Information solutions provider Thomson Scientific, part of Thomson Corporation, US, has announced the results of a study assessing high-impact research in molecular biology and genetics. In the January/February issue of Science Watch, Thomson Scientific analyses data from its Essential Science Indicators to identify molecular biology and genetics papers that rank among the top one percent most cited in the field for their respective years of publication between 2002 and 2006.
From the resulting sample of 1,300 high-impact papers, Science Watch highlighted the institutions, researchers, and journals most heavily represented. Among institutions, the top spot went to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which was the most-cited institution in the field with nearly 38,000 citations to its 199 high-impact papers. Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) rounded out the top three with 31,725 and 24,868 citations, respectively.
According to the measure of citation impact, the University of California, Santa Cruz, produced the highest score, averaging 414.5 cites per paper, even though UC Santa Cruz authors contributed to a comparatively small quantity of 13 high-impact reports during the five-year period. One of these reports, however - a landmark 2002 study on the mouse genome - has been cited more than 1,700 times and is the most-cited paper in the survey. The National Human Genome Research Institute came in second place with 337.5 cites per paper followed closely by Cold Spring Harbor Lab with 336.5.
The study also ranked the top 25 molecular biology/genetics authors by their number of high-impact papers. Eric S. Lander, of MIT and Broad Institute secured first place with his impressive 22 high-impact papers, which garnered 9,710 citations, for an average of 441.4 citations per paper. Coming in second was David P. Bartel of HHMI, MIT and Whitehead Institute with 19 papers, 4,542 citations and 239.1 cites per paper, followed by C. David Allis of Rockefeller University with 13 papers, 1,986 citations and 152.8 cites per paper.
Science Watch also took a look at journals that had published at least 20 high-impact papers during the five-year period. Cell ranked number one with 258 high-impact papers followed by Nature with 154 and Science with 149.
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