Sir Philip Cohen named as the world's second most highly cited biologist
Pioneering diabetes researcher Sir Philip Cohen, who is based at the University of Dundee, has been named as the world's second most quoted scientist.
Sir Philip, Director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Protein Phosphorylation Unit and Royal Society Research Professor in the School of Life Sciences, comes second amongst 561,800 biologists and biochemists who published research papers over the ten years between 1992 and 2002.
Such is the importance of Sir Philip's work to other scientists that, during this period, his research was cited 14,186 times, according to the Philadelphia based Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). He comes in only a few hundred citations behind Professor Robert Lefkowitz of Duke University, North Carolina, US in first place, but nearly 1,500 citations ahead of Professor Roger Davis of the University of Massachusetts, the scientist in third spot.
The May issue of The Scientist published by ISI will carry a commentary by Sir Philip, which reviews the major advances that he and his colleagues have made to our understanding of how insulin works.
Other scientists with a Dundee connection to be commonly cited include Dr Dario Alessi, also of the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit, who holds 44th place. Dr Peter Parker who carried out his postdoctoral training in Dundee with Sir Philip from 1979-1982 occupies 60th place. The 69th spot was claimed by Professor Jim Woodgett, who completed his PhD Degree at Dundee from 1982-1985, under Sir Philip's supervision. Dr Parker now heads a research group at the London Research Institute of Cancer Research UK, while Professor Woodgett is based at the University of Toronto, Canada.
Commenting on the announcement, Sir Philip said, "I have been appearing in ISI lists for 30 years and was the 126th most cited scientist in the world between 1973 and 1984 and 66th between 1981 and 1988. It is therefore gratifying to see I am still moving up the "pop chart" of science! Citation data must always be treated with caution, but it is pleasing nevertheless to see that so many scientists have referred to my work in their own publications.
"It is remarkable that Dario Alessi is so high. At 36, he must be far and away the youngest in the top 200. It is also great to see that some of the people who trained with me many years ago, like Peter Parker and Jim Woodgett, are now making their own significant impact on the field. To be in the top 100 is remarkable, because anyone in the top 5,000 ranks among the top 1% of most quoted scientists. The release of this information by ISI can only enhance the reputation of our MRC Unit as one of the best places in the world to be trained and to carry out excellent science."
By Jane Smernicki, Press Officer 01382 344768 j.m.smernicki@dundee.ac.uk