Science impact examined through citations: a case study from the National Spherical Torus Experiment

Science impact examined through citations: a case study from the National Spherical Torus Experiment | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Science impact examined through citations: a case study from the National Spherical Torus Experiment John Berkery This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8960020/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Scientific projects produce a collection of publications in journals as a product and record of the research. Citations of those articles are one measure of the impact of the particular topic of research. An analysis is performed on over twenty-five years of published work from the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), a fusion energy experiment at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The papers can be separated into high, medium, and lower impact, based on citation rates, and analyzed by individual authors or by journal. Examining a single author's output can be insightful for an individual, but collectively no discernible difference is found between authors' first and subsequent papers' citation rates, nor broadly by authors' institutional affiliation. Certain journals are shown to contain a higher level of impactful publications than others, but the cause and effect is not determined. Finally, the topical areas highlighted by producing high impact science make sense from a scientific perspective, as they correlate with areas of unique contributions of NSTX to the fields of fusion energy and plasma physics. Overall this case study provides a method for using citation analysis to gain insights on scientific impact that can be applied to other large science projects as well. Fusion energy plasma physics high impact science citation analysis Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8960020","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":610180954,"identity":"53a0370c-d493-4e9a-b484-24a9e534aa01","order_by":0,"name":"John Berkery","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxhlA3ABk8IN4D0jSIgkiEoiyRgKqxeAAsVqYZzcf+zij4l7i5tu9xx4kMNTKgfXiddicY8kzN5wpTtx251y6QQLDcWPCWmbkGDM+bEtI3HYjx0wigeFY4swGglryPzM+/JeQuHkG8VpymBk3NiQkbpAAa6lJ7CegA+QXY8YZxxKMZ4D9YnDAmJ+QFsPZzY8Ze2oSZPtnA0PsQ0WdHBtBLVCXOzZI8AAVGxwmpIGBQR5K2zOAtTDUEdYyCkbBKBgFIw4AAEzvR0OU7cpQAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"John","middleName":"","lastName":"Berkery","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-24 17:38:51","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8960020/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8960020/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105566120,"identity":"40c18abb-1712-4cec-b540-e78da60e2684","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 12:55:22","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":664982,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"NSTXCitationsAnalysisScientometrics.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8960020/v1_covered_8b36f6e5-9480-4268-aef0-363bfc811aeb.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Science impact examined through citations: a case study from the National Spherical Torus Experiment","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Fusion energy, plasma physics, high impact science, citation analysis","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8960020/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8960020/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eScientific projects produce a collection of publications in journals as a product and record of the research. 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