The comet is an astronomical phenomenon that has long fascinated
humankind. These tailed stars are composed of ice left over from the
formation of the solar system. Researching comets not only provides
information about the objects themselves, but also gives clues about
the origins and formation of the solar system, as is shown in the
most-cited papers on this topic over the past decade.
Our list of the most-cited papers in comet research over the past
decade shows a variety of topics, including the dynamic behavior of
short-period comets, ensemble properties of comets as observed by
photometric methods, the composition and interstellar origins of
comets, and observations of specific comets, including Hale-Bopp,
C/1996 B2 Hyakutake, and Shoemaker-Levy-9. Other topics of interest in
this group of papers include speculation on the formation of the giant
planets, the possibility of comet collisions being the source of
observed gamma-ray bursts, and the presence of organic molecules in
comets relating to the origins of life on Earth.
The most-cited papers over the past two years are marked by further
observations of the Kuiper Belt objects, as well as research into the
composition of comets, including amino acids, nitrogen, and crystal
silicates. One paper discusses the theory of a comet causing mass
extinction in the Cretaceous-Tertiary period and shows how the impact
and resulting debris in the atmosphere do not sufficiently explain the
scale of the extinction. Another paper describes the Deep Space I
spacecraft’s Miniature Integrated Camera and Spectrometer
observations of the 19P/Borrelly comet.
Methodology
To construct this database,
papers were extracted based on topic-supplied keywords for comets. The keywords used were as follows:
comet* NOT comet
assay*
The baseline time span for this database
is 1994-2004 (fifth bimonthly). The resulting database contained 5,881 (10 years)
and 1,583 (2 years) papers; 9,875 authors; 76 countries; 976 journals; and
2,328 institutions.
Rankings
Once the database was in place,
it was used to generate the lists of top 20 papers (two, and ten years
periods), authors, journals,
institutions, and nations, covering a time span of 1994-2004 (fifth
bimonthly).
The top 20 papers are ranked
according to total cites. Rankings for author, journal, institution,
and country are listed in three ways: according to total cites, total
papers, and total cites/paper. The paper thresholds and corresponding
percentages used to determine
scientist, institution, country, and journal rankings according to
total cites/paper, and total papers respectively are as follows:
| Entity: |
Scientists |
Institutions |
Countries |
Journals |
| Thresholds: |
17 |
59 |
19 |
6 |
| Percentage: |
1% |
1% |
50% |
10% |
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