organisation ranks individuals provided they have RePEc-registered publications, which Prof Narayan registered for in 2007.
Prof Narayan, who is also Australia's youngest Professor of Finance at the age of 33, is listed among 200 other economists who had their first publication within the past 10 to 15 years.
"It is a significant achievement for an academic," said Prof Narayan, who is also the chair of finance at Deakin University.
"A high ranking means my work (published papers) is highly cited and read by researchers and policy makers from around the world," he told The Fiji Times.
"The Web of Science reports that my work is cited 70 times per week, which is an extremely high citation rate.
"Moreover, to be among the top 25 young economists and be the only one from Australia and the only Pacific Islander in a list dominated by Europeans and Americans is a significant boost for the region," Prof Narayan said.
Deakin University's Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law, Professor Gael McDonald, said the faculty was delighted at Prof Narayan's recognition.
She said it was a significant accolade given the number of economists operating in tertiary institutions throughout the world.
"The international recognition is undoubtedly well deserved. Professor Narayan has an impressive publication record, this is in addition to a host of emerging researchers who he actively mentors," Prof McDonald told The Fiji Times.
"Professor Narayan is known as a generous academic, who shares his time willingly with emerging researchers and academics both within Deakin and externally at other organisations."
Prof McDonald said the implication of the recognition was that Deakin University, the Faculty of Business and Law, and specifically the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, was known as an institution that valued and conducted insightful research. She said there were a number of economists within the faculty addressing real world problems "and to have someone of Prof Narayan's calibre in the faculty is clearly a valuable asset".
According to Wikipedia, Prof Narayan has published more than 130 papers in renowned journals all over the world.
He has written chapters in books like South Asia in the Era of Globalisation: Trade, Industrialisation and Welfare; Economic Impact of Fiji's Sugar Industry, CGE Modelling and Behaviour of J-Curve.
He is an adviser to Econtech, one of Australia's leading economic consultancy firms, and two years ago he won the prestigious Excellence in Research Award, which he received from the Emarld Institute, a leading publishing institute in United Kingdom.
- Timoci Vula, Fiji Times