REUTERS/CARLOS

THE HOTTEST
RESEARCHERS OF TODAY
Higgs Recent Papers, Honorable Rapid Citations Mention
Along with featuring the hundreds of scientists
who have distinguished themselves with multiple
Highly Cited Papers over a recent ten-year period,
we highlight a smaller cohort of authors: those
who have produced a notable number of Hot
Papers. These reports, two years old and younger,
have attracted citations immediately following
publication, collecting cites at a measurably faster
rate than that for papers of comparable type and
age published in the same journals. Authors who
are prolific in Hot Papers are clearly producing
work that is influential and useful, as judged by the
scientific community.
Here, in the latest annual Thomson Reuters
compilation of the “hottest” scientists, are 19
authors whose recent output has included at least
14 Hot Papers each. This work represents notably
active fields of science, including genomics—
and the fast-moving technology for gene editing—
as well as the constant effort to develop and
improve solar cells as a renewable energy source.
As with the previous collection of “hot” authors
in 2014, this survey requires a caveat: Due to
space limitations, the analysis excludes any
“mega-authored” Hot Papers whose authors
lists exceed 500 names—a large, international
collaboration in high-energy physics, for example,
or the report of a large-scale clinical trial in
medicine. Although authors who have appeared
on many such papers may deserve consideration,
the impracticality of listing hundreds of names
prevents their inclusion here.
Biomedicine: Cancer Genomics Still Riding High
Among the authors of multiple Hot Papers in
biomedicine, several names return from the
previous year’s roundup. Topping the list, as she
did last time, is Stacey B. Gabriel of the Broad
Institute of MIT and Harvard. Gabriel contributed
to 25 Hot Papers, notably reports from the Cancer
Genome Atlas (TCGA) project, providing molecular
portraits of tumors afflicting the breast and lung,
among others. More recent papers to which she has
contributed examine the genetic underpinnings of
schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.
With many TCGA reports continuing to earn Hot
Paper distinction, Gabriel is joined once again on
the list by perennial Hot Author Eric S. Lander,
now making his eleventh appearance in this annual
survey. Gad Getz, Matthew Meyerson, Michael
Lawrence, and Kristian Cibulskis also return from
the previous collection. (Note: Throughout the list,
the rank order of names is determined first by the
number of Hot Papers, then by the average number of
citations per Hot Paper.)
Another TCGA contributor, whose 14 Hot Papers
include reports on quantifying somatic DNA
alterations in human cancers, is new to the list:
Scott. L. Carter of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Also new to the list this year is a group of authors
from the University of Washington. All are among
the collaborators on the Global Burden of Disease
(GBD) project, an ongoing, multinational effort to
quantify the most pressing national and regional
threats to health. Of these authors, Christopher
J. Murray has been most prolific in the production
of Hot Papers, with 22. Along with general
examinations of risk factors, these reports evaluate
infant and maternal mortality, as well as the
effects of substance abuse and cigarette smoking.
10 HIGHLY CITED RESEARCH DIRECTORY