The IP & Science business of Thomson Reuters has announced its 2013 'Nobel-class' Citation Laureates. Having accurately forecast 27 Nobel Prize winners since its inception in 2002, the annual Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates study mines scientific research citations to identify the most influential researchers in the fields of chemistry, physics, medicine and economics.
This year, noteworthy nominees on the Thomson Reuters list include François Englert and Peter W. Higgs for their prediction of the Brout-Englert-Higgs boson particle in the field of physics; and, in the field of economics, Sam Peltzman and Richard A. Posner for their work extending economic theories of regulation. Nominees in the field of medicine include Adrian P. Bird, Howard Cedar and Aharon Razin for their fundamental discoveries concerning DNA methylation and gene expression. Chemistry nominees include M.G. Finn, Valery V. Fokin and K. Barry Sharpless for their development of modular click chemistry. If selected, this would be Sharpless's second Nobel Prize (he won in 2001 for his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions).
The complete list of Nobel predictions includes 28 researchers representing 22 distinct academic and research organizations, and six different countries.
The annual Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates study is based on analysis of proprietary data from the research and citation database, Web of Science, which identifies the most influential researchers in the categories of chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, and economics. Based on a thorough review of citations to each person's research, the company names these high-impact researchers as Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates and predicts they will be Nobel Prize winners, either this year or in the future.
