Salk Institute Earns Top Global Ranking for Scientific Research

LA JOLLA, Calif., Oct. 14, 2011  /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) World Report has identified the Salk Institute as one of the top five research organizations in the world, based on excellence and high quality of its scientific findings.

The independent survey is the most comprehensive ranking of 3,042 worldwide research institutions, analyzing work from 2005 to 2009.  The report scores each institute based on six indicators: output, international collaboration, normalized impact, high quality publications, specialization index and excellence rate.

The SIR World Report compiled its data by identifying and comparing all the institutions through a large number of scientific articles, reviews and conference papers contained in Scopus, the world's largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and web sources with tools to track, analyze and visualize research.

The Salk Institute ranked fifth, globally in the category of high quality publications and excellence rate.  The indicators are based on the ratio of publications published in the most influential scholarly journals in the world, and the percentage of publications of an institution that are among the top 10% of publications in a field.

"This top global ranking is a testament to the exemplary science performed by some of the leading researchers in the world at the Salk," said William R. Brody, Salk Institute President.  "Salk scientists are extraordinary leaders in their field and the impact their work has on human health is the Salk legacy."

This global ranking comes on the heels of another distinction given by Thomson Reuters Essential Science Indicators, which seeded the plant biology program at the Salk Institute number one in the world.

About SCImago:
SCImago is a worldwide renowned brand for Scientific Information Analysis and Evaluation. Scimago Lab is a technologically based company offering innovative solutions to improve the Scientific Visibility and Online Reputation in Knowledge-Driven Organizations.

We develop Analytics Applications and deliver Reporting, Consultancy and Training Services that provide an innovative approach in research performance analysis and evaluation at a number of levels.

We embrace the research analysis process entirely, ranging from the scientific information collected from databases to RIAs (Rich Internet Applications) designed to its evaluation on web environments, our solutions cover the entire research process; they are based on Authoritative Data and high-quality standards of Usability, Visualizations and Presentation techniques.

About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is one of the world's preeminent basic research institutions, where internationally renowned faculty probe fundamental life science questions in a unique, collaborative, and creative environment. Focused both on discovery and on mentoring future generations of researchers, Salk scientists make groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of cancer, aging, Alzheimer's, diabetes and infectious diseases by studying neuroscience, genetics, cell and plant biology, and related disciplines.

Faculty achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including Nobel Prizes and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences. Founded in 1960 by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk, M.D., the Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark.

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SOURCE Salk Institute for Biological Studies