Abstract
This study aimed to explore the determinants of quality, quantity, impact, and excellence of the research produced by the most productive and the highly cited researchers of Pakistan. The study also presented the profile of these impactful and the most prolific researchers of Pakistan. 134 highly cited and the most productive researchers constitute a group of PERs (Pakistani elite researchers). This group of elite researchers produced one-fourth of the country's scholarly research and received 40% citations' share over the period of study, from 2009 to 2018. Based on its findings the study provided multiple policy recommendations for researchers, research institutes, policy-makers, the government of Pakistan, and the administrators of universities. The study recommended the researchers to collaborate internationally and publish their research in good quality and open access journals for greater visibility and impact. The study further recommended enhancing the academic-corporate collaboration for user insight-based research. The study found that Islamabad based academic institutions have employed almost half of the elite researchers while the rest half of these researchers are affiliated with the institutions of the rest of the whole country. The majority of the journals publishing scholarly output of Pakistani elite researchers are based in the USA and European countries. Only 12 (0.32%) journals belonged to Pakistan. Besides international collaboration, industry collaboration was in place for this group of elite researchers. The key determinants of research quantity/quality, impact, and excellence were publications published in 1st and 2nd journals quartiles, journals having impact factor/citescore, open access publications, and international collaborations.