Featured Analyses
ANALYZING TRENDS IN SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE AND THE ENTERPRISE OF SCIENCE AS A WHOLE
This section of ScienceWatch.com contains articles drawing on Thomson Reuters unique store of publication and citation statistics. Whether surveying a specific subject area and ranking its most-cited researchers and institutions, or assessing the output and impact of research in a given nation or region, or analyzing trends in the scientific literature and the enterprise of science as a whole—each article is grounded in Thomson Reuters data.
In particular, citation analysis provides authority in reflecting the judgments that scientists themselves make in acknowledging the published research that they view as the most significant and useful.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
Chemistry, At the Highest Level
by Christopher King
Marking the designation of 2011 by UNESCO and IUPAC as
the International Year of Chemistry, Science Watch identifies
a selection of significant institutional players and international
trends in the main field of chemistry, according to publications and
citations recorded in a broad selection of chemistry journals over the
last decade. Internationally, the Asia Pacific group of nations, as a
whole, has made a notable increase in its percentage of the overall
field in recent years.View Article
JULY/AUGUST 2011
For High-Impact Forensics, The Clues Point to Europe
by Christopher King
A survey of research in legal medicine and forensic
science since 2001 highlights a particularly European concentration in
this subject area, with many high-impact institutions situated in
Western Europe—notably, in Germany. The majority of highly cited
authors, similarly, are affiliated with Europe-based institutions.
Among the topics of the field’s most-cited papers are short
tandem repeats, the patterns of repeating nucleotides used in DNA
profiling.View Article
MAY/JUNE 2011
Tracking Singapore’s Rise
by Christopher King
In recent years, Singapore has substantially increased
its output of published papers, along with its overall share of world
scientific literature. In particular, Singapore demonstrates a
concentration in physical and applied sciences, with its largest
representation in the “hardware” sub-field of computer
science. In these fields, as well as in various specialty areas in
biomedicine, the citation impact of Singapore’s research exceeds
the world average.View Article
MARCH/APRIL 2011
The Hottest Research of 2010
by Christopher King
Science Watch offers its annual survey of the foregoing
year’s hottest research, featuring the scientists whose recent
papers were highly cited on a consistent basis, and presenting the
papers published during 2010 that were most cited by year’s end.
Among the featured scientists, geneticist Eric Lander (pictured left),
epidemiologist Rory Collins, and materials expert Andre K. Geim
returned to the list after appearances in previous years.View Article
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
Astronomy: Surveying the Surveys
by Christopher King
A survey of astronomical survey reports published since
2000 drew upon some 7,000 papers devoted to such endeavors as the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Two Micron All Sky Survey, the 2dF
Galaxy Redshift Survey, and others. Of institutions whose researchers
participated in the large, international collaborations on these
missions, Princeton University and Eotvos Lorand University of Hungary
achieved particular distinction in terms of highly cited work.View Article
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010
Middle East Revisited: Iran's Steep Climb
by Christopher King
Following up on a survey first conducted in 2003,
Science Watch® examines a small group of
Middle Eastern nations, assessing their scientific output,
concentration, and impact. Of these selected nations, Iran achieves
particular distinction, thanks to its steep rise in the production of
published reports in the last few years. Some of the other nations,
such as Syria and Oman, despite smaller output of papers, also score
with relatively high impact in given fields.View Article
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010
In Latest "Top Ten" Roundup, Harvard Holds the High Ground
by Christopher King
In the latest installment of a series that has appeared
every four years since 1994, Science Watch ranks the Top Ten U.S.
universities in 21 main fields according to “relative
impact”—an assessment of each university’s
cites-per-paper mark compared to the world impact average for the
field. Overall, Harvard University registers most strongly, appearing
in 17 of the 21 Top Ten listings, including seven of the nine
biological-sciences fields presented here.View Article
JULY/AUGUST2010
Where Everything Old is News
by Christopher King
To survey research in geriatrics and gerontology over the
last decade, Science Watch© culled more than
50,000 papers published between 2000 and 2009 in specialty journals
devoted to research on aging. Among institutions, the U.S. National
Institute on Aging ranked #1 by both the measure of total citations
and cites per paper. “Alzheimer’s” was the most
frequently appearing keyword, and the most-cited publication was the
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.View Article
MAY/JUNE 2010
South African Science: Signs of Progress
by Christopher King
A survey of science in South Africa shows that the nation
has increased its output of papers in the last few years, and that the
citation impact of those papers exceeds the world average in several
main fields. This performance is in sharp contrast to a previous
survey in 1995, at which time South Africa, still emerging from the
international isolation caused by its policy of apartheid, was notably
weaker in science.View Article
MARCH/APRIL 2010
The Hottest Research of 2009
by Christopher King
The annual Science Watch survey of the foregoing
year’s hottest research demonstrates that reprogrammed
fibroblast cells, genomics, and graphene repeat their strong showing
from last year, as do several of the featured authors, including
Rudolf Jaenisch (pictured) and Andre Geim. Among 2009’s
most-cited reports, the five-year data release from the Wilkinson
Microwave Anisotropy Probe accounted for three of the year’s top
ten papers.View Article
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010
Accomplished in Technology: Taiwan’s Research Upswing
by Christopher King
Analysis of Taiwan’s scientific output and
concentration since the early 1990s demonstrates that the nation has
been consistently rising in its number of published papers and its
representation in world science, particularly in engineering, computer
science, and materials. In the life sciences, Taiwan’s output
has also noticeably increased in clinical medicine.View Article
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009
Climate Change Research
by Christopher King
To assess research into climate change and global warming
over the last decade, Science Watch examined some 28,000
pertinent papers published between 1999 and the spring of 2009. Among
institutions, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the
Smithsonian Institution distinguished themselves in terms of citation
impact. The featured highly cited researchers represent not only
climate science but such specialties as marine science, geography, and
evolutionary biology.View Article
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009
Austrian Science: Ascendant in Impact
by Christopher King
A survey of research from Austria since 1985 indicates
that the nation’s overall scientific impact has been rising
steadily, from a point well below the world average to a current
standing that exceeds the world average and also outstrips the impact
score for the combined European Union nations. In particular, the
impact of Austrian physics papers has been impressive in surpassing
the world average, while, since the 1980s, clinical medicine has
improved the most markedly in impact.View Article
JULY/AUGUST 2009
Brazilian Science on the Rise
by Christopher King
An assessment of Brazilian research over the last two
decades reveals that the nation has steadily increased its output of
scientific papers and its presence in world science, as gauged by
Thomson
Reuters-indexed literature. As one of the so-called BRIC nations
(along with Russia, India, and China), Brazil bears close watching, as
its resources and potential for growth are expected to make it a
significant player in the world economy in the decades ahead.View Article
MAY/JUNE 2009
Thought Leaders in the Unthinkable
by Christopher King
A survey of bioterrorism research since 1999 reveals that
the U.S. Army leads all other institutions in total citations, while
The Institute for Genomic Research is tops by the measure of citations
per paper. Highly cited papers include biochemical and genomic studies
of anthrax, smallpox, tularemia, and other agents. Other papers
examine methods for detecting pathogens by various technologies and
discuss general issues of preparedness and emergency management.View Article
MARCH/APRIL 2009
The Hottest Research of 2007-08
by Christopher King
The customary annual roundup of recent research
highlights the scientists who fielded the greatest number of Hot
Papers during the last year, and also lists the papers published in
2008 that were most cited by year's end. In the latter group, the
physical sciences are especially prominent, notably in reports on
iron-based superconductors and on recent refinements to the branch of
string theory known as M-theory.View Article
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009
Despite Slide in World Share, U.S. Impact Still Looks Strong
by Christopher King
Graphing and comparing the year-by-year percentage share
of world scientific papers for the United States, the Asia Pacific
region, and the European Union since 1993 indicates that the U.S. is
continuing to lose world share, particularly to the collective Asian
nations. Nevertheless, the citation impact of U.S. research remains
strong when compared to world baseline figures in the main fields of
science, particularly in physics, chemistry, and materials.View Article
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008
Energy Gauge: Who Exactly Is In Power?
by Christopher King
To survey Energy & Fuels research in recent years,
Science Watch collected more than 100,000 pertinent papers
indexed by Thomson
Reuters since 1998. From this body of work, the most highly cited
institutions, authors, and journals were identified. Among
institutions, the U.S. national laboratories stand out, as do a number
of universities, especially Princeton University, Pennsylvania State
University, and Imperial College London.View Article
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008
India's New Millennium in Science
by Christopher King
After a long period of sluggish growth, India's output of
papers has risen sharply since the year 2000, while the citation
impact of the nation's research has also been trending upward, notably
in such fields as physics, materials, and other specialty areas in the
physical sciences. Figures also suggest that India-based authors are
collaborating at an increasing rate with multinational
coauthors.View Article
JULY/AUGUST 2008
With Output and Impact Rising, China's Science Surge Rolls On
by Christopher King
A survey of research from the People’s Republic of
China indicates that the nation has dramatically increased its
production of scientific papers in recent years, with its 2007 output
now surpassing all other nations except the United States. The
citation impact of China-based research is also rising steadily.View Article
MAY/JUNE 2008
The U.K.'s Citation Elite, 2003-07
by Christopher King
According to a survey of high-impact United Kingdom
research based on highly cited papers published between 2003 and 2007,
the universities of Oxford and Cambridge achieved the highest overall
citation totals, while the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and
European Bioinformatics Institute were tops in cites-per-paper
scores.View Article
MARCH/APRIL 2008
The Hottest Research of 2006-07
by Christopher King
In its annual roundup of the hottest of recent research,
the Science Watch® Newsletter presents the
authors who fielded the highest numbers of Hot Papers during 2007,
along with the papers published in 2007 that were most cited by
year’s end. Notable on the list of authors is Osaka
University’s Shizuo Akira, who has now achieved the “hot
author” distinction for four consecutive years.View Article
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008
Sequencing Biology’s Hottest, 2002-0
by Christopher King
A survey of high-impact papers published in molecular
biology & genetics between 2002 and 2006 determines that the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute collected the highest number of
citations, while the University of California, Santa Cruz, was highest
in impact.View Article
Featured IMage: Seeds are encased in acrylic poles used for the facade of the Seed Cathedral, the centerpiece of the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site, in Shanghai March 15, 2010. The 20-meter-high cube-like Seed Cathedral is covered by 60,000 slim, transparent acrylic rods, which will quiver in the breeze, according to the official website of Shanghai Expo. REUTERS/Aly Song.
