Thomson-ISI (Institute for Scientific Information) tracks the impact of published research papers by counting the number of times a particular paper is referred to by other scientists in their own papers. Thomson-ISI defines "highly cited" papers as those that are in the top 1% (99th percentile) of most frequently cited papers.

Thomson-ISI also publishes a "pound for pound most influential" list of institutions that have the highest percentage of highly cited papers among all papers published by that institution.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory was recently ranked #1 on Thomson-ISI's list of "Institutions Ranked by Percentage of Highly Cited Molecular Biology & Genetics Papers" for the decade 1992 - 2002.

The "Top-Ten" rankings on the list were:

1. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
2. Salk Institute
3. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5. Massachusetts General Hospital
6. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
7. Harvard University
8. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
9. Stanford University
10. Rockefeller University

To read an interview conducted by Thomson-ISI with the Director and CEO of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Bruce Stillman, on the occasion of this ranking, see http://www.in-cites.com/institutions/ColdSpring.html