January 15, 1997 Contact: Robert Irion (408) 459-2495; irion@ua.ucsc.edu

UC SANTA CRUZ ASTRONOMERS RANK HIGHLY IN INTERNATIONAL STUDY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Astronomers and astrophysicists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, published some of the most notable research papers in their field in recent years, according to a new study by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) of Philadelphia.

Analysts at ISI studied the impacts of all space-science papers published from 1993 to 1995 by tallying the number of citations earned by each paper. When researchers publish a journal article, they must cite previous papers by other authors that set the stage for their work. Generally, a paper garners more citations when scientists accept the work as important and well done.

UC Santa Cruz ranked twelfth among the world's astronomy research institutions in terms of the total number of citations received and eleventh in terms of the average number of citations per paper. ISI analysts consider the latter measure as the most objective way to gauge the quality of a department's research.

Ten other institutions ranked in the top fifteen in both measures: Princeton University, the University of Cambridge, the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, UC Berkeley, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (Germany), the Institut d'Astrophysique Paris, the University of Wisconsin, MIT, and the University of Arizona. (See the following tables of top twenty institutions.)

The new study is consistent with recent rankings published by the National Research Council, which rated the quality of graduate departments according to their reputations among peers. In that study, UCSC's Astronomy and Astrophysics Department ranked sixth among all U.S. universities.

UCSC is renowned for research in both observational astronomy and theoretical astrophysics. Santa Cruz astronomers are among the primary users of the Hubble Space Telescope and the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, home of the world's largest optical telescopes. Special areas of focus include the evolution, distribution, and nature of stars and galaxies.

In astrophysics, UCSC scientists excel in studies of cosmology, planetary and solar system formation, models of galaxy collisions, and supernovas. Faculty members and staff technicians also are among the world's leading designers of instruments and optical components for telescopes.

Data tables: Astronomy and astrophysics research Institutions ranked by citations and citation impact

Institution and ranking: Total citations (1993-95)

1. NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center: 2,521 2. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: 2,182 3. Space Telescope Science Institute: 2,103 4. UC Berkeley: 2,022 5. University of Cambridge: 1,988 6. Princeton University: 1,651 7. Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics: 1,553 8. Caltech: 1,483 9. University of Arizona: 1,297 10. Institut d'Astrophysique Paris: 1,219 11. National Optical Astronomy Observatories: 1,108 12. UC Santa Cruz: 1,028 13. University of Wisconsin: 978 14. MIT: 968 15. Johns Hopkins University: 966 16. Carnegie Observatories (Pasadena): 922 17. Royal Observatories (United Kingdom): 895 18. Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton): 763 19. University of Colorado: 761 20. University of Texas, Austin: 741

Institution and ranking: Citation impact (citations per paper)

1. Royal Observatories (United Kingdom): 24.86 2. Princeton University: 23.93 3. Carnegie Observatories (Pasadena): 23.64 4. University of Wisconsin: 23.29 5. MIT: 23.05 6. Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton): 22.44 7. Institut d'Astrophysique Paris: 21.77 8. University of Cambridge: 21.61 9. Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics: 21.57 10. UC Berkeley: 21.51 11. UC Santa Cruz: 21.42 12. Space Telescope Science Institute: 21.03 13. NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center: 20.66 14. University of Texas, Austin: 20.03 15. University of Arizona: 19.95 16. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: 19.84 17. Caltech: 19.26 18. University of Maryland: 19.15 19. University of Chicago: 18.97 20. University of Hawaii: 18.68

Reprinted from Science Watch, November/December 1996, copyright 1996 Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia.

Analysis considers only "high-impact" papers (those receiving 10 or more citations) published between 1993 and 1995. Institutions ranked include only those that published 30 or more high-impact papers in that three-year period. Citation impact is the total number of high-impact papers divided by the total number of citations received.

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