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Bibliometrics
Bibliometric Analysis for Papers on Topics Related to Human Health
April 18, 2005
This is a bibliometric analysis of the papers prepared by intramural and extramural researchers of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) human health research program. For this analysis, 839 papers were reviewed. These 839 papers, published from 1997 to 2005, were cited 8,378 times in the journals covered by Thomson’s Web of Science.1 Of these 839 papers, 697 (83%) have been cited at least once in a journal.
The analysis was completed using Thomson’s Essential Science Indicators (ESI) and Journal Citation Reports (JCR) as benchmarks. ESI provides access to a unique and comprehensive compilation of essential science performance statistics and science trends data derived from Thomson’s databases. The chief indicators of output, or productivity, are journal article publication counts. For influence and impact measures, ESI employs both total citation counts and cites per paper scores. The former reveals gross influence while the latter shows weighted influence, also called impact. JCR presents quantifiable statistical data that provide a systematic, objective way to evaluate the world’s leading journals and their impact and influence in the global research community.
Summary of Analysis
Nearly one-quarter of the human health publications are highly cited papers. A review of the citations indicates that 204 (24.3%) of the human health papers qualify as highly cited when using the ESI criteria for the top 10% of highly cited publications. Twenty-nine (3.5%) of the human health papers qualify as highly cited when using the criteria for the top 1%. Two (0.24%) of these papers qualify as very highly cited (in the top 0.1%), and one paper actually meets the top 0.01% threshold.
The human health papers are more highly cited than the average paper. Using the ESI average citation rates for papers published by field as the benchmark, in 13 of the 17 fields in which the EPA human health papers were published, the ratio of actual to expected cites is greater than 1, indicating that the human health papers are more highly cited than the average papers in those fields.
Approximately one-half of the human health papers are published in very high impact journals. Four- hundred seventeen (417) of 839 papers were published in the top 10% of journals ranked by JCR Impact Factor, representing 49.7% of EPA’s human health papers. Nearly half of the human health papers are published in the top 10% of journals ranked by JCR Immediacy Factor. Three-hundred sixty-two (362) of the 839 papers appear in the top 10% of journals, representing 43.2% of EPA’s human health papers.
Seven of the human health papers qualify as hot papers. ESI establishes citation thresholds for hot papers, which are selected from the highly cited papers in different fields, but the time frame for citing and cited papers is much shorter—papers must be cited within 2 years of publication and the citations must occur in a 2-month time period. Using the hot paper thresholds established by ESI as a benchmark, 7 hot papers, representing 0.83% of the human health papers, were identified in the analysis.
The author self-citation rate is below average. Four-hundred fifteen (415) of the 8,378 cites are author self-cites. This 4.95% author self-citation rate is below the accepted range of 10-30% author self-citation rate.
Highly Cited Human Health Publications
The 839 human health papers reviewed for this analysis covered 17 of the 22 ESI fields. The distribution of the papers among these 17 fields and the number of citations by field are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Human Health Papers by ESI Fields
No. of Citations |
ESI Field |
No. of Human Health Papers |
Average Cites/Paper |
2,613 |
Environment/Ecology |
266 |
10.18 |
2,453 |
Pharmacology & Toxicology |
251 |
9.77 |
996 |
Biology & Biochemistry |
97 |
10.27 |
601 |
Clinical Medicine |
44 |
13.66 |
515 |
Molecular Biology & Genetics |
24 |
21.21 |
372 |
Neuroscience & Behavior |
53 |
7.02 |
290 |
Immunology |
14 |
20.71 |
154 |
Chemistry |
30 |
5.13 |
115 |
Engineering |
27 |
4.26 |
109 |
Microbiology |
9 |
12.11 |
66 |
Mathematics |
9 |
7.33 |
57 |
Geosciences |
2 |
28.50 |
18 |
Plant & Animal Science |
5 |
3.60 |
15 |
Physics |
3 |
5.00 |
2 |
Multidisciplinary |
3 |
0.67 |
2 |
Economics & Business |
1 |
2.00 |
0 |
Social Science, general |
1 |
0.00 |
Total = 8,378 |
Total = 839 |
There were 204 (24.3% of the papers analyzed) highly cited EPA human health papers in 13 of the 17 fields—Environment/Ecology, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Biology & Biochemistry, Clinical Medicine, Molecular Biology & Genetics, Neuroscience & Behavior, Immunology, Chemistry, Engineering, Microbiology, Mathematics, Geosciences, and Plant & Animal Science—when using the ESI criteria for the top 10% of papers. Table 2 shows the number of EPA papers in those 13 fields that met the top 10% threshold in ESI. Twenty-nine (3.5%) of the papers analyzed qualified as highly cited when using the ESI criteria for the top 1% of papers. These papers covered six fields—Environment/Ecology, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Molecular Biology & Genetics, Clinical Medicine, Engineering, and Mathematics. Table 3 shows the 29 papers by field that met the top 1% threshold in ESI. There were two very highly cited EPA human health papers in two fields—Clinical Medicine and Pharmacology & Toxicology. These two papers met the top 0.1% threshold in ESI (0.24% of the papers analyzed). One of these human health papers actually met the top 0.01% threshold in ESI (i.e., the paper by Ding and Kaminsky).
Table 2. Number of Highly Cited Human Health Papers by Field (top 10%)
Citations |
ESI Field |
No. of Papers |
Average Cites/Paper |
% of EPA Papers in Field |
1,864 |
Environment/Ecology |
92 |
20.26 |
34.59% |
1,467 |
Pharmacology & Toxicology |
49 |
29.94 |
19.52% |
466 |
Clinical Medicine |
15 |
31.07 |
34.09% |
371 |
Molecular Biology & Genetics |
2 |
185.50 |
8.33% |
349 |
Biology & Biochemistry |
10 |
34.90 |
10.31% |
127 |
Immunology |
3 |
42.33 |
21.43% |
100 |
Chemistry |
4 |
25.00 |
13.33% |
93 |
Neuroscience & Behavior |
6 |
15.50 |
11.32% |
91 |
Engineering |
11 |
8.27 |
40.74% |
80 |
Microbiology |
4 |
20.00 |
44.44% |
65 |
Mathematics |
6 |
10.83 |
66.67% |
39 |
Geosciences |
1 |
39.00 |
50.00% |
11 |
Plant & Animal Science |
1 |
11.00 |
20.00% |
Total = |
204 |
Table 3. Number of Highly Cited Human Health Papers by Field (top 1%)
Citations |
ESI Field |
No. of Papers |
Average Cites/Paper |
% of EPA Papers in Field |
647 |
Environment/Ecology |
15 |
43.13 |
5.64% |
359 |
Pharmacology & Toxicology |
5 |
71.80 |
1.99% |
325 |
Molecular Biology & Genetics |
1 |
325.00 |
4.17% |
203 |
Clinical Medicine |
3 |
67.67 |
6.82% |
46 |
Engineering |
4 |
11.50 |
14.81% |
9 |
Mathematics |
1 |
9.00 |
11.11% |
Total = |
29 |
The citations for the highly cited papers in the top 1% are presented in Tables 4 through 9. The citations for the very highly cited papers (top 0.1%) are listed in Table 10.
Table 4. Highly Cited Human Health Papers in the Field of
Environment/Ecology (top 1%)
No. of Cites |
First Author |
Paper |
65 |
Eskenazi B |
Exposures of children to organophosphate pesticides and their potential adverse health effects. Environmental Health Perspectives 1999;107(Suppl 3):409-419. |
77 |
Landrigan PJ |
Pesticides and inner-city children: exposures, risks, and prevention. Environmental Health Perspectives 1999;107(Suppl 3):431-437. |
93 |
Pope CN |
Organophosphorus pesticides: do they all have the same mechanism of toxicity? Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health-Part B-Critical Reviews 1999;2(2):161-181. |
81 |
Schwartz J |
Fine particles are more strongly associated than coarse particles with acute respiratory health effects in schoolchildren. Epidemiology 2000;11(1):6-10. |
102 |
Laden F |
Association of fine particulate matter from different sources with daily mortality in six US cities. Environmental Health Perspectives 2000;108(10):941-947. |
115 |
Rice D |
Critical periods of vulnerability for the developing nervous system: evidence from humans and animal models. Environmental Health Perspectives 2000;108(Suppl 3):511-533. |
24 |
Whyatt RM |
Residential pesticide use during pregnancy among a cohort of urban minority women. Environmental Health Perspectives 2002;110(5):507-514. |
11 |
Glenn BS |
The longitudinal association of lead with blood pressure. Epidemiology 2003;14(1):30-36. |
13 |
Curl CL |
Organophosphorus pesticide exposure of urban and suburban preschool children with organic and conventional diets. Environmental Health Perspectives 2003;111(3):377-382. |
22 |
Birnbaum LS |
Cancer and developmental exposure to endocrine disruptors. Environmental Health Perspectives 2003;111(4):389-394. |
24 |
Perera FP |
Effects of transplacental exposure to environmental pollutants on birth outcomes in a multiethnic population. Environmental Health Perspectives 2003;111(2):201-205. |
4 |
DeMarini DM |
Bioassay-directed fractionation and Salmonella mutagenicity of automobile and forklift diesel exhaust particles. Environmental Health Perspectives 2004;112(8):814-819. |
4 |
Singh P |
Sample characterization of automobile and forklift diesel exhaust particles and comparative pulmonary toxicity in mice. Environmental Health Perspectives 2004;112(8):820-825. |
5 |
Buck GM |
Prospective pregnancy study designs for assessing reproductive and developmental toxicants. Environmental Health Perspectives 2004;112(1):79-86. |
7 |
Ulrich RG |
Overview of an interlaboratory collaboration on evaluating the effects of model hepatotoxicants on hepatic gene expression. Environmental Health Perspectives 2004;112(4):423-427. |
Table 5. Highly Cited Human Health Papers in the Field of
Pharmacology & Toxicology (top 1%)
No. of Cites |
First Author |
Paper |
108 |
Laws SC |
Estrogenic activity of octylphenol, nonylphenol, bisphenol A and methoxychlor in rats. Toxicological Sciences 2000;54(1):154-167. |
114 |
Styblo M |
Comparative toxicity of trivalent and pentavalent inorganic and methylated arsenicals in rat and human cells. Archives of Toxicology 2000;74(6):289-299. |
70 |
Thomas DJ |
The cellular metabolism and systemic toxicity of arsenic. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 2001;176(2):127-144. |
62 |
Ding XX |
Human extrahepatic cytochromes P450: function in xenobiotic metabolism and tissue-selective chemical toxicity in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology 2003;43:149-173. |
5 |
Stoker TE |
Assessment of DE-71, a commercial polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) mixture, in the EDSP male and female pubertal protocols. Toxicological Sciences 2004;78(1):144-155. |
Table 6. Highly Cited Human Health Papers in the Field of
Molecular Biology & Genetics (top 1%)
No. of Cites |
First Author |
Paper |
325 |
Arbour NC |
TLR4 mutations are associated with endotoxin hyporesponsiveness in humans. Nature Genetics 2000;25(2):187-191. |
Table 7. Highly Cited Human Health Papers in the Field of Clinical Medicine (top 1%)
No. of Cites |
First Author |
Paper |
43 |
Wang XB |
Maternal cigarette smoking, metabolic gene polymorphism, and infant birth weight. JAMA–Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;287(2):195-202. |
71 |
McConnell R |
Asthma in exercising children exposed to ozone: a cohort study. Lancet 2002;359(9304):386-391. |
89 |
Canfield RL |
Intellectual impairment in children with blood lead concentrations below 10 : g per deciliter. New England Journal of Medicine 2003;348(16): 1517-1526. |
Table 8. Highly Cited Human Health Papers in the Field of Engineering (top 1%)
No. of Cites |
First Author |
Paper |
21 |
Vette AF |
Characterization of indoor-outdoor aerosol concentration relationships during the Fresno PM exposure studies. Aerosol Science and Technology 2001;34(1):118-126. |
8 |
Landis MS |
Atmospheric mercury in the Lake Michigan basin: influence of the Chicago/Gary urban area. Environmental Science & Technology 2002;36(21):4508-4517. |
13 |
Miles AM |
Comparison of trihalomethanes in tap water and blood. Environmental Science & Technology 2002;36(8):1692-1698. |
4 |
Sexton K |
Comparison of personal, indoor, and outdoor exposures to hazardous air pollutants in three urban communities. Environmental Science & Technology 2004;38(2):423-430. |
Table 9. Highly Cited Human Health Papers in the Field of Mathematics (top 1%)
No. of Cites |
First Author |
Paper |
9 |
Hattis D |
Differences in pharmacokinetics between children and adults - II. Children’s variability in drug elimination half-lives and in some parameters needed for physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modeling. Risk Analysis 2003;23(1):117-142. |
Table 10. Very Highly Cited Human Health Papers (Top 0.1%)
Field |
No. of Cites |
First Author |
Paper |
Clinical Medicine |
89 |
Canfield RL |
Intellectual impairment in children with blood lead concentrations below 10 : g per deciliter. New England Journal of Medicine 2003;348(16):1517-1526. |
Pharmacology & Toxicology |
62 |
Ding XX2 |
Human extrahepatic cytochromes P450: function in xenobiotic metabolism and tissue-selective chemical toxicity in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology 2003;43:149-173. |
Ratio of Actual Cites to Expected Citation Rates
The expected citation rate is the average number of cites that a paper published in the same journal in the same year and of the same document type (article, review, editorial, etc.) has received from the year of publication to the present. Using the ESI average citation rates for papers published by field as the benchmark, in 13 of the 17 fields in which the EPA human health papers were published, the ratio of actual to expected cites is greater than 1, indicating that the EPA papers are more highly cited than the average papers in those fields (see Table 11).
Table 11. Ratio of Average Cites to Expected Cites for Human Health Papers by Field
ESI Field |
Total Cites |
Expected Cite Rate |
Ratio |
Environment/Ecology |
2,613 |
1,135.67 |
2.30 |
Pharmacology & Toxicology |
2,453 |
1,431.90 |
1.71 |
Biology & Biochemistry |
996 |
985.86 |
1.01 |
Clinical Medicine |
601 |
196.23 |
3.06 |
Molecular Biology & Genetics |
515 |
349.93 |
1.47 |
Neuroscience & Behavior |
372 |
408.35 |
0.91 |
Immunology |
290 |
177.89 |
1.63 |
Chemistry |
154 |
158.15 |
0.97 |
Engineering |
115 |
41.49 |
2.77 |
Microbiology |
109 |
64.17 |
1.70 |
Mathematics |
66 |
13.11 |
5.03 |
Geosciences |
57 |
17.26 |
3.30 |
Plant & Animal Science |
18 |
8.68 |
2.07 |
Physics |
15 |
17.88 |
0.84 |
Multidisciplinary |
2 |
2.55 |
0.78 |
Economics & Business |
2 |
1.41 |
1.42 |
Social Science, general |
1 |
0.59 |
1.69 |
JCR Benchmarks
The Impact Factor is a well known metric in citation analysis. It is a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular year. The Impact Factor helps evaluate a journal’s relative importance, especially when compared to others in the same field. The Impact Factor is calculated by dividing the number of citations in the current year to articles published in the 2 previous years by the total number of articles published in the 2 previous years.
Table 12 indicates the number of human health papers published in the top 10% of journals, based on the JCR Impact Factor. Four hundred-seventeen (417) of 839 papers were published in the top 10% of journals, representing 49.7% of EPA’s human health papers.
Table 12. Human Health Papers in Top 10% of Journals by JCR Impact Factor
EPA Human Health Papers in that Journal |
Journal |
Impact Factor (IF) |
JCR IF Rank |
94 |
Environmental Health Perspectives |
3.408 |
538 |
90 |
Toxicological Sciences |
3.067 |
648 |
44 |
Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology |
2.851 |
750 |
11 |
American Journal of Physiology–Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology |
3.735 |
435 |
10 |
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine |
8.876 |
100 |
10 |
Environmental Science & Technology |
3.592 |
487 |
10 |
Chemical Research in Toxicology |
3.332 |
555 |
8 |
American Journal of Epidemiology |
4.486 |
310 |
8 |
Epidemiology |
4.220 |
350 |
8 |
Mutation Research–Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis |
3.433 |
530 |
7 |
Carcinogenesis |
4.663 |
292 |
6 |
Pharmacogenetics |
5.851 |
207 |
6 |
Pediatrics |
3.781 |
427 |
5 |
Journal of Biological Chemistry |
6.482 |
179 |
5 |
Biology of Reproduction |
3.646 |
464 |
5 |
Journal of Applied Physiology |
3.027 |
665 |
4 |
Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention |
4.720 |
288 |
4 |
Journal of Infectious Diseases |
4.481 |
311 |
3 |
Lancet |
18.316 |
28 |
3 |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
10.272 |
81 |
3 |
Journal of Neuroscience |
8.306 |
114 |
3 |
Journal of Immunology |
6.702 |
167 |
3 |
Mutation Research–Reviews in Mutation Research |
5.783 |
210 |
3 |
Applied and Environmental Microbiology |
3.820 |
418 |
3 |
Drug Metabolism and Disposition |
3.652 |
462 |
3 |
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine |
3.313 |
569 |
3 |
Journal of Pediatrics |
2.913 |
722 |
3 |
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications |
2.836 |
757 |
2 |
New England Journal of Medicine |
34.833 |
5 |
2 |
JAMA–Journal of the American Medical Association |
21.455 |
22 |
2 |
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition |
5.692 |
215 |
2 |
Infection and Immunity |
3.875 |
403 |
2 |
Chest |
3.264 |
585 |
2 |
Journal of Geophysical Research |
2.992 |
682 |
1 |
Nature Genetics |
26.494 |
18 |
1 |
Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology |
21.786 |
21 |
1 |
Journal of the National Cancer Institute |
13.844 |
48 |
1 |
American Journal of Human Genetics |
11.602 |
68 |
1 |
Annual Review of Medicine–Selected Topics in the Clinical Sciences |
11.381 |
71 |
1 |
Circulation Research |
10.117 |
84 |
1 |
Genome Research |
9.635 |
90 |
1 |
Cancer Research |
8.649 |
105 |
1 |
Journal of the American Society of Nephrology |
7.499 |
137 |
1 |
FASEB Journal |
7.172 |
149 |
1 |
Cell Death and Differentiation |
7.008 |
154 |
1 |
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology |
6.831 |
162 |
1 |
Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology |
6.791 |
164 |
1 |
Neuroimage |
6.192 |
186 |
1 |
Free Radical Biology and Medicine |
5.063 |
260 |
1 |
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry |
4.820 |
278 |
1 |
Drug Metabolism Reviews |
4.537 |
302 |
1 |
Thorax |
4.188 |
356 |
1 |
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science |
4.148 |
361 |
1 |
American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology |
4.105 |
380 |
1 |
American Journal of Physiology–Cell Physiology |
4.103 |
364 |
1 |
Cancer |
4.017 |
379 |
1 |
Neuropharmacology |
3.801 |
421 |
1 |
Bipolar Disorders |
3.658 |
460 |
1 |
Neuroscience |
3.601 |
484 |
1 |
Glycobiology |
3.490 |
518 |
1 |
Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities Research Reviews |
3.479 |
522 |
1 |
American Journal of Public Health |
3.363 |
551 |
1 |
Journal of Nutrition |
3.321 |
563 |
1 |
Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry |
3.200 |
605 |
1 |
Journal of Computational Chemistry |
3.186 |
607 |
1 |
Human Reproduction |
3.125 |
630 |
1 |
Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry |
3.035 |
662 |
1 |
European Respiratory Journal |
2.999 |
679 |
1 |
Biochemical Pharmacology |
2.993 |
680 |
1 |
Journal of the American College of Nutrition |
2.979 |
686 |
1 |
Journal of Chemical Physics |
2.950 |
703 |
1 |
Journal of Chromatography A |
2.922 |
719 |
1 |
Clinical Immunology |
2.915 |
721 |
1 |
Gene |
2.754 |
795 |
Total = 417 |
Immediacy Index
The journal Immediacy Index is a measure of how quickly the average article in a journal is cited. It indicates how often articles published in a journal are cited within the year they are published. The Immediacy Index is calculated by dividing the number of citations to articles published in a given year by the number of articles published in that year.
Table 13 indicates the number of EPA human health papers published in the top 10% of journals, based on the JCR Immediacy Index. Three-hundred sixty-two (362) of the 839 papers appear in the top 10% of journals, representing 43.2% of EPA’s human health papers.
Table 13. Human Health Papers in Top 10% of Journals by JCR Immediacy Index
EPA Human Health Papers in that Journal |
Journal |
Immediacy Index (II) |
JCR II Rank |
94 |
Environmental Health Perspectives |
0.869 |
304 |
90 |
Toxicological Sciences |
0.528 |
685 |
11 |
American Journal of Physiology–Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology |
0.654 |
496 |
10 |
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine |
2.461 |
56 |
10 |
Chemical Research in Toxicology |
0.497 |
765 |
8 |
Epidemiology |
0.938 |
264 |
8 |
American Journal of Epidemiology |
0.908 |
281 |
8 |
Mutation Research–Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis |
0.721 |
420 |
8 |
Toxicologic Pathology |
0.487 |
792 |
7 |
Carcinogenesis |
0.775 |
379 |
6 |
Pharmacogenetics |
0.921 |
271 |
6 |
Pediatrics |
0.633 |
524 |
5 |
Journal of Biological Chemistry |
1.231 |
160 |
5 |
Biology of Reproduction |
0.735 |
409 |
5 |
American Journal of Industrial Medicine |
0.616 |
552 |
4 |
Journal of Infectious Diseases |
0.889 |
287 |
3 |
Lancet |
5.826 |
10 |
3 |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
1.935 |
245 |
3 |
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology |
1.465 |
123 |
3 |
Journal of Neuroscience |
1.189 |
176 |
3 |
Journal of Immunology |
0.988 |
239 |
3 |
Drug Metabolism and Disposition |
0.791 |
368 |
3 |
Annals of Occupational Hygiene |
0.661 |
487 |
3 |
Journal of Pediatrics |
0.631 |
528 |
3 |
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine |
0.543 |
651 |
2 |
New England Journal of Medicine |
11.719 |
2 |
2 |
JAMA–Journal of the American Medical Association |
6.048 |
9 |
2 |
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition |
1.005 |
228 |
2 |
Journal of Geophysical Research |
0.827 |
334 |
2 |
Infection and Immunity |
0.624 |
544 |
2 |
Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics |
0.559 |
623 |
2 |
Chest |
0.500 |
745 |
1 |
Nature Genetics |
8.631 |
4 |
1 |
Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology |
4.520 |
20 |
1 |
Journal of the National Cancer Institute |
3.293 |
32 |
1 |
Annual Review of Medicine–Selected Topics in the Clinical Sciences |
2.871 |
43 |
1 |
American Journal of Human Genetics |
2.603 |
53 |
1 |
Genome Research |
1.626 |
110 |
1 |
Circulation Research |
1.625 |
111 |
1 |
Cell Death and Differentiation |
1.548 |
118 |
1 |
FASEB Journal |
1.247 |
154 |
1 |
Thorax |
1.237 |
158 |
1 |
Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology |
1.220 |
163 |
1 |
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene |
1.024 |
216 |
1 |
Cancer Research |
0.935 |
268 |
1 |
Glycobiology |
0.883 |
296 |
1 |
Journal of the American Society of Nephrology |
0.828 |
332 |
1 |
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry |
0.817 |
342 |
1 |
Cancer |
0.796 |
361 |
1 |
Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews |
0.788 |
371 |
1 |
Bipolar Disorders |
0.770 |
380 |
1 |
Birth Defects Research Part B–Development and Reproductive Toxicology |
0.762 |
390 |
1 |
American Journal of Physiology–Cell Physiology |
0.719 |
422 |
1 |
Free Radical Biology and Medicine |
0.712 |
432 |
1 |
American Journal of Public Health |
0.682 |
465 |
1 |
Journal of Chemical Physics |
0.661 |
487 |
1 |
Journal of Nutrition |
0.647 |
507 |
1 |
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science |
0.644 |
511 |
1 |
American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology |
0.623 |
546 |
1 |
Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology |
0.590 |
586 |
1 |
Cell Stress and Chaperones |
0.562 |
618 |
1 |
Human Reproduction |
0.560 |
621 |
1 |
Drug Metabolism Reviews |
0.556 |
628 |
1 |
Neuropharmacology |
0.525 |
689 |
1 |
Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry |
0.523 |
694 |
1 |
Neuroscience |
0.521 |
706 |
1 |
Journal of Chromatography A |
0.517 |
715 |
1 |
Journal of Computational Chemistry |
0.512 |
728 |
Total = 362 |
Hot Papers
ESI establishes citation thresholds for hot papers, which are selected from the highly cited papers in different fields, but the time frame for citing and cited papers is much shorter—papers must be cited within 2 years of publication and the citations must occur in a 2-month time period. Papers are assigned to 2-month periods and thresholds are set for each period and field to select 0.1% of papers. There were no hot papers identified for the current 2-month period (i.e., February-March 2005), but there were a number of hot papers identified from previous periods.
Using the hot paper thresholds established by ESI as a benchmark, 7 hot papers, representing 0.83% of the human health papers, were identified in five fields—Environment/Ecology, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Engineering, Chemistry, and Clinical Medicine. The hot papers are listed in Table 14.
Table 14. Hot Papers Identified Using ESI Thresholds
Field |
ESI Hot Papers Threshold |
No. of Cites in 2-Month Period |
Paper |
Environment/Ecology |
8 |
8 cites in April-May 2004 |
Perera FP, Rauh V, Tsai WY, et al. Effects of transplacental exposure to environmental pollutants on birth outcomes in a multiethnic population. Environmental Health Perspectives 2003;111(2):201-205. |
9 cites in September-October 2002 |
Laden F, Neas LM, Dockery DW, et al. Association of fine particulate matter from different sources with daily mortality in six US cities. Environmental Health Perspectives 2000;108(10):941-947. |
||
Pharmacology & Toxicology |
8 |
8 cites in July-August 2002 |
Styblo M, Del Razo LM, Vega L, et al. Comparative toxicity of trivalent and pentavalent inorganic and methylated arsenicals in rat and human cells. Archives of Toxicology 2000;74(6):289-299. |
9 cites in September- October 2004 |
Ding XX, Kaminsky LS. Human extrahepatic cytochromes P450: function in xenobiotic metabolism and tissue-selective chemical toxicity in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology 2003;43:149-173. |
||
Engineering |
4 |
4 cites in November-December 2003 |
Miles AM, Singer PC, Ashley DL, et al. Comparison of trihalomethanes in tap water and blood. Environmental Science & Technology 2002;36(8): 1692-1698. |
Chemistry |
8 |
11 cites in August-September 2004 |
Nesnow S, Roop BC, Lambert G, et al. DNA damage induced by methylated trivalent arsenicals is mediated by reactive oxygen species. Chemical Research in Toxicology 2002;15(12):1627-1634. |
Clinical Medicine |
10 |
13 cites in November-December 2004 |
Canfield RL, Henderson CR, Cory-Slechta DA, et al. Intellectual impairment in children with blood lead concentrations below 10 : g per deciliter. New England Journal of Medicine 2003;348(16):1517-1526. |
Author Self-Citation
Self-citations are journal article references to articles from that same author (i.e., the first author). Because higher author self-citation rates can inflate the number of citations, the author self-citation rate was calculated for the human health papers. Of the 8,378 total cites, 415 are author self-cites—a 4.95% author self-citation rate. Garfield and Sher3 found that authors working in research-based disciplines tend to cite themselves on the average of 20% of the time. MacRoberts and MacRoberts4 claim that approximately 10% to 30% of all the citations listed fall into the category of author self-citation. Therefore, the 4.95% self-cite rate for the human health papers is below the range for author self-citation.
1Thomson’s Web of Science provides access to current and retrospective multidisciplinary information from approximately 8,700 of the most prestigious, high impact research journals in the world. Web of Science also provides cited reference searching.
2 This paper by Ding and Kaminsky also met the top 0.01% threshold in ESI, which is the highest threshold.
3 Garfield E, Sher IH. New factors in the evaluation of scientific literature through citation indexing. American Documentation 1963;18(July):195-201.
4 MacRoberts MH, MacRoberts BR. Problems of citation analysis: a critical review. Journal of the American Society of Information Science 1989;40(5):342-349.