Assessing the Impact of NIST’s Forensic 

Publications and Collaborations

Introduction

The Information Services Office (ISO) at NIST analyzed the 

impact of NIST’s peer-reviewed forensic journal literature 

through citation analysis and network visualizations. ISO’s 

study informs the forensic research community where NIST has 

had some of the greatest impact. It updates and expands upon 

the work ISO shared at the Forensics@NIST 2014 symposium.

Overview of NIST Research Publications

This analysis, based on a Web of Science (WoS) search, 

yielded 348 NIST forensic publications in 42 different research 

areas and 106 journal venues since 1978.

Methodology

A WoS database search identified NIST forensic publications 

for the years 1978-2016. ISO’s complex WoS search strategy 

used a variety of forensics-related keywords and other terms. 

The search included publications in the peer-reviewed literature 

(journals) while excluding most conference proceedings papers 

and other non-journal literature.

The network graph was created using Sci2 to extract the coauthor network from the WoS search results. The network was 

then visualized using Gephi. Subdisciplines for the co-author 

network were assigned manually by studying the underlying 

papers for each author and identifying their predominant 

research field.

NOTE: Identification of commercial entities in this poster is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Forensics@NIST Symposium, November 2016

Susan Makar Amanda Malanowski

susan.makar@nist.gov amanda.malanowski@nist.gov

Collaborations within Forensic Disciplines

This co-author network shows the collaboration between authors who have published two or more papers and their research fields. 

Each node represents an author, NIST or non-NIST, who has co-authored with a NIST scientist, and is sized to represent the number 

of citations the author has received. The largest node represents P. J. Phillips from NIST with 35 authored works and 4,967 citations. 

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The colors represent different forensic subdisciplines. The most prevalent subdisciplines are population genetics (34%) and DNA 

fingerprinting (22%). This diagram shows the close relationship and frequent collaborations of authors in the fields of population 

genetics, DNA fingerprinting, and Standard Reference Materials (SRMs). Authors in ballistics, nuclear forensics, biometric 

recognition, and fire forensics co-author within their own field.

Impacts

NIST forensic publications have been cited by authors from 128 

different countries. They are cited most frequently by authors in 

China (1,889 papers), the United Kingdom (482 papers), and 

Germany (396 papers).

Conclusions and Recommendations

Forensics at NIST crosses many disciplines from legal 

medicine and chemistry to computer science and biometric 

recognition. NIST’s research and the resulting publications 

continue to have proven impact on the forensic research 

community as demonstrated through ISO’s study and findings. 

NIST forensics-related publications have been cited 11,141 

times since 1978. 

The ability to capture each and every NIST-authored paper 

related to forensic science remains a challenge as was the 

case in ISO’s original 2014 study. However, broadening the 

scope of forensics research in 2016 gives a richer picture of 

forensics at NIST. In future studies, ISO will assess the impact 

of NIST-authored forensics papers not published in peerreviewed journals.

Population 

Genetics

DNA 

Fingerprinting

Nuclear 

Forensics

Biometric 

Recognition

Ballistics

Trace Evidence

GSR/

Explosives

SRM

Fire 

Forensics

Number of Forensic Subdisciplines

Times Cited

Number of

Co-Authored 

Papers

2 papers

21 papers

4,967

2,860

1 11 papers

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Number of NIST 

Forensic Publications