Joël Billieux was cited by other researchers in academic journals 434% more than the average expected in his field, according to the Field-Weighted Citation Impact index.  The FWCI ratings are produced by Elsevier, a scientific publishing and data firm.

According to a University of Luxembourg press release issued on 17 April:

“Prof Billieux’s FWCI index of 4.34 shows that his publications are being cited over four times more than the average for similar publications on a global level, making him one of the most influent researcher in today’s research in psychology.”

Billieux stated in the announcement:

“This ranking is an outstanding recognition for the quality of the work we conducted in the last years, as well as the growing importance and visibility of addictive and compulsive behaviors in the psychology field. It is ought to mention that this ranking reflects the performance of a team, and this would not have been possible without the commitment and passion of the PhD students and post-doc I had the pleasure to supervise in the last years.”

Billieux is an associate professor of clinical psychology and director of the university’s Addictive and Compulsive Behaviours Lab. His research focusses on the causes, testing and treatment of “problematic” use of technologies such as mobile phones, video games, social media, and internet gaming and shopping, among other areas.