Quantifying scientific performance and success in the phisics comunity

Advances in computing have made huge data sources about scientific activities available. Our goal is to develop measures that offer actionable information towards a quantitative evaluation of scientific success, which we consider as a collective phenomenon, instead of an individual one. For a scientific finding to be successful, it is not enough to be novel or fundamental - rather the scientific community must agree that it is worthy of praise and follow-up. Our aim is to understand the fundamental patterns that govern scientific impact by analyzing the evolution of career paths and the diffusion and success of new ideas, using large data sets containing key information about journal articles.