• 19 Sep 2012

And the Nobel Prize Goes to…

Analysis of Web of Knowledge citations reveals potential Nobel Prize winners.

Caption|REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

The first Nobel Prizes for sciences were awarded in 1901 and in the intervening century, this honor has become the premiere recognition for the world’s most influential researchers in the fields of chemistry, physics, physiology/medicine and economics. The announcement of the 2012 Nobel Prize recipients is no exception. As the world waits for word from Stockholm to learn the names of the fields’ global leaders and most revered honorees, our IP & Science business has mined our database of proprietary information to identify the top one-tenth of one percent of researchers in their field, based on citation impact over the past three decades. These “Nobel-class” Citation Laureates are considered viable contenders for the Nobel Prize, either this year or in the future.

Since 1989, we’ve utilized a selection process not unlike the Nobel Foundation. The annual list of high-impact researchers – called Citation Laureates – is released after a thorough review of scientific and economic research citations gathered from Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge research platform. These researchers are considered peers of existing Nobel Prize winners, as well as potential awardees.

We are the only group to predict Nobel Prize winners using quantitative measures, and, since 2002, the analysis has predicted 26 Nobel Prize recipients. Last year, all nine honorees in the sciences categories selected by the Nobel Foundation had previously been named Citation Laureates.

The 2012 Laureates include 21 influential researchers whose high-profile discoveries cover pioneering work such as quantum teleportation; the experimental demonstration of “slow light”; and fundamental discoveries in genetic regulation. Also among the high-profile achievements of this year’s picks is the pioneering work in financial market volatility and the dynamics of asset prices by Robert Shiller of Yale University. Shiller is known as the author of the best-selling book Irrational Exuberance, which warned of the damaging stock and housing market bubbles.

Coverage of this year’s Nobel predictions can be found on the newly relaunched Science Watch. Visit the website to get an inside view on the research that has made this year’s Citation Laureates of “Nobel-class.”

Related Information

Follow @nobelcitings and @TR_ScienceWatch on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news on the predictions and deeper insight into their fields of research.

Facebook users -- submit your guesses for the 2012 Nobel Prize winners and take part in Nobel discussions on the Web of Knowledge Facebook page.