September 30, 2005 Source: University of Toronto:
http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/050930-1676.asp University researchers deemed top performers U of T solidifies its stance as a Canadian research powerhouse
Sep 30/05
by Karen Kelly (about) (email) University of Toronto researchers are the most prolific in Canada when it comes to publishing research findings, says a new study by Science Watch. According to the study, U of T researchers published 25,883 papers between 2000 and 2004 – over 10,000 more than the second place institution. The study used the Thomson Scientific University Science Indicators to examine the research of 46 Canadian universities in 21 scientific fields. These indicators track the number of published articles a researcher produces and the number of times each article is cited by other researchers. "By topping both rankings, University of Toronto solidifies its stance as a Canadian research powerhouse by achieving high output and significantly influential work," said Christopher King, editor of Science Watch, a bi-monthly newsletter published by Thomson Scientific. Professor Vivek Goel, vice-president and provost, said the study affirms the University of Toronto's position as a leading teaching and research university. "The Science Watch study is a welcome reconfirmation of the University
of Toronto's leading position within Canada's university research community. We are proud to be home to an absolutely world-class cadre of researchers whose work ranks among the best not only in Canada but across North America and around the world," Goel said. "These same world-class researchers bring their cutting edge work directly into their classroom lectures, to the benefit of our students." In total, U of T led 15 fields in number of publications: chemistry; materials science; engineering; space science; mathematics; ecology/environment; clinical medicine; immunology; biology and biochemistry; molecular biology/genetics; neurosciences; pharmacology; psychology/psychiatry; education; and economics and business. The university also came out on top when examining the impact (or average citation per paper) in engineering, microbiology, biology and biochemistry, molecular biology/genetics and education. Professor Anastasios Venetsanopoulos, dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, said rankings such as these are important because they reflect the high performance level of U of T researchers. "I am particularly encouraged by the performance of our faculty in terms of total citations and the average number of citations per paper," Venetsanopoulos said. "It shows we are having a great impact." Other Canadian top-scorers were the University of British Columbia with 14,819 papers published and the McGill University with 13,996. The results of this study echo an analysis by the Institute for Scientific Information released last year. That study showed that U of T published more research papers than any other public university in North America and ranked second in overall citations.
| 