<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<sec><h3>Purpose</h3><p>This article aims to determine the percentage of “Sparking” articles among the work of this year’s Nobel Prize winners in medicine, physics, and chemistry.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3><p>We focus on under-cited influential research among the key publications as mentioned by the Nobel Prize Committee for the 2020 Noble Prize laureates. Specifically, we extracted data from the Web of Science, and calculated the Sparking Indices using the formulas as proposed by Hu and Rousseau in 2016 and 2017. In addition, we identified another type of igniting articles based on the notion in 2017.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Findings</h3><p>In the fields of medicine and physics, the proportions of articles with sparking characteristics share 78.571% and 68.75% respectively, yet, in chemistry 90% articles characterized by “igniting”. Moreover, the two types of articles share more than 93% in the work of the Nobel Prize included in this study.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Research limitations</h3><p>Our research did not cover the impact of topic, socio-political, and author’s reputation on the Sparking Indices.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Practical implications</h3><p>Our study shows that the Sparking Indices truly reflect influence of the best research work, so it can be used to detect under-cited influential articles, as well as identifying fundamental work.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Originality/value</h3><p>Our findings suggest that the Sparking Indices have good applicability for research evaluation.</p></sec>
</abstract>

PurposeThis article aims to determine the percentage of “Sparking” articles among the work of this year’s Nobel Prize winners in medicine, physics, and chemistry.
Design/methodology/approachWe focus on under-cited influential research among the key publications as mentioned by the Nobel Prize Committee for the 2020 Noble Prize laureates. Specifically, we extracted data from the Web of Science, and calculated the Sparking Indices using the formulas as proposed by Hu and Rousseau in 2016 and 2017. In addition, we identified another type of igniting articles based on the notion in 2017.
FindingsIn the fields of medicine and physics, the proportions of articles with sparking characteristics share 78.571% and 68.75% respectively, yet, in chemistry 90% articles characterized by “igniting”. Moreover, the two types of articles share more than 93% in the work of the Nobel Prize included in this study.
Research limitationsOur research did not cover the impact of topic, socio-political, and author’s reputation on the Sparking Indices.
Practical implicationsOur study shows that the Sparking Indices truly reflect influence of the best research work, so it can be used to detect under-cited influential articles, as well as identifying fundamental work.
Originality/valueOur findings suggest that the Sparking Indices have good applicability for research evaluation.

“Sparking” and “Igniting” Key Publications of 2020 Nobel Prize Laureates

Centre for R&D Monitoring (ECOOM) and Dept. MSI, KU Leuven

Department of Neurology of Affiliated Hospital 2

Journal of Data and Information Science

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

PurposeThis article aims to determine the percentage of “Sparking” articles among the work of this year’s Nobel Prize winners in medicine, physics, and...

“Sparking” and “Igniting” Key Publications of 2020 Nobel Prize Laureates

Article Category: Research Paper

Publié en ligne: 02 mars 2021

Pages: 28 - 40

Reçu: 19 janv. 2021

Accepté: 07 févr. 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2021-0016

Mots clés
Sparking Indices, Sparking fundamental research, Igniting fundamental research, Nobel Prize laureates, Under-cited influential research

© 2021 Fangjie Xi et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

“Sparking” and “Igniting” Key Publications of 2020 Nobel Prize Laureates

Article Category: Research Paper

Publié en ligne: 02 mars 2021

Pages: 28 - 40

Reçu: 19 janv. 2021

Accepté: 07 févr. 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2021-0016

Mots clésSparking Indices, Sparking fundamental research, Igniting fundamental research, Nobel Prize laureates, Under-cited influential research

© 2021 Fangjie Xi et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Mots clés
Sparking Indices, Sparking fundamental research, Igniting fundamental research, Nobel Prize laureates, Under-cited influential research