FLICKR, ROBERT CUDMOREIrrespective of whether a scientist reaches the peak of her career early or late in life, the overall impact of her papers remains relatively steady, according to a study published in Science today (November 3). This consistent impact level—or Q value—can be determined with as few as 10 papers, and used to predict a scientist’s future achievements, according to the authors.
“It has been suggested that you’re more creative when you’re young, so you can expect to have your highest impact [paper] when you’re younger, but actually what the [researchers] show is that people can produce their highest impact work at any stage of their individual careers, as long as they are productive,” said Stasa Milojevic an informatician at Indiana University in Bloomington who was not involved in the work. “I think, for most people, that would be encouraging [because] until the very last paper, there is hope.”
On the other hand, Milojevic added, the finding that a researcher’s impact is stable, “is a bit more negative,” meaning that if an early-career scientist’s Q value is low, they are unlikely to have a really big impact ...
