Every year, Stanford University publishes the World’s Top 2% Scientists, the list of researchers with the greatest impact in their respective fields. Considered the most prestigious of all, this classification takes into account the number of published articles, the position as author and the citations received, all according to the Scopus database and differentiating 22 scientific fields and 174 specialties.
This year, the list includes 217,097 scientists: the 100,000 with the best scores in all fields and also all those who are in the top 2% of their specialty. On the other hand, and with the intention of making room for those researchers with fewer years of experience, a second list of 223,152 members is also published that only takes into account citations during the last year, 2023.
IDIBELL once again consolidates its presence in this ranking with 34 members in 3 fields and 17 specialties. In the first list, taking into account all career-long citations, we highlight three of them that remain in the top positions at the national level: Dr. Esteve Fernández, second in Spain in the specialty of Public Health, Dr. Xavier Matias-Guiu, third in Pathology, and Dr. Cosme Gay-Escoda, sixth in Dentistry. In addition, also in notable positions, we find Drs. Francesc Formiga, Sebastiano Biondo, Josep Maria Cruzado, Isabel Fabregat, Anna Sureda, Jordi Carratalà, Ramon Alemany, Javier Ariza, Josep M. Ramon, Francisco Ciruela, Victor Moreno, Oriol Casanovas, Gabriel Capellá and Román Pallarés.
When only counting 2023 citations, the list includes 17 IDIBELL members more, an extra four compared to the previous release: Josep Comín, Xavier Pinto, Eduard Valmaseda, Aurora Pujol, Antonio Agudo, Laia Bruni, Ramón Salazar, Fernando Fernández, Susana Jiménez, Maria Molina, Cristina Muñoz, Carlota Gudiol, Raul Zamora, Raúl Rigo, Laura Valle, Marta Crous and Josep M. Piulats.
How to Measure Scientific Impact Using Citations
Citations of scientific articles are one of the most widely used tools to assess the scientific output and impact of a researcher. Over time, metrics have been developed such as the Hirsch index (h-index), which only takes into account the number of articles and citations, the Schreiber index (hm-index), which relativizes the h-index according to the total number of authors, or other measures that include the author’s position in their publications (first, last or single) in order to assess their involvement.
With the intention of focusing on the impact rather than the author’s productivity, the team led by John P.A. Ioannidis at Stanford University produces the World’s Top 2% Scientists according to a composite indicator called c-score, which takes into account all the abovementioned values. Ioannidis himself recalls that “the presence or absence in this ranking is determined solely by the c-score indicator and not being there does not directly mean that a researcher does not do quality research“. Citation metrics have their limitations and must be interpreted critically and relatively.
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).