The Healthcare and Science business of Thomson Reuters today announced the results of its annual roundup of the hottest researchers and research papers. In its March/April issue of Science Watch, Thomson Reuters identified the top 13 authors who fielded the highest numbers of Hot Papers in 2007-2008 as well as the most-cited research papers of 2008.

"Our annual list of those authoring multiple Hot Papers serves to highlight researchers who are leading modern scientific thought," said Christopher King, editor of Science Watch. "Compiled with citation data unique to Web of Science(R), this list serves as a popular and accurate indicator on the impact of certain research."

Kuo-Chen Chou of Gordon Life Sciences Institute and Shanghai Jiao Tong University was this year's hottest researcher, authoring 17 Hot Papers published during this time period. His papers unveil a variety of sequencing tools used to predict protein location. Another hot researcher, Hong-Bin Shen, co-authored 13 of these Hot Papers.

Also making the list, both with 13 papers, are Rudolf Jaenisch, Whitehead Institute at MIT, and Konstantin Novoselov, University of Manchester.

Thomson Reuters Hot Papers are derived from the Web of Science database. A published work is identified as a Hot Paper if it is less than two years old and has achieved a rate of citations in scientific journals that is markedly higher than papers of comparable type and age. The researchers named have published the most Hot Papers in the latest two-year period indexed by Thomson Reuters for inclusion in Web of Science.

The physical sciences feature prominently on the list of 2008's most-cited papers (excluding review articles), including the top paper examining iron-based superconductors, which was cited 249 times, more than double that of the second most-cited paper. A paper discussing the reprogramming of human somatic cells took second place with 116 citations, while a paper exploring insulin therapy and pentastarch resuscitation in severe sepsis received 112 citations and rounds out the top three.

For a detailed list of the 2007-2008 hottest researchers and research papers, as well as expert analysis, visit www.ScienceWatch.com.