Subfield · Paleontology
Most cited papers in Paleontology
What are the most cited papers in Paleontology?
The most cited paper in Paleontology is "The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees." (Naruya Saitou, M Nei, 1987), with 60,643 citations. Next come "RAxML version 8: a tool for phylogenetic analysis and post-analysis of large phylogenies" (34,939) and "MrBayes 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models" (29,587).
Showing 50 of 100 papers. Every paper with more than 2,350 citations is listed.
| # | Paper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Naruya Saitou, M Nei · Molecular Biology and Evolution | Jul 1987 | 60,643 |
| 2 | RAxML version 8: a tool for phylogenetic analysis and post-analysis of large phylogenies Alexandros Stamatakis · Bioinformatics | 21 Jan 2014 | 34,939 |
| 3 | MrBayes 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models Fredrik Ronquist, John P. Huelsenbeck · Bioinformatics | 11 Aug 2003 | 29,587 |
| 4 | MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference and Model Choice Across a Large Model Space Fredrik Ronquist, Maxim Teslenko, Paul van der Mark et al. · Systematic Biology | 22 Feb 2012 | 28,705 |
| 5 | ModelFinder: fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates Subha Kalyaanamoorthy, Bùi Quang Minh, Thomas K. F. Wong et al. · Nature Methods | 8 May 2017 | 19,804 |
| 6 | IQ-TREE 2: New Models and Efficient Methods for Phylogenetic Inference in the Genomic Era Bùi Quang Minh, Heiko A. Schmidt, Olga Chernomor et al. · Molecular Biology and Evolution | 22 Jan 2020 | 18,005 |
| 7 | PAST: PALEONTOLOGICAL STATISTICAL SOFTWARE PACKAGE FOR EDUCATION AND DATA ANALYSIS Øyvind Hammer, David A. T. Harper, Paul D. Ryan · Palaeontologia Electronica | 2001 | 17,990 |
| 8 | RAxML-VI-HPC: maximum likelihood-based phylogenetic analyses with thousands of taxa and mixed models Alexandros Stamatakis · Bioinformatics | 23 Aug 2006 | 16,023 |
| 9 | PAML 4: Phylogenetic Analysis by Maximum Likelihood Z. Yang · Molecular Biology and Evolution | 18 Apr 2007 | 15,163 |
| 10 | BEAST: Bayesian evolutionary analysis by sampling trees Alexei J. Drummond, Andrew Rambaut · BMC Evolutionary Biology | 2007 | 13,219 |
| 11 | APE: Analyses of Phylogenetics and Evolution in R language Emmanuel Paradis, Julien Claude, Korbinian Strimmer · Bioinformatics | 20 Jan 2004 | 12,865 |
| 12 | Interactive Tree Of Life (iTOL) v5: an online tool for phylogenetic tree display and annotation Ivica Letunić, Peer Bork · Nucleic Acids Research | 12 Apr 2021 | 12,232 |
| 13 | The chemical basis of morphogenesis Alan Mathison Turing · Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences | 14 Aug 1952 | 11,847 |
| 14 | Posterior Summarization in Bayesian Phylogenetics Using Tracer 1.7 Andrew Rambaut, Alexei J. Drummond, Dong Xie et al. · Systematic Biology | 24 Apr 2018 | 11,739 |
| 15 | UFBoot2: Improving the Ultrafast Bootstrap Approximation Diep Thi Hoang, Olga Chernomor, Arndt von Haeseler et al. · Molecular Biology and Evolution | 24 Oct 2017 | 11,628 |
| 16 | The continental crust: its composition and evolution Brian Frederick Windley · Physics of The Earth and Planetary Interiors | Feb 1986 | 11,005 |
| 17 | Selection of Conserved Blocks from Multiple Alignments for Their Use in Phylogenetic Analysis José Castresana · Molecular Biology and Evolution | Apr 2000 | 10,986 |
| 18 | Trends, Rhythms, and Aberrations in Global Climate 65 Ma to Present James C. Zachos, Mark Pagani, Lisa C. Sloan et al. · Science | 27 Apr 2001 | 10,656 |
| 19 | Bayesian Phylogenetics with BEAUti and the BEAST 1.7 Alexei J. Drummond, Marc A. Suchard, Dong Xie et al. · Molecular Biology and Evolution | 25 Feb 2012 | 10,530 |
| 20 | IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0–50,000 Years cal BP Paula J Reimer et al. · Radiocarbon | 2010 | 10,058 |
| 21 | Application of Phylogenetic Networks in Evolutionary Studies Daniel H. Huson, David Bryant · Molecular Biology and Evolution | 12 Oct 2005 | 9,211 |
| 22 | Dating of the human-ape splitting by a molecular clock of mitochondrial DNA Masami Hasegawa, Hirohisa Kishino, Taka-aki Yano · Journal of Molecular Evolution | Oct 1985 | 9,042 |
| 23 | Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates Christopher Bronk Ramsey · Radiocarbon | 2009 | 8,832 |
| 24 | The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0–55 cal kBP) Paula J. Reimer et al. · Radiocarbon | Aug 2020 | 7,945 |
| 25 | Extended 14C Data Base and Revised CALIB 3.0 14C Age Calibration Program Minze Stuiver, Paula J. Reimer · Radiocarbon | 1993 | 7,851 |
| 26 | The genetic legacy of the Quaternary ice ages Godfrey M. Hewitt · Nature | 22 Jun 2000 | 7,354 |
| 27 | Early Proterozoic climates and plate motions inferred from major element chemistry of lutites H.W. Nesbitt, Grant M. Young · Nature | Oct 1982 | 6,835 |
| 28 | Relaxed Phylogenetics and Dating with Confidence Alexei J. Drummond, Simon Y. W. Ho, Matthew J. Phillips et al. · PLoS Biology | 3 Mar 2006 | 6,679 |
| 29 | Picante: R tools for integrating phylogenies and ecology Steven W. Kembel, Peter D. Cowan, Matthew R. Helmus et al. · Bioinformatics | 15 Apr 2010 | 6,550 |
| 30 | Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals Michael J. DeNiro, Samuel Abraham Epstein · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta | Mar 1981 | 6,154 |
| 31 | PartitionFinder: Combined Selection of Partitioning Schemes and Substitution Models for Phylogenetic Analyses Robert Lanfear, Brett Calcott, Simon Y. W. Ho et al. · Molecular Biology and Evolution | 20 Jan 2012 | 5,860 |
| 32 | Inferring the historical patterns of biological evolution Mark D. Pagel · Nature | Oct 1999 | 5,421 |
| 33 | STABLE ISOTOPES IN ECOSYSTEM STUDIES Bruce J. Peterson, Brian Fry · Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics | Nov 1987 | 5,411 |
| 34 | ggtree : an r package for visualization and annotation of phylogenetic trees with their covariates and other associated data Guangchuang Yu, David Keith Smith, Huachen Zhu et al. · Methods in Ecology and Evolution | 16 Aug 2016 | 5,408 |
| 35 | Exaptation—a Missing Term in the Science of Form Stephen Jay Gould, Elisabeth S. Vrba · Paleobiology | 1982 | 5,178 |
| 36 | Ultrafast Approximation for Phylogenetic Bootstrap Bùi Quang Minh, Minh Anh Nguyen, A. von Haeseler · Molecular Biology and Evolution | 15 Feb 2013 | 5,139 |
| 37 | BEAST 2.5: An advanced software platform for Bayesian evolutionary analysis Remco Bouckaert et al. · PLoS Computational Biology | 8 Apr 2019 | 4,923 |
| 38 | Bioinspired structural materials Ulrike G. K. Wegst, Hao Yu Bai, Eduardo Saiz et al. · Nature Materials | 26 Oct 2014 | 4,755 |
| 39 | Phylogenies and Community Ecology Campbell O. Webb, David D. Ackerly, Mark A. McPeek et al. · Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics | Nov 2002 | 4,721 |
| 40 | A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation Richard G. Fairbanks · Nature | Dec 1989 | 4,589 |
| 41 | TESTING FOR PHYLOGENETIC SIGNAL IN COMPARATIVE DATA: BEHAVIORAL TRAITS ARE MORE LABILE Simon Phillip Blomberg, Theodore Garland, Anthony R. Ives · Evolution | Apr 2003 | 4,524 |
| 42 | INTCAL98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP Minze Stuiver, Paula J. Reimer, Édouard Bard et al. · Radiocarbon | 1998 | 4,478 |
| 43 | Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived? Anthony D. Barnosky, Nicholas Joseph Matzke, Susumu Tomiya et al. · Nature | 2 Mar 2011 | 4,393 |
| 44 | IntCal09 and Marine09 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves, 0–50,000 Years cal BP Paula J. Reimer et al. · Radiocarbon | 2009 | 4,333 |
| 45 | Bayesian phylogenetic and phylodynamic data integration using BEAST 1.10 Marc A. Suchard, Philippe Lemey, Guy Baele et al. · Virus Evolution | 2018 | 4,182 |
| 46 | Trace metals as paleoredox and paleoproductivity proxies: An update Nicolas Tribovillard, Thomas J. Algeo, Timothy W. Lyons et al. · Chemical Geology | 30 Mar 2006 | 4,167 |
| 47 | phangorn: phylogenetic analysis in R Klaus Peter Schliep · Bioinformatics | 17 Dec 2010 | 4,160 |
| 48 | The global diversity of birds in space and time Walter Jetz, Gavin Huw Thomas, Jeffrey B. Joy et al. · Nature | 31 Oct 2012 | 4,109 |
| 49 | Model Selection and Model Averaging in Phylogenetics: Advantages of Akaike Information Criterion and Bayesian Approaches Over Likelihood Ratio Tests David Posada, Thomas R. Buckley · Systematic Biology | Oct 2004 | 4,021 |
| 50 | Morpho J: an integrated software package for geometric morphometrics Christian Peter Klingenberg · Molecular Ecology Resources | 5 Oct 2010 | 3,843 |
Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.