Hughes Investigators Now Field One In Four Top Papers

Reprinted From: Science Watch, May 1994 The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which supports more than 250 investigators and their staffs at 63 United States universities and medical centers, has become a leader in biomedical research in the last decade. In an effort to assess the impact that Hughes investigators have had compared to other researchers in the biomedical community, the newsletter Science Watch compiled data on the instituteUs share of the 200 most-cited biomedical papers in each of the last nine years. The newsletter also produced a list of the premier Hughes investigators in terms of their total citations. Science Watch-- published by the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)--used the ISI Science Indicators Database to track the rise in HHMI's publishing contribution to biomedicine. The following article is reprinted from the May 1994 issue of Science Watch, with permission of the newsletter and ISI. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), established in 1953 and now headquartered in Chevy Chase, Md., is significantly increasing its presence in biomedical research in the United States. With assets of $7.8 billion and support for research at the level of some $268 million last year, it represents a major force among private, nonprofit benefactors of biomedical research in the nation. But its presence--and, more to the point, its influence--may actually be considerably greater and more far-reaching than most observers recognize. In 1985, the institute embarked on a major program of expansion, which has entailed the appointment of additional Howard Hughes investigators; the introduction of a range of programs to sustain and improve science education from the elementary through graduate levels; and more recently, support for top biomedical scientists abroad. One measure of growth during the last decade can be seen in the number of appointed investigators, who are employees of the institute but who do their work at more than 60 universities and hospitals across the U.S. As the table at right indicates, the number of Hughes investigators grew from 96 in 1985 to 222 in 1993. (Last April, an additional 49 scientists were named Hughes investigators.) A group of fewer than 300 scientists is but a tiny fraction of the total population of biomedical scientists at work around the world today. But by selecting only the very best researchers as Hughes investigators, the institute has leveraged its resources tremendously, as Science Watch has recently discovered. Science Watch decided to survey the 200 most-cited biomedical papers of each year from 1985 through 1993 (citations were counted from the year of publication through 1993) and to determine how many of these studies carried the name of a Hughes investigator. In 1985, eight of the top 200 papers, or 4 percent, were by Hughes investigators. Last year--less than a decade later--Hughes investigators published 48 of the most-cited papers in the biomedical sciences, or 24 percent of the total. Put another way, Hughes investigators now field nearly one in every four of the top papers. While the number of Hughes investigators grew during this period by 131 percent, the number of HHMI papers in the top 200 for biomedicine grew much faster--500 percent. In fact, the influence of HHMI papers as a group has been increasing dramatically. Science Watch compared the citations-per-paper scores of HHMI papers for each year since 1985 with the average of U.S. papers in the fields that HHMI supports--neuroscience, genetics, cell biology and regulation, immunology, and structural biology. Both sets of scores tend to decline with time since recent papers have had fewer years to be cited than older reports. In 1985, Hughes papers received 138 percent more citations per paper than the U.S. average for papers in the five HHMI-sponsored fields. By 1993, HHMI papers pulled in 227 percent more citations, on average, than U.S. papers in the same fields. Superstar researchers are, of course, the foundation of HHMI's stellar performance. The 10 most-cited HHMI investigators during three periods are listed in the table on page 15. 198519861987198819891990199119921993 Number of HHMI papers in top 200 8826303436534748 Number of HHMI investigators96 132161176192211223222 222 Number of HHMI Papers 475504894 12071289 13971748 17892131 Number of Papers Per HHMI Investigator 5.03.8 5.66.9 6.76.6 7.88.1 9.6 U.S. Biomedical Papers: Citations Per Paper 23.7820.08 19.6118.33 16.5012.52 8.624.02 0.51 HHMI Papers: Citations Per Paper 56.6552.91 59.9053.60 46.7039.04 25.1512.10 1.67 HHMI Citations: Percent of Citations Per Paper Compared With U.S. Average+138+163 +205+192 +183+212 +192+201 +227 Source: ISI's Science Indicators Database, 1985-93 TOTAL CITATIONS TO WORK BY THE 10 MOST-CITED HUGHES INVESTIGATORS 1985-87 Papers1988-90 Papers1991-93 Papers 1. Robert J. Lefkowitz -- 6,878Duke University, Durham, NCRobert Tjian -- 6,412University of California, BerkeleyRonald M. Evans -- 1,578Salk Institute for Biological StudiesLa Jolla, CA. 2. Marc G. Caron -- 6,059Duke University, Durham, NCRonald M. Evans -- 6,268Salk Institute for Biological StudiesLa Jolla, CA.Marc G. Caron -- 1,335Duke University, Durham, NC 3. Ronald M. Evans -- 5,714Salk Institute for Biological StudiesLa Jolla, CA. John W. Kappler, Philippa C. Marrack -- 6,109National Jewish Center for Immunology andRespiratory Medicine, Denver, CO. Ronald J. Lefkowitz -- 1,186Duke University, Durham, NC 4. Richard D. Palmiter -- 4,480University of Washington, Seattle Raymond L. White -- 4,086University of California, San Diego Michael J. Welsh -- 1,154University of Iowa, Iowa City 5. Raymond L. White -- 4,086University of California, San Diego Marc G. Caron -- 5,467Duke University, Durham, NC Michael G. Rosenfeld -- 1,123University of California, San Diego 6. Edwin G. Krebs -- 4,032University of Washington, Seattle Robert J. Lefkowitz -- 4,842Duke University, Durham, NC Robert Tjian -- 1,095University of California, Berkeley 7. Arthur Weiss -- 3,960University of California, San Francisco Michael G. Rosenfeld -- 3,718University of California, Berkeley Joseph R. Nevins -- 1,011Duke University, Durham, NC 8. John H. Exton -- 3,649Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. Francis S. Collins -- 3,815University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Philippa C. Marrack -- 991National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Denver, CO 9. Michael G. Rosenfeld -- 3,477University of Chicago Graeme I. Bell -- 3,629University of Chicago John W. Kappler -- 987National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine Denver, CO 10. Ralph Snyderman -- 3,158Duke University, Durham, NC Lewis T. Williams -- 2,980University of California, San Francisco Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Note: Affiliations are where researchers were working during the specified time, not necessarily their present position. Source: ISI's Science Indicators Database, 1985-93

Hughes Investigators Now Field One In Four Top Papers

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