Impact of major awards on the subsequent work of their recipients

To characterize impact of major research awards on recipients’ subsequent work, we studied Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Physics and MacArthur Fellows working in scientific fields. Using a case-crossover design, we compared scientists’ citations, publications, and citations-per-publication from work published in a 3-year pre-award period to their work published in a 3-year post-award period. Nobel Laureates and MacArthur Fellows received fewer citations for post- than for pre-award work. This was driven mostly by Nobel Laureates. Median decrease was 112 citations among Nobel Laureates (p = .003) and 21 among MacArthur Fellows (p = .744). Mid-career (42–57 years) and senior (>57 years) researchers tended to earn fewer citations for post-award work. Early-career researchers (<42 years, all MacArthur Fellows), tended to earn more, but the difference was non-significant. MacArthur Fellows (p = .001) but not Nobel Laureates (p = .180) had significantly ..., Data collection For every scientist who met the selection criteria, we recorded age at time of award; field of study; and pre- and post-award citation counts, publication counts, and citations per publication. We defined pre-award papers as those published during the two years immediately before and during the year of an award, and post-award papers as those published during the second through fourth years after the year of an award. Thus, both the pre- and post-award periods are only three years. For pre-award and post-award papers, we counted citations, publications, and citations per publication accumulated during equal durations. For example, if a scientist won an award in 2004, the pre-award citation count includes citations received between 2002 and 2015 on papers published during 2002–2004, and the post-award citation count includes citations received between 2006 and 2019 on papers published during 2006–2008. We exclude papers published in 2005, because they may represent work ..., Data scraping conducted using Python. Data analysis conducted using R.为刻画重大科研奖项对获奖者后续研究工作的影响，本研究针对化学、生理学或医学、物理学领域的诺贝尔奖得主（Nobel Laureates），以及从事科学研究领域的麦克阿瑟天才奖得主（MacArthur Fellows）展开分析。我们采用案例交叉设计（case-crossover design），对比了科学家在获奖前3年发表的研究成果与获奖后3年发表的研究成果的相关指标，包括被引总次数、发表论文总数以及单篇论文平均被引频次。 研究结果显示，相较于获奖前的成果，诺贝尔奖得主与麦克阿瑟天才奖得主的获奖后成果所获得的被引频次更低，这一现象主要由诺贝尔奖得主驱动。其中，诺贝尔奖得主的被引频次中位数下降了112次（p = 0.003），麦克阿瑟天才奖得主则下降了21次（p = 0.744）。 处于职业中期（42~57岁）与职业后期（＞57岁）的研究者，其获奖后成果的被引频次往往更低；而处于职业早期（＜42岁，且该群体均为麦克阿瑟天才奖得主）的研究者，其获奖后成果的被引频次则更高，但该差异不具备统计学显著性。 麦克阿瑟天才奖得主（p = 0.001）但非诺贝尔奖得主（p = 0.180）的相关差异具备统计学显著性…… ### 数据采集 针对所有符合筛选标准的科学家，我们记录了其获奖时的年龄、研究领域，以及获奖前后的被引总次数、发表论文数量和单篇论文平均被引频次。我们将获奖前论文定义为获奖前两年至获奖当年发表的论文，获奖后论文则定义为获奖年份之后的第二年至第四年发表的论文，由此确保获奖前与获奖后的观测周期均为3年。 对于获奖前与获奖后的论文，我们在相等时长的周期内统计其被引总次数、发表论文数量以及单篇论文平均被引频次。例如，若某位科学家于2004年获奖，则获奖前被引频次统计范围为2002年至2015年间、针对2002年至2004年发表的论文的被引次数；而获奖后被引频次统计范围为2006年至2019年间、针对2006年至2008年发表的论文的被引次数。我们剔除了2005年发表的论文，因为此类成果可能代表…… 数据爬取工作采用Python实现，数据分析工作采用R完成。