PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The IP & Science business of Thomson Reuters, the world's leading provider of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced the relaunch of ScienceWatch.com, an open, web-based resource dedicated to scientific metrics and research performance analysis. Since 1989, ScienceWatch has provided the scientific community and media professionals with data and commentary on the people, places and topics in the forefront of science.  With its new design, this valuable resource will now also provide its users with a customized experience.

The newly re-launched website has incorporated an innovative tagging system to differentiate content and optimize search results. ScienceWatch leverages data from Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge and is home to some of Thomson Reuters most popular open-access resources, including its Global Research Reports, Citation Laureates (predicted Nobel Prize winners), and Sci-Bytes, a close look at trending research topics and rising scientific professionals.  Other features include exclusive data and commentary by some of the top experts in their fields on the topics driving emerging scientific trends and research fronts.

"For the past 23 years, ScienceWatch has been dedicated to demonstrating the power of bibliometrics by using its feature stories to provide a unique view of the research landscape," says Keith MacGregor, executive vice president of Thomson Reuters. "We are pleased with the additional capabilities ScienceWatch offers viewers and its focus on the important role of research evaluation and assessment. This new environment will further support users in strategic decision making."

ScienceWatch also serves as a valuable data resource for media professionals, helping journalists explore and quantify key trends in scientific research, funding, and policy, as well as patent and drug pipeline information. Another new edition will be quarterly e-mail alerts to keep media professionals informed of the latest trends in scientific research.

Here are two recently released ScienceWatch features on newly emerging fields:

Galileon Cosmology Expands as Emerging Trend

"New Field of Galileon Cosmology Shows Acceleration," by Dr. Simon Mitton, who is based at the University of Cambridge and serves as vice president of the Royal Astronomical Society, explores the fascinating, growing study of Galileon cosmology, which seeks to understand the biggest mystery in modern cosmology—why the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating.  Much like its focus, the field itself is expanding at an accelerating rate. After an analysis in Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge, Mitton found that no papers on Galileon cosmology existed before the first five appeared in 2009. In just two years, this field emerged as a rising trend, with 92 total papers by 2011 that gained an impressive 925 citations.

Programmed Cell Death Keeps a Pulse

"Programmed Cell Death is Alive and Well," by Dr.  Jeremy Cherfas, senior science writer at Bioversity International in Rome, tracks the timeline of the study of apoptosis (programmed cell death).

While apoptosis enjoyed a firm spot among the ranks of the most highly cited biology topics throughout the 90s, it has apparently reached the threshold known to scholars as "obliteration"—a state of universal acceptance in which the foundational literature is no longer explicitly cited. Nevertheless, after analysis in Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge, Cherfas has found that while apoptosis may be waning as a principal topic of investigation, it still maintains a strong scientific heartbeat as it continues to figure robustly in large and increasing numbers of reports each year.

Visit ScienceWatch.com to learn more about how to utilize this resource.

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SOURCE Thomson Reuters