Cell Superstars and Genome Giants

Cell Superstars and Genome Giants

o highlight the citation elite of molecular biology and genetics over the last five years, Science Watch examined the 200 most-cited papers of each year, published between 1994 and 1998 and cited through 1999, in ISI-indexed molecular biology, cell biology, and genetics journals. (The analysis included pertinent papers published in the multidisciplinary journals Science, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.) From the resulting group of 1,000 "high-impact" papers, Science Watch identified the institutions, researchers, and journals responsible for the greatest numbers of high-impact reports.

Journals
Publishing High-Impact Research
in Molecular Biology/Genetics, 1994-98
(Ranked by number of high-impact papers, among those that published ł5) n papers = 1,000

Rank	Journal	# of high-impact papers
1	Cell	371
2	Nature Science	159 159
3	Nature Genetics	64
4	Genes & Development	51
5	EMBO Journal	37
6	Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA	29
7	Molecular & Cellular Biol	28
8	Curr. Opinion in Cell Biol.	26
9	J. Cell Biology	15
10	Trends in Genetics Trends in Cell Biology	7 7
11	Am. J. Human Genetics Molecular Cell	6 6
12	Curr. Opinion in Genetics	5

SOURCE: ISI's High-Impact Papers, 1990-98

Institutions that accounted for at least 10 high-impact papers over the five-year period (on the next page) ranked both by citations (left column) and citations per paper (or impact, at right). The next page features a table of researchers who published at least eight high-impact molecular biology/genetics papers. To the right, is a ranking of journals that each published more than five highly cited reports. (On the following page see the tables: "Authors of High-Impact Papers in Molecular Biology/Genetics, 1994-98" and "Institutions Ranked by Citations and Citation Impact in Molecular Biology/Genetics Research.")

In the total-citations ranking, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) stands far apart with over 76,500 citations, more than twice as many as next-ranked Harvard. Moreover, HHMI researchers fielded the greatest number of high-impact papers: 244, a tally that also doubled the next-highest showing, Harvard's 122 papers. MIT was third with 48 high-impact papers. (HHMI, of course, employs and supports researchers who are based at numerous universities and institutions. In tallying citations to papers by Hughes investigators, Science Watch credited both HHMI and the investigators' home-base institutionssince Hughes authors generally list both affiliations in their published papers, and since such papers usually reflect the contribution of non-Hughes-supported coauthors at each institution.)

Among institutions ranked by impact, the Université Laval took the top spot. Although the university's high-impact papers numbered just 14, Laval's researchers contributed to such highly cited reports as "The 1993-94 Généthon human genetic linkage map," (G. Gyapay, et al., Nature Genetics, 7:246-339, 1994) which has now been cited more than 1,600 times. Not surprisingly, Généthon itself ranked just behind Laval in impact, despite fielding only 11 high-impact papers. Along with the Gyapay et al. paper mentioned above, Généthon researchers contributed another hot map that was a fixture in the Science Watch Biology Top Ten back in 1998: "A comprehensive genetic map of the human genome based on 5,264 microsatellites," (C. Dib, et al., Nature, 380[6570]:152-4, 1996); the paper has now been cited more than 1,200 times. The Institute of Cancer Research in London also made the most of a comparative handful of papers12 reports on topics that included oncogene activation, cell differentiation, and the breast-cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2.

In the table of high-impact authors, HHMI weighs in with another impressive statistic: nine researchers in allmore than half the 17 names listedare Hughes investigators. This group includes Joan Massagué, based at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, whose 15 high-impact papers place him near the top of the list. (The ranking is based on number of high-impact papers, with the subsequent order determined by total citations.)

Topping all the researchers, with 15 high-impact papers collectively cited more than 6,600 times, is Michael Karin of the University of California, San Diego. His highly cited papers over the last five years focus on Jun kinases (JNKs) and other aspects of cellular signaling and gene transcriptionwork that he discussed in these pages last year (see Science Watch, 10[2]:3-4, March/April 1999). More recently, several of the scientists were featured in this publication's annual roundup of hot research: John C. Reed, Charles J. Sherr, Kenneth Kinzler, Bert Vogelstein, and Stephen J. Elledge (see Science Watch 11[2]:1-2, March/April 2000).

Of the 1,000 high-impact papers collected for this survey, the most-cited report was a review by Timothy A. Springer of the Center for Blood Research at Harvard University: "Traffic signals for lymphocyte recirculation and leukocyte emigration: the multistep paradigm," Cell, 76[2]301-14, 1994), now cited more than 2,200 times.

On the following page see the tables: "Authors of High-Impact Papers in Molecular Biology/Genetics, 1994-98" and "Institutions Ranked by Citations and Citation Impact in Molecular Biology/Genetics Research"