The baseline time span for this database is (publication years)
1999-February 28, 2009 from the first bimonthly update (a 10-year + 2-month
period). The resulting database contained 4,241 (10 years) and 1,086 (2
years) papers; 8,023 authors; 76 nations; 163 journals; and 1,690
institutions. See additional paper information below in the overview &
methodology sections.
Interviews, first-person essays, and profiles about
people in a wide variety of fields which pertain to
this special topic of Gamma-ray Bursts.
OVERVIEW
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most energetic form of light in the universe,
were discovered by chance in the 1960s, and were still mostly a mystery
even in the 1990s. These phenomena are of great interest to
astrophysicists, cosmologists, and the like because they are a potential
window into the earliest days of the universe.
This month, ScienceWatch.com examines the literature on GRBs over
the past decade and over the past two years. The analysis was constructed
using a keyword search for "gamma ray burst*" or gamma-ray burst*" in the
titles, abstracts, and keywords sections of original articles, reviews, and
proceedings papers. In constructing the list of the top 20 papers over the
past decade and over the past two years, we further limited the search to
papers with "gamma" or "GRB*"in the titles in order to obtain a more
on-point list of papers.
The papers from the earlier part of the decade center on theories about
various aspects and implications of GRBs, including the fireball model,
originally put forth by
Martin Rees and
Peter
Mészáros, and the collapsar model of Andrew MacFadyen
and Stanford Woosley. Though other satellites were able to collect data
on GRBs, it was the Swift Mission and its reports beginning in 2004 that
brought a torrent of data on specific properties of GRBs, such as
afterglows, spectra, energetics, jets, beaming, and energy reservoirs.
Other topics, such as the BATSE GRB spectral catalogue and the wind
model of GRB progenitors, are also addressed.
Over the past two years, information on specific GRBs has been
published—11 papers on the two-year list deal with various named GRBs
and their properties. Long- vs. short-duration GRBs, local environments in
the interstellar media, a repository of Swift/XRT GRB light curves, and the
proposal to extend the Hubble diagram to include higher redshifts are also
discussed..
Methodology: The baseline time span for
this database is (publication years) 1999-February 28, 2009 from
the first bimonthly update (a 10-year + 2-month period). The resulting
database contained 4,241 (10 years) and 1,086 (2 years) papers; 8,023
authors; 76 nations; 163 journals; and 1,690 institutions. See
additional paper information below in the overview & methodology
sections.
Papers: To construct the top 20 papers lists for the past
decade and the past two years, the papers were further narrowed down by the
title keywords "GAMMA" and "GRB." This adjustment resulted in the top 20
papers being selected from a pool of 2,658 (10 years) and 629 (2 years)
papers.
Rankings: Once the database was in place, it was used to
generate list of authors, journals, institutions, and nations. Rankings for
author, journal, institution, and country are listed in three ways:
according to total cites, total papers, and total cites/paper. The paper
thresholds and corresponding percentages used to determine scientist,
institution, country, and journal rankings according to total cites/paper,
and total papers respectively are as follows: