2. Use conference sites, learned societies and professional associations

When it comes to up-and-coming leaders, conference sites can be a good alternative. Indeed, they are often the ones who sign presentations or posters in recent fields. Once you've located the major local or international congresses, and if the abstracts of the presentations and congresses are available, ideally with a search engine, you can also search by keyword, by country, and select the themes that interest you to identify the authors. It is then possible to study their relationship with the leaders identified in the first step.

The websites of learned societies also enable you to identify the main players influencing decisions, practice recommendations and major currents of thought. Members of a learned society's committee can also meet to discuss topical issues and set up working groups. In this way, they can influence the decisions of the relevant authorities....