Based on citations per paper among institutions with 50,000 or more citations. Data from Thomson Reuters's Essential Science Indicators^SM, January 1997 to December 2007.

The data above were extracted from Thomson Reuters's Essential Science Indicators database. This database, currently covering the period January 1997 to December 2007, surveys only journal articles (original research reports and review articles) indexed by Thomson Scientific. Articles are assigned to a category based on the journals in which they were published and Thomson Scientific’s journal-to-category field definition scheme. Both articles tabulated and citation counts to those articles are for the period indicated. Naturally, institutions publishing large numbers of papers have a greater likelihood of collecting more citations than scientists publishing fewer papers. This ranking is by citations per paper (impact), among those institutions that have collected 50,000 or more citations in chemistry.

For papers with multiple institutional addresses, each institution receives full, not fractional, citation credit. This analysis reveals a strong performance by US institutions, which take the first nine ranks and 13 of 20 in all. German institutions hold three spots, while UK universities account for two. French and Swiss institutions appear once each. Essential Science Indicators lists institutions ranked in the top 1% for a field over a given period, based on total citations. For the current version, 858 institutions are listed in the field of chemistry, meaning that a total of 85,800 institutions were reviewed to obtain these results. Of the 858, 36 institutions collected 50,000 or more citations. The ranking by citations per paper (impact) seeks to reveal “heavy-hitters” based on per paper influence, not mere output.

Visit Essential Science Indicators from Thomson Reuters.

This item also appeared in the Times Higher Education magazine, reprinted with their permission.