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FEATURED ANALYSIS, Jan./Feb. 2008 
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Sequencing Biology’s Hottest,
2002-06
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by Christopher King
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To assess high-impact research in molecular biology & genetics over the
last five years, ScienceWatch.com turned to an elite selection of
papers: those ranking among the top 1% most cited in the field for their
respective years of publication, among papers published and cited between
2002 and 2006. This benchmark, applied to a special five-year subset of
reports collected in the "Highly Cited Papers" area of Thomson
Scientific’s
Essential
Science IndicatorsSM database, produced a file of some
1,300 papers published in Thomson-indexed journals of molecular biology
& genetics.
Journals
Publishing High-Impact Research in
Molecular Biology & Genetics,
2002-06
(Ranked by
number of high-impact papers, among
those that published =20)
|
|
Rank
|
Journal
|
# of high-impact
papers
|
|
1
|
Cell
|
258
|
|
2
|
Nature
|
154
|
|
3
|
Science
|
149
|
|
4
|
Nature Genetics
|
104
|
|
5
|
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
|
93
|
|
6
|
Genes & Development
|
61
|
|
7
|
Molecular Cell
|
58
|
|
8
|
Nature Reviews Genetics
|
35
|
|
Nature Cell Biology
|
35
|
|
9
|
PNAS
|
29
|
|
10
|
American J. Human Genetics
|
24
|
|
11
|
Ann. Rev. Cell/Devel. Biology
|
20
|
|
Ann. Rev. Genetics
|
20
|
|
Journal of Cell Biology
|
20
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SOURCE:
Essential Science
IndicatorsSM
from
Thomson
Scientific
|
|
(The analysis included pertinent papers published in the multidisciplinary
journals Nature, Science, and PNAS.)
From this population of high-impact reports, ScienceWatch.com
identified the institutions, authors, and journals most heavily
represented.
#Table 1 (below) features institutions that fielded
at least 10 high-impact reports over the five-year period. In the left-hand
column, institutions are ranked by total citations, while the right column
ranks institutions by impact, or cites per paper. Listings in
table 2 (below) specify individual researchers who
each contributed to at least eight high-impact reports, along with journals
(table to the right) that published 20 or more such papers.
As was the case when Science Watch last surveyed high-impact
research in this field (11[5]: 1-2,
September-October
2000), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute garnered the highest
citation total of any institution, with nearly 38,000 collective cites.
HHMI-affiliated authors, in fact, contributed to 199 high-impact reports, a
total approached only by Harvard’s 165 papers.
 (As the previous survey
noted, HHMI 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 institutions, since Hughes
investigators usually list both affiliations in their papers, and
since such papers often include the contributions of
non-Hughes-supported coauthors at each institution.)
In the cites-per-paper column, no institution surpassed the University of
California, Santa Cruz, even though UCSC fielded only 13 high-impact
molecular biology & genetics reports during the five-year period. One
of these, however, was the most-cited paper in the survey, a 2002
Nature report on the mouse genome (Mouse Genome Sequencing
Consortium, Nature 420[6915]: 520-62, 2002). This paper has now
been cited more than 1,700 times.
Among the 200-plus coauthors on this blockbuster mouse-genome report was
MIT’s Eric S. Lander, who topped the researcher list with 22
high-impact reports. (The list is ranked by number of high-impact papers,
with the subsequent order determined by total citations). Lander also
contributed to highly cited genomic studies centered on yeast, the
chimpanzee, and the domestic dog.
Christopher King is the Editor of the Science
Watch® Newsletter.
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Table 1
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Molecular
Biology & Genetics Research:
Institutions Ranked by Citations and Citation
Impact
(among those that published =10 high-impact
papers, 2002-06)
|
|
Rank
|
Institution
|
#Citations
2002-06
|
|
1
|
Howard
Hughes Medical
Inst.
|
37,810
|
|
2
|
Harvard
University
|
31,725
|
|
3
|
MIT
|
24,868
|
|
4
|
Whitehead
Institute
|
11,326
|
|
5
|
Univ.
Calif., San Diego
|
11,120
|
|
6
|
Cold
Spring Harbor Lab
|
10,767
|
|
7
|
Univ.
Calif., Berkeley
|
9,756
|
|
8
|
Baylor
College of
Medicine
|
9,754
|
|
9
|
University
of Oxford
|
9,421
|
|
10
|
Max
Planck Society
|
9,354
|
|
11
|
Johns Hopkins
University
|
9,075
|
|
12
|
Stanford University
|
8,893
|
|
13
|
European Molec. Biology
Lab
|
8,826
|
|
14
|
Yale University
|
8,808
|
|
15
|
Univ. Calif., San
Francisco
|
8,692
|
|
16
|
Wellcome Trust Sanger
Inst.
|
8,412
|
|
17
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Washington University
|
8,358
|
|
18
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Massachusetts General
Hosp.
|
7,029
|
|
19
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National Cancer Institute,
NIH
|
6,408
|
|
20
|
University of
Cambridge
|
6,060
|
|
21
|
University of
Washington
|
5,878
|
|
22
|
Rockefeller
University
|
5,850
|
|
23
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Scripps
Research Institute
|
5,803
|
|
24
|
Natl. Human
Genome Res. Inst., NIH
|
5,737
|
|
25
|
Medical
Research Council (U.K.)
|
5,662
|
|
|
|
Rank
|
Institution
|
Impact
2002-06
|
|
1
|
Univ.
Calif., Santa Cruz
|
414.5
|
|
2
|
Natl.
Human Genome Res. Inst.,
NIH
|
337.5
|
|
3
|
Cold
Spring Harbor Lab
|
336.5
|
|
4
|
University
of Utah
|
335.6
|
|
5
|
Medical
Research Council
(U.K.)
|
333.1
|
|
6
|
Inst.
for Systems Biology,
Seattle
|
329.8
|
|
7
|
European
Molec. Biology Lab
|
326.9
|
|
8
|
University
of Oxford
|
324.9
|
|
9
|
Wellcome
Trust Sanger Inst.
|
311.6
|
|
10
|
Pennsylvania
State Univ.
|
304.4
|
|
1
1
|
Whitehead Institute
|
290.4
|
|
1
2
|
University of
Edinburgh
|
272.2
|
|
1
3
|
Washington University
|
269.6
|
|
1
4
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MIT
|
267.4
|
|
1
5
|
Univ. Calif.,
Berkeley
|
256.7
|
|
1
6
|
Univ. Calif., San
Diego
|
252.7
|
|
1
7
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Massachusetts General
Hosp.
|
251.0
|
|
1
8
|
Univ. Southern
California
|
250.8
|
|
1
9
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CNRS (France)
|
247.5
|
|
20
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Mt. Sinai
Hospital, Toronto
|
246.5
|
|
21
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Max Planck
Society
|
246.2
|
|
22
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Baylor
College of Medicine
|
243.9
|
|
23
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Scripps
Research Institute
|
241.8
|
|
24
|
Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Res. Ctr.
|
232.8
|
|
25
|
Yale
University
|
231.8
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|
SOURCE:
Essential Science IndicatorsSM from
Thomson
Scientific.
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 return to top
Authors of High-Impact Papers in
Molecular Biology & Genetics,
2002-06
(Ranked by number of high-impact
papers)
|
|
Rank
|
|
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Number of
high-impact
papers
|
Citations
|
Citations per
high-impact
paper
|
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1
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Eric S. Lander
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MIT Broad Institute
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22
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9,710
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441.4
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2
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David P. Bartel
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HHMI, MIT, Whitehead Institute
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19
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4,542
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239.1
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3
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C. David Allis
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Rockefeller University
|
13
|
1,986
|
152.8
|
|
4
|
W. James Kent
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Univ. Calif., Santa Cruz
|
12
|
5,158
|
429.8
|
|
5
|
Gregory J. Hannon
|
HHMI, Cold Spring Harbor Lab
|
12
|
3,542
|
295.2
|
|
6
|
Thomas Jenuwein
|
Res. Inst. Molec. Pathology, Vienna
|
11
|
1,762
|
160.2
|
|
7
|
Yi Zhang
|
HHMI, University of North Carolina
|
11
|
1,249
|
113.6
|
|
8
|
Mark J. Daly
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Harvard University
|
10
|
5,428
|
542.8
|
|
9
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David Haussler
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HHMI, Univ. Calif., Santa Cruz
|
10
|
4,196
|
419.6
|
|
10
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David Altshuler
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Harvard University
|
10
|
3,868
|
386.8
|
|
11
|
Matthias Mann
|
Max Planck Inst. Biochemistry
|
10
|
2,960
|
296.0
|
|
12
|
Richard A. Young
|
MIT, Whitehead Institute
|
10
|
2,579
|
257.9
|
|
13
|
V. Narry Kim
|
Seoul National University
|
9
|
1,493
|
165.9
|
|
14
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Peer Bork
|
European Molecular Biology Lab
|
8
|
5,068
|
633.5
|
|
15
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Ewan Birney
|
European Molecular Biology Lab
|
8
|
4,141
|
517.6
|
|
16
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Richard A. Gibbs
|
Baylor College of Medicine
|
8
|
3,533
|
441.6
|
|
17
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Mark Gerstein
|
Yale University
|
8
|
2,037
|
254.6
|
|
18
|
Phillip Zamore
|
University of Massachusetts
|
8
|
1,802
|
225.3
|
|
19
|
Douglas R. Green
|
Univ. Calif., San Diego
|
8
|
1,754
|
219.3
|
|
20
|
Kari Stefansson
|
deCODE genetics, Iceland
|
8
|
1,650
|
206.3
|
|
Jeffrey R. Gulcher
|
deCODE genetics, Iceland
|
8
|
1,650
|
206.3
|
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