Charlton BG "Measuring revolutionary biomedical science 1992-2006 using Nobel prizes, Lasker (clinical medicine) awards and Gairdner awards (NLG metric)" MEDICAL HYPOTHESES 69 (1): 1-5 2007

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Addresses: bruce.charlton at ncl.ac.uk 

Title: Measuring revolutionary biomedical science 1992-2006 using Nobel 
prizes, Lasker (clinical medicine) awards and Gairdner awards (NLG metric) 

Author(s): Charlton BG (Charlton, Bruce G.) 

Source: MEDICAL HYPOTHESES 69 (1): 1-5 2007 

Document Type: Editorial Material 
Language: English 
Cited References: 11      Times Cited: 0        

Abstract: The Nobel prize for medicine or physiology, the Lasker award for 
clinical medicine, and the Gairdner international award are given to 
individuals for their rote in developing theories, technologies and 
discoveries which have changed the direction of biomedical science. These 
distinctions have been used to develop an NLG metric to measure research 
performance and trends in 'revolutionary' biomedical science with the aim 
of identifying the premier revolutionary science research institutions and 
nations from 1992-2006. 1 have previously argued that the number of Nobel 
laureates in the biomedical field should be expanded to about nine per year 
and the NLG metric attempts to predict the possible results of such an 
expansion. One hundred and nineteen NLG prizes and awards were made during 
the past fifteen years (about eight per year) when overlapping awards had 
been removed. Eighty-five were won by the USA, revealing a massive 
domination in revolutionary biomedical science by this nation; the UK was 
second with sixteen awards; Canada had five, Australia four and Germany 
three. The USA had twelve elite centres of revolutionary biomedical 
science, with University of Washington at Seattle and MIT in first position 
with six awards and prizes each; Rockefeller University and Caltech were 
jointly second placed with five. Surprisingly, Harvard University which 
many people rank as the premier world research centre - failed to reach the 
threshold of three prizes and awards, and was not included in the elite 
list. The University of Oxford, UK, was the only institution outside of the 
USA which featured as a significant centre of revolutionary biomedical 
science. Long-term success at the highest level of revolutionary biomedical 
science (and probably other sciences) probably requires a sufficiently 
large number of individually-successful large institutions in open 
competition with one another - as in the USA. If this model cannot be 
replicated within smaller nations, then it implies that such arrangements 
need to be encouraged and facilitated in multi-national units. (c) 2007 
Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 
KeyWords Plus: INSTITUTIONS 
Addresses: Charlton BG (reprint author), Univ Newcastle Upon Tyne, 
Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU, Tyne & Wear England
Univ Newcastle Upon Tyne, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU, Tyne & Wear England

E-mail Addresses: bruce.charlton at ncl.ac.uk 

Publisher: CHURCHILL LIVINGSTONE, JOURNAL PRODUCTION DEPT, ROBERT STEVENSON 
HOUSE, 1-3 BAXTERS PLACE, LEITH WALK, EDINBURGH EH1 3AF, MIDLOTHIAN, 
SCOTLAND 
Subject Category: Medicine, Research & Experimental 
IDS Number: 178PP 

ISSN: 0306-9877 

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