UW–Madison Faculty Post Strong Showing on Global Highly Cited Researchers List
By Natasha Kassulke, natasha.kassulke@wisc.edu, (608) 219-8042
Seventeen researchers from UW–Madison were recently recognized on the Institute for Scientific Information™ list of Highly Cited Researchers 2021. The list identifies scientists and social scientists who have demonstrated significant influence through publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade.
Researchers are selected for their publication record in one or more of 21 fields (those used in the Essential Science Indicators™, or across several fields. To determine the 2021 honorees, the Web of Science analyzed papers published and cited between 2010 and 2020, determining which authors ranked in the top 1% of cited papers.
“Academia uses citation count as one metric among many to measure research impact and productivity,” explains Cynthia Czajkowski, associate vice chancellor for research in the biological sciences. “Citation number is important for the university in terms of prestige and rankings but citations also point to who is building on your work and potentially identify future collaborators. It’s also exciting to see how others are using your research and what new ideas might be generated from it.”
Kevin W. Eliceiri, RRF Walter H. Helmerich professor of medical physics and biomedical engineering as well as director of the Center for Quantitative Cell Imaging and LOCI (Laboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation) and investigator at the Morgridge Institute for Research, is one of these highly cited researchers.
Prof. Eliceiri has been cited more than 68,400 times in 228 publications and is recognized for his cross-disciplinary influence. His most-cited article is as a coauthor of “NIH Image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis ,” published in Nature Methods in July 2012. The article has been cited 27,847 times and discusses the origins, challenges and solutions of NIH Image and ImageJ software that have been pioneers as open tools for the analysis of scientific images for 25 years.
“Scientific progress is a result of continuous sharing and building up ideas of others,” Eliceiri says. “An important tool in this process is peer reviewed publication of key findings and colleagues subsequent citing of that work in their own work. Thus, citations are one measure of interest in a topic and tracking how that cited papers influences or evolves in subsequent stories.”
The Eliceiri lab develops new biomedical imaging and analysis methods to understand the roles of cells in disease. Eliceiri says that in the case of his research, his cited publications are representative of large, diverse collaborative communities beyond his own lab, all working together on optical and software tools to solve biological problems.
“My work very much relies on the contributions of groups I cite, and any cited research of mine reflects the importance of collaboration of many lab groups united by a common goal,” Eliceiri says. “I am fortunate to have many great collaborations and its gratifying to see these resulting publications become useful to a broader audience both within my field and other fields.”
2021 UW–Madison Highly Cited Researchers:
David Andes, professor of medicine and medical microbiology and immunology
Stephen R. Carpenter, honorary associate/fellow emeritus integrative biology
Richard J. Davidson, professor of psychology
James A Dumesic, emeritus professor of chemical and biological engineering
Kevin Eliceiri, associate professor of medical physics
Simon Gilroy, professor of botany
George W. Huber, professor of chemical and biological engineering
Janet Shibley Hyde, professor of psychology
Song Jin, professor of chemistry
Mikhail Kats, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering
Julien Clinton Sprott, professor emeritus of physics
Shannon S. Stahl, professor of chemistry
Giulio Tononi, professor of psychiatry
Monica G. Turner, professor of integrative biology
Richard D. Vierstra, professor emeritus of genetics
Zongfu Yu, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering
John Ralph, professor of biochemistry