Clarivate Analytics Reveals Annual Forecast of Future Nobel Prize Recipients

Each year since 2002, analysts at Clarivate Analytics have drawn on Web of Science publication and citation data to identify influential researchers in the research areas recognized by Nobel Prizes: Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Economics. Again this year, individuals whose research reports have been cited at high frequency - typically in the top .01% - and whose contributions to science has been transformative, even revolutionary, have been selected to join the hall of Citation Laureates.

Each year since 2002, analysts at Clarivate Analytics have drawn on Web of Science publication and citation data to identify influential researchers in the research areas recognized by Nobel Prizes: Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Economics. Again this year, individuals whose research reports have been cited at high frequency - typically in the top .01% - and whose contributions to science has been transformative, even revolutionary, have been selected to join the hall of Citation Laureates.

On October 1st, 2018, the Nobel Assembly will vote to confer sciences' highest honor and whilst this annual rite inspires worldwide speculation, Clarivate Analytics is the only organization to use quantitative data to make annual forecasts of potential Nobel Prize recipients. To date, 46 Citation Laureates have gone on to receive a Nobel Prize, 27 within two years of being listed.

Authors of extremely highly cited papers (to be cited 2,000 times or more is a rarity indeed) are usually members of their national academies of sciences, hold high appointments in universities and other research institutes, or have received many top international prizes in their fields. They often go on to receive Nobel honors. While peer review remains the principal method to recognize research excellence, a parallel approach of appraising the citation record often provides important corroborating evidence to supplement peer review.

This year 11 of the 17 honorees are based at leading North American academic institutions; others come from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Japan and South Korea. Two of the 17 are women.

The 2018 Citation Laureates are:

David Pendlebury, Citation Analyst at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate Analytics said:  "Science not only gives rise to new technologies but depends on them too. This year we are naming as Citation Laureates two scientists who have helped fellow researchers significantly. They have made an impact beyond what any one person or team could do alone. Congratulations to Professor Minoru Kanehisa and Professor George Sheldrick for providing the research community with KEGG and SHELX, respectively, which provide data and software that have accelerated discovery for many. The importance of their contributions is reflected in the citation record – both have garnered tens of thousands of citations. While past Nobel Prizes have highlighted methods and tools with revolutionary impact, the importance of databases and software has yet to be acknowledged. Our citation data reveal the enormous influence and impact of this type of scientific contribution. We are making an observation, but perhaps we are also making a suggestion that research achievement comes in many forms today and should not be overlooked."

Learn more about the methodology of the list here and view our Hall of Citation Laureates https://clarivate.com/hall-of-citation-laureates/

About Clarivate Analytics Clarivate Analytics is the global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation. Building on a heritage going back more than a century and a half, we have built some of the most trusted brands across the innovation lifecycle, including Web of Science, Cortellis, Derwent, CompuMark, MarkMonitor and Techstreet. Today, Clarivate Analytics is a new and independent company on a bold entrepreneurial mission to help our clients radically reduce the time from new ideas to life-changing innovations. For more information, please visit clarivate.com.

About Web of Science
Web of Science is the world's most trusted and largest publisher-neutral citation index, powering global discovery and citation analytics across the sciences, social sciences and art & humanities. With over 1.4 billion cited references going back to 1900 and millions of users per day – from leading government and academic institutions and research-intensive corporations – the Web of Science citation network serves as the foundation for the Journal Impact Factor, InCites and other powerful and trusted citation-impact measures. The Web of Science helps researchers, research institutions, publishers and funders discover and assess the citation impact of over a century of research publications found in the most prestigious books, conference proceedings and journals.

About the Institute for Scientific Information  (ISI)
ISI is the 'university' of the Scientific & Academic Research group at  Clarivate Analytics. It maintains the knowledge corpus upon which the Web of Science (WoS) and related information and analytical content, products and services are built; it disseminates that knowledge internally through reports and recommendations and externally through events, conferences and publications; and it carries out research to sustain, extend and improve the knowledge base.