Which cities produce excellent papers worldwide more than can be expected? A new mapping approach--using Google Maps--based on statistical significance testing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a statistical mapping method using Google Maps and Web of Science data to identify cities that produce significantly more highly-cited papers than expected, highlighting true centers of excellence.

Contribution

It presents a new analytically oriented approach for mapping scientific excellence at the city level using significance testing, improving over previous methods.

Findings

Identifies cities with significantly higher numbers of highly-cited papers.

Shows that top cities in excellence are not always the highest output producers.

Demonstrates the method in physics, chemistry, and psychology.

Abstract

The methods presented in this paper allow for a statistical analysis revealing centers of excellence around the world using programs that are freely available. Based on Web of Science data, field-specific excellence can be identified in cities where highly-cited papers were published significantly. Compared to the mapping approaches published hitherto, our approach is more analytically oriented by allowing the assessment of an observed number of excellent papers for a city (in the sample) against the expected number. Using this test, the approach cannot only identify the top performers in output but the "true jewels." These are cities locating authors who publish significantly more top cited papers than can be expected. As the examples in this paper show for physics, chemistry, and psychology, these cities do not necessarily have a high output of excellent papers.