American scientists came to the conclusion that receiving the Nobel Prize negatively affected the work of scientists. In particular, experts have found that publication activity, citations, and novelty of ideas decline faster after the award than in other award winners. results published National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
Scientist David Studdard and his colleagues analyzed data from Nobel Prize winners in medicine and physiology from 1950 to 2010. Specifically, they collected statistics assessing scientific productivity in terms of the number of articles published, citations, and the “newness” of the topic being researched. The last parameter was determined using an algorithm that highlighted the main ideas in each publication, and then looked at the date the concept appeared in UMLS (Unified Medical Language System – a unified language for medical systems). This language, which is used to process biomedical information, is developed by the US National Library of Medicine. The researchers concluded that the smaller the gap between a term’s publication and its entry into the UMLS, the higher the novelty of the study.
He also took into account the fact that the Nobel Prize often crowns a long career and is awarded to scientists who are already of a fairly respectable age. That’s why experts gathered similar statistics for winners of another award in medicine, the Lasker Prize. As a result, the researchers found that, before receiving the award, future Nobel Prize winners often publish more frequently than their Lasker Prize-winning counterparts. They publish, on average, one more article than Nobel Prize-winning authors over the course of a decade, and their performance is better, both in terms of citation and novelty of research.
According to the scientists, the decrease in the effectiveness of the laureates is not related to receiving the reward. Experts believe this reflects the profound changes that occur in the lives of the winners after receiving the award. In particular, the laureates become world famous, receiving requests for interviews, talks and commercial offers. As a result, award winners become not only researchers, but also public intellectuals, for whom they have to devote time and energy to many things.
Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Memorial Center (the organization was included in the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice)*, Ukrainian and Belarusian activists. Read more about who else received the Nobel Peace Prize and for what achievements and was nominated in 2022 – in material “socialbites.ca”.
* The organization has been included in the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice.