2019/10/06 by Osame Kinouchi, Kinouchi, Osame, Adriano J. Holanda +3
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Data Analysis #Digital Libraries (cs.DL) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Statistics and Probability (physics.data-an) #cond-mat.stat-mech #cs.DL #physics.data-an #physics.soc-ph #scientometrics and bibliometrics research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1910.02369
5 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables
openalex publication_date 2019/10/06 · arxiv created 2019/10/18 · arxiv updated 2019/10/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The K-index is an easily computable centrality index in complex networks, such as a scientific citations network. A researcher has a K-index equal to K if he or she is cited by K articles that have at least K citations. The K-index has several advantages over Hirsh's h-index and, in previous studies, has shown better correlation with Nobel prizes than any other index given by the \em Web of Science, including the h-index. It is plausible that researchers who are the most connected to other scientifically well-connected researchers are the most likely to be doing important work and more likely to be awarded major prizes in a given area. However, the correlation found does not imply causation. Here we perform an experiment using the K-index, producing a shortlist of twelve candidates for major scientific prizes, including the Physics Nobel award, in the near future. For example, our top-12 K-index list naturally selects the 2019 Nobel laureate, James Peebles. The list can be updated annually and should be compared to laureates of the following years