Global optometrist research ranking derived from a science-wide author database of standardised citation indicators

Clinical relevance: Publications in refereed scientific journals provide a rigorous research base that underpins clinical optometric practice. Leading optometrists who generate this literature can be identified and ranked using standardised citation indicators. Background: This work seeks to identify and rank all optometrists included in a Science-Wide author database of standardised citation indicators (S-W) and to compare this ranking with the Global Optometrist Top 200 Research Ranking (T200). Methods: A search was conducted for the names of all optometrists in the T200 who were included in the S-W, which is a world-wide listing of the top 2% of scientists in each of 174 subfield disciplines, ranked according to a composite citation indicator (c_ns) that excludes self-citations and corrects for multiple authorships and author order. Results: The names of 66 optometrists are found in the S-W. Of these, 58 are designated as working in the primary sub-field ‘Ophthalmology & Optometry’; this listing, in rank-order of c_ns, is referred to as the ‘S-W-derived Optometrist Research Ranking’ (S-WORR). Australian optometrist Nathan Efron is ranked #1 in the S-WORR. The number (%) of optometrists in the S-WORR from each country is: the United States–26 (45%), Australia–12 (21%), the United Kingdom–11 (19%), Canada–5 (9%), Spain–2 (3%), Hong Kong–1 (2%) and South Africa–1 (2%). The universities housing the equal highest number of optometrists in the S-WORR (five each) are the University of California, Berkeley, USA; the University of New South Wales, Australia; and Queensland University of Technology, Australia. There is a moderately strong correlation between T200 and S-WORR rankings (ρ = 0.6017, N = 58, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The S-WORR represents an elite cohort of optometrists who ought to be celebrated for their outstanding, leading and impactful contributions to optometric research.