Two University of Colorado biology programs have been ranked in the nation's top 10 by the Institute for Scientific Information, an organization with the most comprehensive bibliographic database of research information in the world.
The results were published in a recent issue of Science Watch, which used a scientific citation-per-paper score to rank America's top 100 research universities in biological science fields. The results were based on scientific papers published by U.S. university faculty between 1993 and 1997.
The University of Colorado's plant and animal science field was ranked sixth in the nation by Science Watch. The plant and animal science field is made up primarily of faculty and students from CU-Boulder's department of environmental, population and organismic biology.
CU followed Harvard University, Indiana University, the University of California-San Diego, Duke and the University of California-Berkeley.
Science Watch is published periodically by the Philadelphia-based ISI. This is the first time in four years Science Watch has published its "Top Ten Tournament" of rankings using scientific paper-citation impact to assess the performances of the top 100 universities.
"We're pleased with the Science Watch ranking, which recognizes the investment the university has made in plant and animal sciences," said Michael Breed, chair of EPO biology. "Our research and teaching go hand-in-hand, so faculty can take their new knowledge directly into the classroom."
ISI also ranked the University of Colorado 10th in the nation in immunology. The immunology field consists primarily of physicians and researchers at the University's Health Sciences Center in Denver.
For more information contact Michael Breed of EPO biology at 303-492-7687 or Jim Scott in the CU-Boulder News Services Office at 303-492-3114.