Disciplinary Roots of 300 Top-Ranked Scientific Contributors to Gerontology: From Legacy to Enriching Our Discovery

Gerontology is viewed by many as a multidisciplinary field of inquiry, but which disciplines have had the greatest impact on research in the field? Combining data from a composite score incorporating multiple citation indicators with information on the highest degree, we examine the disciplinary origins of the 300 top-ranked scholars in gerontology. Despite efforts for gerontology to be distinct from geriatrics, more than 30 percent of the most influential scholars in gerontology during the past 6 decades hold a degree in medicine. Other fields of the leading contributors to gerontology include psychology, sociology, biology, biochemistry, and genetics. Although the disciplinary origins of gerontology will likely shift in the coming decades, we conclude that biomedical sciences are likely to remain core to the development of gerontology. To build on the scientific contributions of leading scholars in gerontology, future research should reflect conceptual precision and scientific innovation while prioritizing methodological rigor and transparency.