Nobel hopefuls by the numbers - Innovation America

The researcher who developed induced pluripotent stem cells, the biochemist who invented DNA microarrays, and the immunologist who discovered dendritic cells are just a few of the scientists whose citation records are robust enough to attract a Nobel Prize this year, according to Thomson Reuters, the company that manages the Web of Science citation indexing tool -- brainchild of The Scientist founder Eugene Garfield. The company released their 2010 Nobel Prize predictions today (21st September).

For the past 8 years, Thomson Reuters, has thrown its hat into the ring, publishing the names of "Citation Laureates" -- a list of researchers that are potential recipients of that year's Nobel Prizes, based on an analysis of 30 years of citation counts. Thomson Reuters citation analyst David Pendlebury performs these calculations, and is in charge of putting the list together every year. "I'm always hopeful, and yet I'm usually surprised if we get any right because of the statistical improbability of doing this," he said of the exercise. "Ultimately what were trying to do is show that there is a meaning to citations in the literature and they correspond to subjective measure of quality and esteem in science."

To read the full, original article click on this link: Nobel hopefuls by the numbers - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences

Author: Bob Grant