Thesis title: Scientific contribution and the making of evaluation: the case of highly cited researchers.
Supervisor: David Pontille.
In the context of increasing development of research assessment tools that promote the success of individual researchers, the Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) list, produced by the commercial company Clarivate Analytics, has become a model. Intended to identify, on a global scale, the most influential researchers of the last decade on the basis of the citations of their publications, it has established itself as an instrument for measuring the performance of the scientific output of individuals and, by extension, of the institutions and even countries that host this research. This thesis examines the conditions under which Clarivate Analytics produces this list, as well as some of its consequences in terms of funding and careers. By placing itself at the heart of the manufacture of the evaluation of performances judged to be out of the ordinary, it sets out to document contemporary transformations in scientific contribution, where the springs of scientific exceptionalism are caught in a tension between the effective quality of productions and the temptations of their excessive promotion, between epistemic stakes and economic activities.
Publications
Articles
Chaignon, L. (2025). Highly Cited Researchers: Anatomy of a list. Quantitative Science Studies, 6 305–327. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00351
Egret, D., Chaignon, L. & Docampo, D. (2024). Mapping the paths of highly cited researchers: a comprehensive look at the 2023 cross-field distribution. Scientometrics 129, 7107–7129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-024-05151-8
Chaignon, L., Docampo, D. & Egret, D. (2023). In search of a scientific elite: highly cited researchers (HCR) in France. Scientometrics 128, 5801–5827. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-023-04805-3
Bordignon F., Chaignon L., Egret D. (2023). Promoting narrative CVs to improve research evaluation? A review of opinion pieces and experiments. Research Evaluation, 32(2), 313–320. https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvad013
Chaignon L., Daniel Egret D. (2022). Identifying scientific publications countrywide and measuring their open access: The case of the French Open Science Barometer (BSO). Quantitative Science Studies, 3 (1): 18–36. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00179
Scientific blog posts
Chaignon, L. (May 13th, 2025). Is the list of Highly Cited Researchers losing credibility? – Impact of Social Sciences. LSE Impact Blog.
Bordignon F. , Chaignon L. , Egret D. (June 16th, 2023). Although hard to define, Narrative CVs are changing how we think about researcher assessment. LSE Impact Blog.