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

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 onWeb of Science data (a fee-based database), field-specific excel-lence can be identified in cities where highly cited papers were published more frequently than can be expected. Compared to the mapping approaches published hith-erto, our approach is more analytically oriented by allow-ing the assessment of an observed number of excellent papers for a city against the expected number. Top per-formers in output are cities in which authors are located who publish a statistically significant higher number of highly cited papers than can be expected for these cities. As sample data for physics, chemistry, and psychology show, these cities do not necessarily have a high output of highly cited papers