principal investigator

[knightrunner]

This topic is mainly to ask questions or to tell stories about your PI or anything related.

 

I was wondering how can someone determine if they have a popular PI in your field?  My current PI I am working for published about 28 articles to journals like Nature, Nature Genetics, and Science in just the start of 2012.  So I was wondering what would you consider a good number?

[Thesbane]

I know that in my field, faculty often use H-index and M-index to evaluate other PI. H-index is the X number of publications a PI has with at least X number of citations. M-index is just H-index divided by the number of years since that PI's first publication, it measures the rate of H-index increase. I also know that titles and awards like "HHMI investigator", "NSF CAREER Award" etc. are used as calibrators. People also look at sub-field conferences (e.g. Gordon Research Council) and see who lead the conferences. They are usually the big dogs of the field.

If your PI publishes frequently on NCS journals, I'd assume he is likely very well recognized in his field. Hope this helps.

[Thesbane]

To add on top of M-index. A very general rule of thumb is: M ~ 1 (good research scholar), M ~ 2 (excellent research scholar, likely to be found at R01 research institution), M ~ 3 (research superstar, there are only a handful of them e.g. Edward Witten in Theoretical Physics).

[Eigen]

You can use publications to rank, but I can think of a handful of molecular biologists with very few publications (~15 total) that are considered at the top of their field. 

 

As you become more familiar with your field, you get a better feel for who the major players/respected researchers are. 

[knightrunner]

Thanks for the responses.  Yea, my PI is like a machine, because usually he writes many grants and prepare so many manuscripts.  I know for the genetic side it might be a easier to get research done quicker, but I really don't know the norm.    I'll probably have to read the M-index more.  

 

I'm glad that some people are considered in the top of the field with about 15 publications.