Number 31

Last year, when d~cussing the 1979 Nobel prizewinners, we introduced a new term-of Nobel class. 1 One major indicator that a scientist is of Nobel class is the publication of several papers of high impact. More often than not, when consistently cited for a long period, such papers can be identified with major breakthroughs. Let’s see whether this is true of the 1980 Nobel prizewinners, and if not, why not. In compiliig liits of highly cited authors, we identify many people who can be considered of Nobel class. However, we cannot predict which individuals or fields will be singled out in a particular year for the coveted award. We can use citation analysis to identify those scientists whose contributions have had wide impact. Our studies indicate that most of these same indh-iduals are also identtiled as outstanding when their peers are asked to provide subjective opinions. Awarda, of course, only confirm eminence. They do not change the quality of work done before the award. As in most years, six of the ten 1980 Nobel prizewinners had already appeared on our published lists of highly cited authors. When this is not the case, it usually reflects a decision to award the prizes in fields which contain a relatively small body of literature. But since many of the 1980 prizewinners were selected from highly active areas, such as recombinant DNA and immunoAugust 3,1981