Over the last 10 years from 2010 – 2019, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, a free-to-access journal published by the RSC (of which I am currently Editor) has published 631 articles, which have been cited 5246 times (data from Web of Science). So what has been “hot” this last decade? It seems whatever way you cut it, it was flipped learning and organic chemistry… Below I’ve cut the citation statistics a few ways – these comments are based on citations rather than judgement on the work itself.
In terms of number of citations, Keith Taber’s perspective on the chemistry triplet tops the poll, with 115 citations on Web of Science (Clarivate) and 262 on Google Scholar. In fact the top 4 hits are perspectives or reviews.
| Title | Authors/ Year | Source | Total Citations (Google Scholar) | Average per Year (Google Scholar Average) | Article Type |
| Revisiting the chemistry triplet: drawing upon the nature of chemical knowledge and the psychology of learning to inform chemistry education | Taber, Keith S. / 2013 | Link | 115 (262) | 16.43 (37.4) | Perspective |
| Rethinking chemistry: a learning progression on chemical thinking | Sevian, Hannah; Talanquer, Vicente / 2014 | Link | 77 (136) | 12.83 (22.7) | Perspective |
| Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and chemistry education | Burmeister, Mareike; Rauch, Franz; Eilks, Ingo / 2012 | Link | 75 (210) | 9.38 (26.2) | Perspective |
| Flipped learning in higher education chemistry: emerging trends and potential directions | Seery, Michael K. / 2015 | Link | 67 (145) | 13.4 (29) | Review |
| The flipped classroom for teaching organic chemistry in small classes: is it effective? | Fautch, Jessica M. /2015 | Link | 66 (147) | 13.2 (29.4) | Article |
| Student attitudes toward flipping the general chemistry classroom | Smith, J. Dominic / 2013 | Link | 61 (132) | 8.71 (18.9) | Article |
| A comparative study of traditional, inquiry-based, and research-based laboratory curricula: impacts on understanding of the nature of science | Russell, Cianan B.; Weaver, Gabriela C. /2011 | Link | 54 (97) | 6 (10.8) | Article |
| Structure and evaluation of flipped chemistry courses: organic & spectroscopy, large and small, first to third year, English and French | Flynn, Alison B. / 2015 | Link | 53 (102) | 10.6 (20.4) | Article |
| Development and validation of the implicit information from Lewis structures instrument (IILSI): do students connect structures with properties? | Cooper, Melanie M.; Underwood, Sonia M.; Hilley, Caleb Z. / 2012 | Link | 51 (85) | 6.38 (10.6) | Article |
| Let’s teach how we think instead of what we know | Talanquer, Vicente; Pollard, John / 2010 | Link | 49 (101) | 4.9 (10.1) | Article |
A fairer way of looking at citations is the average number of citations per year. This means that older papers which have had a longer time to accumulate citations are averaged out. (However this is still not fair to recent papers, which will not have had a chance to be cited at all, or will not benefit from a cumulative citation effect). However, on this cut, Weaver’s paper on nature of science in the lab (this is an excellent paper which really should be better known), Cooper’s paper on IILSI, and Talanquer’s paper on teaching how to think drop out of the top 10, and the top 10 based on average citations become (new additions with *):
| Title | Authors | Publication Date | DOI | Average per Year (Google average) | Article type |
| Revisiting the chemistry triplet: drawing upon the nature of chemical knowledge and the psychology of learning to inform chemistry education | Taber, Keith S. | 2013 | Link | 16.43 (37.4) | Perspective |
| Flipped learning in higher education chemistry: emerging trends and potential directions | Seery, Michael K. | 2015 | Link | 13.4 (29) | Review |
| The flipped classroom for teaching organic chemistry in small classes: is it effective? | Fautch, Jessica M. | 2015 | Link | 13.2 (29.4) | Article |
| Rethinking chemistry: a learning progression on chemical thinking | Sevian, Hannah; Talanquer, Vicente | 2014 | Link | 12.83 (22.7) | Perspective |
| Structure and evaluation of flipped chemistry courses: organic & spectroscopy, large and small, first to third year, English and French | Flynn, Alison B. | 2015 | Link | 10.6 (20.4) | Article |
| Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and chemistry education | Burmeister, Mareike; Rauch, Franz; Eilks, Ingo | 2012 | Link | 9.38 (26.3) | Perspective |
| *Flipped classroom modules for large enrollment general chemistry courses: a low barrier approach to increase active learning and improve student grades | Eichler, Jack F.; Peeples, Junelyn | 2016 | Link | 9 (20) | Article |
| Student attitudes toward flipping the general chemistry classroom | Smith, J. Dominic | 2013 | Link | 8.71 (18.9) | Article |
| *How flip teaching supports undergraduate chemistry laboratory learning | Teo, Tang Wee; Tan, Kim Chwee Daniel; Yan, Yaw Kai; Teo, Yong Chua; Yeo, Leck Wee | 2014 | Link | 8 (15.8) | Article |
| *What is a hydrogen bond? Resonance covalency in the supramolecular domain | Weinhold, Frank; Klein, Roger A. | 2014 | Link | 8 (11) | Perspective |
Google Scholar shows much higher number of citations, as Google draws citations from a much broader range of sources. In general, while the order of articles may differ slightly, Google and Web of Science match up well, but there are some notable exceptions – James Nyachwaya’s paper Evaluation of chemical representations in physical chemistry textbooks jumps from 152nd in the Web of Science average list to 9th most average citations in Google Scholar and Bette Davidowitz’s paper on student generated micro-diagrams jumps from 72nd to 12th.
Finally, reviews and perspectives are naturally going to attract more citations, so just considering research articles, the top 10 most average citations are below. It seems it was the decade for flipped learning and organic chemistry!
| Title | Authors | Publication Date | DOI | Total Citations | Average per Year |
| The flipped classroom for teaching organic chemistry in small classes: is it effective? | Fautch, Jessica M. | 2015 | Link | 66 | 13.2 |
| Structure and evaluation of flipped chemistry courses: organic & spectroscopy, large and small, first to third year, English and French | Flynn, Alison B. | 2015 | Link | 53 | 10.6 |
| Flipped classroom modules for large enrollment general chemistry courses: a low barrier approach to increase active learning and improve student grades | Eichler, Jack F.; Peeples, Junelyn | 2016 | Link | 36 | 9 |
| Student attitudes toward flipping the general chemistry classroom | Smith, J. Dominic | 2013 | Link | 61 | 8.71 |
| How flip teaching supports undergraduate chemistry laboratory learning | Teo, Tang Wee; Tan, Kim Chwee Daniel; Yan, Yaw Kai; Teo, Yong Chua; Yeo, Leck Wee | 2014 | Link | 48 | 8 |
| Development and validation of the implicit information from Lewis structures instrument (IILSI): do students connect structures with properties? | Cooper, Melanie M.; Underwood, Sonia M.; Hilley, Caleb Z. | 2012 | Link | 51 | 6.38 |
| A comparative study of traditional, inquiry-based, and research-based laboratory curricula: impacts on understanding of the nature of science | Russell, Cianan B.; Weaver, Gabriela C. | 2011 | Link | 54 | 6 |
| Characterizing illusions of competence in introductory chemistry students | Pazicni, Samuel; Bauer, Christopher F. | 2014 | Link | 32 | 5.33 |
| Students’ interpretations of mechanistic language in organic chemistry before learning reactions | Galloway, Kelli R.; Stoyanovich, Carlee; Flynn, Alison B. | 2017 | Link | 16 | 5.33 |
| Language of mechanisms: exam analysis reveals students’ strengths, strategies, and errors when using the electron-pushing formalism (curved arrows) in new reactions | Flynn, Alison B.; Featherstone, Ryan B. | 2017 | Link | 16 | 5.33 |