Discovering types of research performance of scientists with significant contributions

This study compared the longitudinal research performance of 50 biological scientists who received the National Medal of Science (NMS) between 1995 and 2014 and who shared the honor of receiving a fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Fifty NMS scientists were categorized based on their annual number of publications (research productivity) and their annual average number of citations received per publication (research influence). These categories covered all their articles, conference papers, and review articles before 2018 indexed by databases of Web of Science, divided into three periods. Results demonstrated that the primary type of research productivity was the same as that of research influence, indicating an upward trend in the first period but a decreasing trend in the second and third periods. Few scientists had their influential scientific contributions being practically applied and presented in the format of a book. Research performance among 50 NMS scientists varied at the individual level. However, no aggregate and statistically significant differences were identified between groups of 50 NMS winners with respect to characteristics related to research performance. Although no clear relationship was identified between research performance and scientific contribution, research productivity had a weaker association with scientific contribution than did research influence.