There are few ways to locate current researchers in your field:
Conducting a search on the web through an internet search engine, such as Google, is one way to locate researchers in your field.
Google Scholar Citations - authors/scholars have the option to create a Scholar profile. Though not all authors create a profile, you may find results for Google Scholar Citations by conducting a search on your topic + google scholar citations. Below is an example of a topic search. Here is an example of an author profile within Google Scholar Citations.
Academia - Searching by topic within Academia.edu, also provides you with a list of people within the topic field. Sign up for a free account to download select open access full-text articles.
Microsoft Academic - Searching by topic provides you with a list of articles that can be filtered by 'Top Topics,' 'Top Authors,' 'Top Institutions,' and 'Top Journals.' Microsoft Academic provides information on authors' institutional affiliation, description, websites, fields of study, co-author affiliations, journals in which published, and conferences at which they presented (not al sections may be available).
ResearchGate - Search by topic to find researchers within the field. Sign up for a free account to download select open access articles, create a personal profile, and follow researchers, topics, institutions, and departments.
You can utilize the library's resources to locate top cited researchers.
Web of Science - Web of Science/Web of Knowledge is a database found within the Library's A - Z Database List. In Web of Science, you can search by topic, and then analyze the results to determine the most cited authors that appear within that keyword search. Analyzing your results will generate a treemap from which you can select to view/filter by Web of Science Categories (topics), Authors, Research Areas, etc. See example below.
Example: A treemap author analysis for the topic search, "early childhood education"
You can also search prominent authors, journals, institutions, and associations within your field for current researchers.
To locate publications by an author, see our Authors FAQ.
For biographies of highly influential scholars and figures, see our Find Biographies FAQ.
For more information on ResearchGate and Academia.edu, see our FAQ.
