Identifying Outstanding Scientists Using Bibliometric Indicators

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) requested the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) to evaluate whether outstanding scientists can be identified using existing bibliometric indicators and to assess the limitations of using bibliometric indicators for this purpose. STPI was also asked to develop a new analytical approach that takes advantage of bibliometric indicators to determine which individuals are outstanding scientists.

As part of an effort to address this question, STPI conducted a pilot study to determine whether publication and citation trajectories, along with the overall number of citations and publications, could be used to identify patterns of research impact and distinguish high impact researchers from those with low and mid-level impact. We (STPI researchers) found that it is possible to cluster researchers into low, medium, or high research impact groups based on individuals’ publication and citation trajectories and that this clustering approach provides a promising framework for identifying outstanding scientists.