Case Study: Most productive authors in Earth & Environmental Sciences
As the analysis presented in the previous sections reflect average number of papers, it is essential to dig deep the analysis of number of papers published in particular years. We take the case study in Earth & Environmental Sciences, where the top most prolific authors are listed in Table 4. It is important to note, out of these authors, only 4 were awarded highly cited researcher by Clarivate in 2022: Yong Sik Ok, Cao Jun Ji, and Hafiz M.N. Iqbal.
Table 4. Most productive authors in Earth & Environmental Sciences
authfull | inst_name | np6021 | rank (ns) | h21 (ns) | np/years |
Peng, Yongzheng | Beijing University of Technology | 996 | 86590 | 62 | 49.8 |
Huang, Gordon | University of Regina | 1396 | 17927 | 59 | 46.5 |
Ok, Yong Sik | Korea University | 714 | 65797 | 82 | 39.7 |
Cao, Jun Ji | Chinese Academy of Sciences | 747 | 34711 | 76 | 35.6 |
Iqbal, Hafiz M.N. | Tecnologico de Monterrey | 422 | 203470 | 45 | 35.2 |
Sillanpää, Mika | University of Johannesburg | 929 | 8002 | 82 | 34.4 |
Chen, Yangkang | Bureau of Economic Geology | 305 | 42533 | 40 | 33.9 |
Gao, Baoyu | Shandong University | 737 | 89670 | 70 | 33.5 |
Mahvi, Amir Hossein | Tehran University of Medical Sciences | 592 | 40372 | 48 | 32.9 |
Rizwan, Muhammad | Government College University Faisalabad | 327 | 181217 | 48 | 32.7 |
Tsang, Daniel C.W. | Hong Kong Polytechnic University | 516 | 133686 | 61 | 32.3 |
authfull | inst_name | np6021 | rank (ns) | h21 (ns) | np/years |
Peng, Yongzheng | Beijing University of Technology | 996 | 86590 | 62 | 49.8 |
Huang, Gordon | University of Regina | 1396 | 17927 | 59 | 46.5 |
Ok, Yong Sik | Korea University | 714 | 65797 | 82 | 39.7 |
Cao, Jun Ji | Chinese Academy of Sciences | 747 | 34711 | 76 | 35.6 |
Iqbal, Hafiz M.N. | Tecnologico de Monterrey | 422 | 203470 | 45 | 35.2 |
Sillanpää, Mika | University of Johannesburg | 929 | 8002 | 82 | 34.4 |
Chen, Yangkang | Bureau of Economic Geology | 305 | 42533 | 40 | 33.9 |
Gao, Baoyu | Shandong University | 737 | 89670 | 70 | 33.5 |
Mahvi, Amir Hossein | Tehran University of Medical Sciences | 592 | 40372 | 48 | 32.9 |
Rizwan, Muhammad | Government College University Faisalabad | 327 | 181217 | 48 | 32.7 |
Tsang, Daniel C.W. | Hong Kong Polytechnic University | 516 | 133686 | 61 | 32.3 |
Table 5. Number of papers published by most prolific authors in Earth and Environmental Sciences from 2015-2022 (data from Scopus, November 2022).
Year | Ok | Tsang | Peng | Huang | Iqbal |
2015 | 30 | 8 | 66 | 75 | 5 |
2016 | 63 | 12 | 81 | 85 | 15 |
2017 | 107 | 49 | 60 | 82 | 42 |
2018 | 97 | 97 | 46 | 81 | 52 |
2019 | 116 | 102 | 82 | 70 | 63 |
2020 | 103 | 135 | 103 | 65 | 89 |
2021 | 75 | 77 | 79 | 96 | 127 |
2022 | 86 | 54 | 90 | 82 | 177 |
Year | Ok | Tsang | Peng | Huang | Iqbal |
2015 | 30 | 8 | 66 | 75 | 5 |
2016 | 63 | 12 | 81 | 85 | 15 |
2017 | 107 | 49 | 60 | 82 | 42 |
2018 | 97 | 97 | 46 | 81 | 52 |
2019 | 116 | 102 | 82 | 70 | 63 |
2020 | 103 | 135 | 103 | 65 | 89 |
2021 | 75 | 77 | 79 | 96 | 127 |
2022 | 86 | 54 | 90 | 82 | 177 |
Table 5 displays further information on 4 prolific authors: Yong Sik Ok from Korea University, Daniel Tsang from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Yongzheng Peng from Beijing University of Technology, Gordon Huang from University of Regina, and M.H.N. Iqbal from Tecnologico de Monterrey. These authors, in general publish more than 72 papers per year (the definition of hyperprolific author). In particular Ok, Tsang, Iqbal and Huang have published more than 100 papers per year.
It ia argued that “productivity does not equal usefulness” [10] however some stragegies can make it work. There are several strategies that scientists can use to be more productive in their research, and the most important one is collaborating with other scientists can help to expand your knowledge and expertise, and can also help to speed up the research process. In addition, one can use technology effectively: There are many tools and resources available that can help scientists to be more productive, such as software for data analysis and project management.
A curious case is Yong Sik Ok from Korea University and his close collaborator Daniel CW Tsang from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, both have published more than 100 papers a year in 2019 and 2020. Together they have co-authored more than 180 papers. Both of them recieved boosted citations. According to Web of Science, currently (in November 2022) Yong Sik Ok has 91 highly cited papers and Daniel Tsang has 87 highly cited papers (hcp). Among those, Ok has 28 hcp published in 2019 and 21 hcp for papers in 2020. This means that in 2018 and 2019, Ok published 2 papers every week (fully peer-reviewed and publsihed). And incredibly, every 2 weeks, those papers got highly cited. This assume working at 365 days a year. An impressive but implausible achievement. Ok and Tsang continuously publish 90 to 120 papers per year, and Clarivate has awarded Ok and Tsang have been rewarded Highly Cited Researcher in multiple fields. Another interesting fact, according to public data at Publons, Daniel Tsang reviews 20–30 papers per month in 2020-2021. Thus he writes a paper every 2 days, and still have time to review 1 paper everyday, including weekends and holidays.
This begs the question, can one write a paper in 2–3 days and get highly cited within 2 weeks? Ioannidis et al. (2018) further wrote that the reasons are: “hard work; love of research; mentorship of very many young researchers; leadership of a research team, or even of many teams; extensive collaboration; working on multiple research areas or in core services; availability of suitable extensive resources and data; culmination of a large project; personal values such as generosity and sharing; experiences growing up; and sleeping only a few hours per day.”
Conclusions
The number of research papers that a scientist can write in a year depends on several factors, including the scientist's research productivity, time commitments, and the availability of funding and resources. Some scientists may be able to write several papers in a year, while others could write more than 100 papers per year. The number of papers that a scientist writes may also depend on the field they are working in and the specific requirements of the journals they are submitting to.
A hyperprolific author is a scientist or researcher who has an extremely high number of publications in a given time period, typically compared to their peers. This could be in the form of research papers, book chapters, or conference papers.
Hyperprolific authors are often highly productive and dedicated to their research, and may be able to publish many papers in a year due to their ability to work efficiently and effectively. However, it is also possible that some hyperprolific authors may engage in questionable practices, such as betwork citation, self-plagiarism, salami slicing (splitting a single study into multiple papers), or other forms of misconduct. It is important for scientists to ensure that their work is conducted ethically and in accordance with best practices in order to maintain the integrity of the scientific enterprise [1].
Backscratching, also known as reciprocity, can occur in any professional field, including the scientific community. This refers to the practice of people helping or promoting each other in order to receive some benefit in return. In the scientific community, backscratching could involve scientists promoting each other's work through co-authorship, citing each other's papers, or collaborating on research projects, being editors in journals. While some level of collaboration and mutual support is normal and expected in science, it is important for scientists to ensure that their actions are motivated by the pursuit of scientific knowledge and not by personal gain or the desire to receive favors in return [10].
It is also important to note that the scientific community has established ethical guidelines and practices to ensure that research is conducted with integrity and that the pursuit of knowledge is not compromised by personal or financial interests. These guidelines include the requirement for researchers to disclose any conflicts of interest, such as financial ties or personal relationships, that could influence the interpretation or reporting of their research. Scientists are also expected to follow best practices for research design, data collection, and analysis, and to report their results transparently and accurately. By following these guidelines, scientists can help to maintain the integrity and credibility of the scientific enterprise.
This paper also reveals that the so-called standardized database of the top 2% world scientists is flawed. It includes many science journalists who publish an article twice every week and rank them much higher to any scientist who have to do hard experimental work.
Acknowledgements
The author deeply thank a discussion with colleagues from Pakistan, Korea, Sri lanka, and China on how the bc group operates.
ReferencesReferences
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