Citation network centrality: a scientific awards predictor?

10/06/2019

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by   Osame Kinouchi, et al.

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K index is an easily computable centrality index in complex networks, such as a scientific citations network. A researcher has a K index equal to K if he or she is cited by K articles that have at least K citations. The K index has several advantages over Hirsh's h index and, in previous studies, has shown better correlation with Nobel prizes than any other index given by the Web of Science, including the h index. However, correlation is not causation. Here we perform an experiment using the K index, producing a shortlist to predict future Physics Nobel candidates. Our list has been built before the 2019 Nobel Prizes announcements and should be compared to the actual results of the current and following years.