Yale Bulletin and Calendar

January 17, 2003|Volume 31, Number 15|Two-Week Issue

Science Watch ranks University's researchers
as the most-cited by their peers

Yale received the top ranking in engineering, chemistry and law in Science Watch, a publication that measures the citation impact of published research in major fields of science and the social sciences among the top 100 federally funded universities in the country.

In addition, Yale was ranked in the top 10 in citation impact in five other areas of research -- immunology, molecular biology and genetics, neurosciences, biology and biochemistry, and psychology and psychiatry.

"This is one of the objective measures of research quality as judged by our peers in the field," says Paul Fleury, dean of the Faculty of Engineering, which received the highest proportional score in the Science Watch rankings. "This is considered significant because it shows the work is influencing the research of others in the field, is building on the work of others and is helping to make an advance."

Andrew Hamilton, chair of the Department of Chemistry, says the department's ranking in Science Watch "is a marvelous affirmation of the strength of chemistry at Yale.

"This is a ranking based on citations per research paper, so it is a direct reflection of the quality and the impact of the research being carried out at Yale," he notes. "It was particularly pleasing to see hard evidence to something we have known for some time, which is that chemistry at Yale is back in the very top group of departments in the USA."

Out of 21 fields listed in the Science Watch rankings, Yale emerged in the top 10 in eight fields. The Science Watch ranking is considered noteworthy because it not only considers the number of citations, but also the quality of journals in which the articles were published.

The scoring system is devised by the Institute of Science Information (ISI), which publishes Science Watch. It is a five year cumulative score, in this case covering the years 1997 through 2001.

The Science Watch rankings draw upon publication and citation data in ISI's University Science Indicators database. In 21 fields, each defined by a set of ISI-indexed journals, Science Watch calculates the citations per paper score for each university. The resulting figure is compared to a world baseline figure representing the impact for the field during the same period. This produces a relative impact score, expressed as a percentage.

"It's really one of the best and most objective measures of the impact of an institution's research on the field overall," Fleury says. "Although it's only one dimension of excellence, it is one that is widely accepted as being valid and important, and it's one we're very proud to have done so well in."

The margin by which Yale engineering was ranked first was the largest of any of the 21 fields. Yale engineering also was ranked first in its field in Science Watch for the period covering 1996 to 2000.

In chemistry, notes Hamilton, the rankings were evidence that the department has overcome faculty losses and retirements in the late 1980s and early 1990s. "In the last few years, the hard work of faculty, staff, graduate students and postdocs has led to this resurgence in research activity and accomplishment," he says. "And this success is in no small measure due to the commitment of the administration to the department in recent faculty hirings and also to improving the infrastructure, including the construction of a new building that will begin this summer."

-- By Jacqueline Weaver

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Former Basic Books publisher takes the helm at Yale Press

Exhibits recall era of 'Romantics and Revolutionaries'

Exhibit features 'modernist' works by Edgar Degas

Show explores children's interest in the law and law-breakers

Artist's reinventions of Vermeer masterpieces are showcased

Ward Davenny, noted pianist and long-time Yale teacher, dies

Study shows benefits of exercise in reducing intra-abdominal fat

Drama school stages Shakespearean tale about a hero . . .

Playreading festival in New York City will feature new works . . .

Peabody celebrating MLK Day with family activities, music . . .

Talk and screening by alumnus to highlight Asian American film festival

Campus Notes