Institute For Systems Biology Research Papers Have Highest Scientific Impact In The United States, According To International Report

Institute for Systems Biology research papers have the highest scientific impact in the United States and the third highest in the world, according to a report evaluating research-centered organizations released in December by the SCImago Research Group, based in Spain.


The report analyzes the impact of scientific papers published by more than 2,000 research institutes around the globe between 2003 and 2007. Reviewed institutions represent 84 countries and five continents. Other ranked U.S. institutes include the likes of MIT, Harvard Medical School, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Washington, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and other elite research organizations.


"This achievement is first and foremost due to the talent and scientific insights of all the members of the Institute," said Alan Aderem, co-founder and director of ISB. "It demonstrates that our scientists are effective in working with each other across multiple disciplines to conduct truly groundbreaking research and shape scientific inquiry worldwide."


ISB has assembled some of the best scholars and scientists in the world, from biologists, mathematicians and engineers, to computer scientists and physicists, in an interactive and collaborative environment. Much like a biological system, researchers from these different disciplines work effectively with each other in the pursuit of knowledge on the leading edge of science.


This systems approach is very different from more traditional "siloed" academic research environments, where disciplines are segregated by departments that seldom interact. The international impact of ISB research papers demonstrates the value of a recent "new biology" report from the National Academy of Sciences which outlines biological inquiry and discovery strategies that mirror the systems approach on which ISB was founded.


The SCImago report indicates that ISB's average research impact was 211 percent higher than the average research impact for all institutions around the globe combined.


Only four institutes -- 1) Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, 2) Institut National de Physique Nucleaire et de Physique des Particules, 3) Institute for Systems Biology, 4) Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory -- out of more than 2,000 analyzed had an impact of 200 percent or greater above the global average. ISB also scored among the highest (only five institutes scored higher) globally in terms of the "importance" of journals which published its research.


"We launched ISB in 2000 because we wanted to be nimble, reduce bureaucratic barriers that inhibit scientific creativity at large organizations, foster an interdependence between disciplines and gain a better understanding of how all the components of biological systems interact to generate health or disease," said Lee Hood, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and president of ISB. "It's great to see that an independent analysis of outcomes demonstrates that we were on track 10 years ago when we launched the world's first systems biology focused research institute.


Source

Institute for Systems Biology