Where Everything Old is News
Featured Analyses, July 2010
A couple walks along a dyke with spring flowers at the
North Sea coastal village of Norddeich April 26, 2010. REUTERS/Christian
Charisius.
With the world’s population aging at an unprecedented rate (according to a 2007 UN report, persons aged 60 years and older will account for nearly a quarter of humanity by 2050), and since we’re not getting any younger ourselves, the time seemed right for Science Watch® to examine recent research on age and aging.
Turning to the Thomson Reuters Web of Science® journal-classification category of "Geriatrics & Gerontology," and also gleaning pertinent reports from Nature, Science, the New England Journal of Medicine, and other multidisciplinary or general medical journals, Science Watch culled nearly 50,000 papers published between 2000 and 2009, with citations tallied through the end of 2009. From this collection, the most-cited institutions, authors, and journals were identified.
Table 1 (below) ranks institutions according to two separate measures: in the left column, by total citations, and, at right, by "impact," or citations per paper (among those institutions whose authors published at least 200 papers in geriatrics and gerontology during the ten-year period). Highly cited authors are listed in the tables 2 and 3 (below) while the most-cited journals appear in table 4 (below).
Of the highly cited reports in this survey, none surpassed the citation total of a 2000 review from Neurobiology of Aging: "Inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease," (21: 383-421, 2000), now cited more than 1,100 times. Participation in this blockbuster boosted the citation counts of several names on the list of highly cited researchers, including the paper’s first listed author, Haruhiko Akiyama, along with Greg M. Cole, Sally A. Frautschy, Caleb E. Finch, W. Sue T. Griffin, Robert E. Mrak, and corresponding author Joseph Rogers.
An elderly couple sit on a bench next crocus flowers
in a park in Duesseldorf March 17, 2010. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender
"Alzheimer’s," incidentally, was the most frequently occurring keyword in this selection of literature, appearing in upwards of 5,800 papers. Permutations incorporating the term "dementia" ranked next in prominence, with more than 4,300 appearances.
Among institutions, the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Bethesda, Maryland, wins indisputable bragging rights, appearing at #1 in both the total-citations and impact rankings, thanks to more than 13,000 collective citations to 860 reports. Of those reports, the most cited is a 2000 paper from the Journals of Gerontology Series A – Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences: "Lower extremity function and subsequent disability: Consistency across studies, predictive models, and value of gait speed alone compared with the short physical performance battery," (55: 221-31, 2000), now cited 280 times.
That report is also the most-cited paper of the last decade for the authors appearing respectively at #1 and #2 in this survey, the NIA’s Jack M. Guralnik and Luigi Ferrucci, as well as for another featured author, Suzanne G. Leveille of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston (#18).
Of the institutions ranked by impact, the University of Bologna scored at #2, with its most-cited paper being a 2000 report from Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, "Inflamm-aging: An evolutionary perspective on immunosenescence," (908: 244-54, 2000), cited more than 270 times. First author Claudio Franceschi appears at #6 on the list of highly cited researchers.
Wake Forest University also registered strongly by impact, ranking third, thanks to its researchers’ contributions to 416 papers, the most cited of which was another Journals of Gerontology – Series A report, "Frailty in older adults: Evidence for a phenotype," (56: 146-56, 2001), cited more than 420 times. (This paper’s first author, Linda P. Fried, of Columbia University, appears in the ranking at #3.)
As for journals (in the table above), the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society garnered the highest number of citations, surpassing 48,000. Its most-cited report of the last decade, "Guideline for the prevention of falls in older persons" (N. Lundebjerg, et al., 49: 664-72, 2001), has recorded more than 470 citations.
Select Table Index:
- Table 1: Most-Cited Journals in Geriatrics & Gerontology, 2000-2009
- Table 2: Geriatrics & Gerontology Research: Institutions Ranked by Citations
- Table 3: Geriatrics & Gerontology Research: Institutions Ranked by Citation Impact
- Table 4: Highly Cited Authors in Geriatrics & Gerontology, 2000-2009
Table 1
|
Most-Cited Journals in Geriatrics & Gerontology,
2000-2009 (Ranked by citations to papers published and cited between 2000 and 2009) |
||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Journal | Citations |
| 1 | J. American Geriatrics Society | 48,312 |
| 2 | Neurobiology of Aging | 31,743 |
| 3 | J. Gerontology A – Biol./Med. Sci. | 29,401 |
| 4 | Experimental Gerontology | 20,753 |
| 5 | Mechanisms of Aging & Devel. | 17,490 |
| 6 | Int. J. Geriatric Psychiatry | 16,464 |
| 7 | Amer. J. Geriatric Psychiatry | 11,925 |
| 8 | Age and Ageing | 10,622 |
| 9 | Maturitas | 10,344 |
| 10 | Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Dis. | 10,064 |
| 11 | J. Gerontology B – Psych./Soc. Sci. | 8,049 |
| 12 | Aging Cell | 7,503 |
| 13 | Drugs & Aging | 7,282 |
| 14 | Ageing Research Reviews | 4,591 |
| 15 | International Psychogeriatrics | 4,529 |
|
SOURCE: Thomson Reuters Web of Science® |
||
Table 2
|
Geriatrics & Gerontology Research: Institutions Ranked by Citations |
||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Institution | Citations |
| 1 | National Institute on Aging | 13,228 |
| 2 | Univ. Calif., Los Angeles | 9,365 |
| 3 | University of Pittsburgh | 8,955 |
| 4 | Johns Hopkins University | 8,794 |
| 5 | Harvard University | 8,359 |
| 6 | Univ. Calif., San Francisco | 7,040 |
| 7 | University of Washington | 6,106 |
| 8 | Duke University | 5,893 |
| 9 | University of Michigan | 5,550 |
| 10 | Wake Forest University | 5,331 |
| 11 | Veterans Admin. Med. Ctrs. | 5,261 |
| 12 | Vrije University Amsterdam | 4,868 |
| 13 | University of Pennsylvania | 4,203 |
| 14 | Univ. of Southern California | 4,178 |
| 15 | Univ. Texas, San Antonio | 4,117 |
| 16 | Boston University | 3,894 |
| 17 | University of Maryland | 3,854 |
| 18 | University College London | 3,751 |
| 19 | University of Minnesota | 3,667 |
| 20 | Yale University | 3,457 |
| 21 | Univ. Calif., San Diego | 3,368 |
| 22 | Brown University | 3,292 |
| 23 | McGill University | 3,209 |
| 24 | Saint Louis University | 3,154 |
| 25 | University of Toronto | 3,088 |
|
SOURCE: Thomson Reuters Web of Science® |
||
Table 3
|
Geriatrics & Gerontology Research: Institutions Ranked by Citation Impact |
||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Institution | Citations |
| 1 | National Institute on Aging | 15.38 |
| 2 | University of Bologna | 13.48 |
| 3 | Wake Forest University | 12.81 |
| 4 | Univ. Texas, San Antonio | 12.55 |
| 5 | Beth Israel Deaconness Med. Ctr. | 12.53 |
| 6 | Italian Natl. Res. Ctr. on Aging | 12.35 |
| 7 | University of Southern California | 11.77 |
| 8 | Univ. Calif., San Francisco | 10.93 |
| 9 | Harvard University | 10.88 |
| 10 | University of Minnesota | 10.66 |
| 11 | Newcastle University | 10.54 |
| 12 | Boston University | 10.27 |
| 13 | University of Colorado | 10.18 |
| 14 | University College London | 10.17 |
| 15 | Brown University | 10.16 |
| 16 | Veterans Admin. Med. Ctrs. | 10.16 |
| 17 | Vrije Univeristy Amsterdam | 9.93 |
| 18 | University of Maryland | 9.93 |
| 19 | Gothenburg University | 9.79 |
| 20 | University of Maastricht | 9.67 |
| 21 | Stanford University | 9.60 |
| 22 | Johns Hopkins University | 9.49 |
| 23 | University of Washington | 9.47 |
| 24 | Univ. Calif., Los Angeles | 9.46 |
| 25 | University of Pittsburgh | 9.29 |
|
SOURCE: Thomson Reuters Web of Science® |
||
Table 4
|
Highly Cited Authors in Geriatrics & Gerontology,
2000-2009 (Ranked by total citations) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | Institution |
Department/ Concentration |
Papers | Cites |
| 1 | Jack M. Guralnik | Natl. Institute on Aging | Epidemiology | 238 | 4,495 |
| 2 | Luigi Ferrucci | Natl. Institute on Aging |
Longitudinal Studies |
207 | 3,665 |
| 3 | Linda P. Fried | Columbia University | Epidemiology | 139 | 3,047 |
| 4 | Anne B. Newman | University of Pittsburgh | Epidemiology | 168 | 2,791 |
| 5 | Tamara B. Harris | Natl. Institute on Aging | Epidemiology | 132 | 2,756 |
| 6 | Claudio Franceschi | University of Bologna | Immunology | 105 | 2,265 |
| 7 | John E. Morley | Saint Louis University | Endocrinology | 142 | 1,891 |
| 8 | Caleb E. Finch | U. Southern California | Neurobiology | 37 | 1,804 |
| 9 | Patrick L. McGeer | Univ. of British Columbia | Neurology | 24 | 1,643 |
| 10 | Eleanor M. Simonsick | Natl. Institute on Aging | Epidemiology | 90 | 1,537 |
| 11 | Jeffrey L. Cummings | UCLA | Neurology | 83 | 1,500 |
| 12 | Harald Hampel | University of Frankfurt | Neurology | 74 | 1,497 |
| 13 | Greg M. Cole | UCLA | Neurology | 25 | 1,475 |
| 14 | Marco Pahor | University of Florida | Internal Medicine | 112 | 1,468 |
|
15
|
W. Sue T. Griffin | University of Arkansas | Neurobiology | 10 | 1,464 |
| Robert E. Mrak | University of Toledo | Neuropathology | 7 | 1,464 | |
| 16 | Piet Eikelenboom | University of Amsterdam | Neurology | 35 | 1,458 |
| 17 | Sally A. Frautschy | UCLA | Neurology | 18 | 1,445 |
| 18 | Suzanne G. Leveille |
Beth Israel Deaconess Med. Ctr. |
Epidemiology | 40 | 1,444 |
| 19 | Brenda W.J.H. Penninx | VU University Amsterdam | Epidemiology | 78 | 1,440 |
| 20 | Donald K. Ingram | Louisiana State U. | Nutritional Neuroscience | 63 | 1,426 |
| 21 | Laurence Rubenstein | UCLA | Preventive Care | 58 | 1,403 |
| 22 | Charles F. Reynolds | University of Pittsburgh | Psychiatry | 120 | 1,354 |
| 23 | Joseph Rogers | Sun Health Research Inst. | Neurobiology | 23 | 1,352 |
| 24 | Joanne Lynn | DC Dept. of Health | Palliative Care, Policy | 53 | 1,291 |
| 25 | Haruhiko Akiyama | Tokyo Inst. of Psychiatry | Neurobiology | 10 | 1,259 |
|
SOURCE: Thomson Reuters Web of Science® |
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