Excerpt:

The stability of a given scientist’s Q value means that papers published early in a career can predict the success of those published later. Such early Q values could also predict subsequent Nobel Prize-winners, Sinatra and colleagues showed.

“This constant level of quality [Q]. . . is a fairly profound finding,” said John Walsh of Georgia Tech who did not participate in the study. “It basically argues that there is no learning. You’re just as good as you are.”

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