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50 Polytechnique Montréal researchers among the top 2% most cited in their respective fields
Some 50 of Polytechnique Montréal’s current and former researchers appear on a prestigious list of the world's most productive and cited researchers in their respective fields, according to a Stanford University study.

(Photo: Pixabay, licence CC0)
The article’s authors describe and explain their research and ranking methods in this article that initially appeared in August 2019’s PLOS Biology journal. Last August, they updated their article and database, which listed the most-cited scientific researchers throughout 2019.
The overall list includes tens of thousands of researchers from across the globe, all of whom are among those ranked as the top 2% most-cited scientific researchers in their respective fields. Within the top 2% group, 33 Polytechnique Montréal-affiliated researchers (all disciplines taken together) were present, classifying them as among the 100,000 most-cited science researchers in the world.
The Stanford study’s authors used six criteria to establish their rankings. In addition to the number of citations, they took into account the Hirsch index (or “h-index”) an author-level matrix that measures a researcher’s impact and productivity, and its updated iteration, the Shreiber index ("hm-index") which takes into account the above data, only in relation to publications with numerous co-authors. Further, three other indicators relating to the author's position among the list of co-authors were also used. The study analyzed data from 1965 to 2019, and includes roughly seven million science researchers in 22 major fields.
A reflection of a career
The Stanford University classification may have some curious elements, however, notes Christine Brodeur, a librarian on the Service-Consultations team at Polytechnique Montreal’s Louise-Lalonde-Lamarre Library.
One such potential problematic is that the citation of articles published closer to 1965, have the same weight as citations from more recently published articles – which favours established researchers, and is more of a reflection of a researcher’s overall career. Brodeur also wonders about the presence on the list of professors who have retired from Polytechnique.
“The way this calculation has been applied does disadvantage early-stage career researchers, so you have to bear in mind that a researcher who might not be in this ranking is by no means less productive,” emphasizes Christine Brodeur.

Christine Brodeur, Service-Consultations Team librarian at the Louise-Lalonde-Lamarre Library (Photo: Denis Bernier photographe)
The librarian also points out that citation practices can vary greatly from one discipline to another, making comparisons between researchers in different disciplines difficult.
"For example, an author-researcher in computer science can end up in the top 2% of their field without necessarily having the same number of citations of those belonging to the overall ranking’s top group. This actually happens frequently because of differences in citation practices in this specific field, as well as due to the fact that research and scientific findings may not necessarily appear as articles that are part of scientific publications,” she adds.
Regardless, Brodeur emphasizes that the Stanford study’s rankings are strong proof of the impact of research carried out in recent years at Polytechnique Montréal. “Comparing our researchers’ results to those in other institutions is difficult given the format of the data, but certainly, looking at these results, it's safe to say that our professors do well!"
Polytechnique Montréal’s 50 current and former professors and researchers who rank among the top 2% of most-cited authors in 2019
(In alphabetical order; some profiles in French only)
Notes
* Retired Individual or one who is no longer affiliated with Polytechnique Montréal
** Non-professorial researcher
*** Teaches in two different departments
Special thanks to Christine Brodeur and Manon Du Ruisseau (from the Louise-Lalonde-Lamarre Library) for their contribution to this article.
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The original article published in the PLOS Biology journal