AgBioResearcher Top Publisher of Mycotoxins Papers

MAES food science and human nutrition researcher Jim Pestka has published 59 papers on mycotoxins (toxins produced by molds) from 1998 to 2008, giving him the No. 1 rank in this category among 9,727 authors.

Jim Pestka

MAES food science and human nutrition researcher Jim Pestka has been busy. According to recently released rankings published in Science Watch.com, Pestka published 59 papers on mycotoxins (toxins produced by molds) from 1998 to 2008, giving him the No. 1 rank in this category among 9,727 authors. He also ranked No. 2 in number of citations (808) and No. 12 in average citations per paper (13.59) for the same time period.

"Mycotoxins present a variety of health threats to the consumer and unique economic challenges to producers that require multidisciplinary approaches to achieve solutions," Pestka said. "These mycotoxin publications reflect the intense collaborative atmosphere at MSU and include colleagues from animal science, biochemistry and molecular biology, food science and human nutrition, microbiology and molecular genetics, pathology and diagnostic investigation, pharmacology and toxicology, as well as physiology and plant pathology. Both the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and the MSU Center for Integrative Toxicology continue to provide the 'glue' for taking these team approaches, making MSU unique among U.S. academic institutions."

Institutionally, MSU is the leading U.S. university in all three categories for the same decade, ranking No. 4 overall in number of papers (90), No. 3 in total citations (1,118) and No. 7 in number of citations per paper (12.42) in the mycotoxins field among 2,654 institutions. Pestka?s papers account for almost two-thirds of MSU?s productivity in the number of mycotoxin-related papers published and almost three-quarters of the MSU citations in this ranking.

"These rankings reflect not only a significant recognition of Jim?s contributions to the field but of the stature of MSU in this important area of research, which comprises the contributions of many investigators on campus," said Gale Strasburg, chairperson of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. "MSU is internationally known for its leadership in toxicology research, and these data confirm both the productivity of and regard for MSU research in the overall field."

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