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Evolution and Paleontology Studies

Evolution and Paleontology Studies is a research topic within Paleontology. Science Explorer counts 32k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the evolutionary dynamics, diversification rates, and adaptive radiations of mammals and their ancestors. It delves into topics such as phylogenetic comparative analysis, speciation and extinction patterns, biogeography, molecular phylogeny, body size evolution, and the impact of Cenozoic climatic changes on mammalian evolution.

  • Mammal Evolution
  • Phylogenetic Comparative Analysis
  • Diversification Rates
  • Adaptive Radiation
  • Paleobiology
  • Speciation and Extinction
  • Biogeography
  • Molecular Phylogeny
  • Body Size Evolution
  • Cenozoic Climatic Change
Research works
32k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
29% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Evolution and Paleontology Studies

Which countries lead Evolution and Paleontology Studies research?

By volume, the United States and Brazil publish the most (1k and 382 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1k works
  2. 2 Brazil 382 works
  3. 3 China 375 works
  4. 4 Argentina 338 works
  5. 5 France 300 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 294 works
  7. 7 Spain 273 works
  8. 8 Germany 271 works
  9. 9 Russia 192 works
  10. 10 Australia 172 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 28.7%Brazil: 10.5%China: 10.3%Argentina: 9.3%6 others listed: 41.3%29%largest
United States1,044 · 28.7%Brazil382 · 10.5%China375 · 10.3%Argentina338 · 9.3%6 others listed1,502 · 41.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Evolution and Paleontology Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas publishes the most Evolution and Paleontology Studies research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 172 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 158 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 148 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 121 works
  5. 5 Smithsonian InstitutionUnited States 51 works
  6. 6 Leibniz AssociationGermany 47 works
  7. 7 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 40 works
  8. 8 Natural History MuseumUnited Kingdom 40 works
  9. 9 American Museum of Natural HistoryUnited States 36 works
  10. 10 Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaSpain 34 works

Who are the leading researchers in Evolution and Paleontology Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Evolution and Paleontology Studies include Richard M. Durbin, Jun Wang and Sudhir Kumar.

  1. 1 Richard M. Durbin United Kingdom 410k citations
  2. 2 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  3. 3 Sudhir Kumar United States 295k citations
  4. 4 Koichiro Tamura Japan 268k citations
  5. 5 Eugene V. Koonin United States 217k citations
  6. 6 David Tilman United States 209k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Evolution and Paleontology Studies?

The most cited paper in Evolution and Paleontology Studies 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).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Naruya Saitou, M Nei · Molecular Biology and Evolution Open access Jul 1987 60,643
2 RAxML version 8: a tool for phylogenetic analysis and post-analysis of large phylogenies Alexandros Stamatakis · Bioinformatics Open access 21 Jan 2014 34,939
3 MrBayes 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models Fredrik Ronquist, John P. Huelsenbeck · Bioinformatics Open access 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 Open access 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 Open access 8 May 2017 19,804
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Evolution and Paleontology Studies research done?

The largest centres of Evolution and Paleontology Studies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Paris (France), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in San Miguel de Tucumán, Ibagué and La Plata.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 171 works
  2. 2 ParisFrance 157 works
  3. 3 Buenos AiresArgentina 135 works
  4. 4 MoscowRussia 100 works
  5. 5 LondonUnited Kingdom 86 works
  6. 6 MadridSpain 80 works
  7. 7 New YorkUnited States 72 works
  8. 8 Washington D.C.United States 64 works
  9. 9 São PauloBrazil 63 works
  10. 10 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 52 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. San Miguel de TucumánAR · 33.4 works58×
  2. IbaguéCO · 27.9 works53×
  3. La PlataAR · 36.0 works27×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Evolution and Paleontology Studies than the world average.

See Evolution and Paleontology Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Evolution and Paleontology Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Chicago, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria and University of Cambridge score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 19.91%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Cambri…University of OxfordUniversidade Federal…University of Chicago
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of ChicagoUnited States 70.519.3%5.2×19 +7.6%
2Universidade Federal de Santa MariaBrazil 70.420.9%12.3×23 +35.9%
3University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 70.435.2%3.0×16 -11.9%
4University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 68.921.5%3.1×19 -14.7%
5University College LondonUnited Kingdom 68.024.1%2.6×18 -12.5%
6Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaSpain 67.511.5%12.2×34 +0.5%
7University of BristolUnited Kingdom 67.220.2%8.8×22 -29.2%
8University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 62.613.0%13.6×25 -8.5%
9Australian National UniversityAustralia 61.218.3%6.8×15 +8.1%
10Flinders UniversityAustralia 60.515.1%12.9×15 +68.3%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Evolution and Paleontology Studies, country by country

Is Evolution and Paleontology Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Evolution and Paleontology Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.018% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Evolution and Paleontology Studies0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Evolution and Paleontology Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Evolution and Paleontology Studies9.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Questions people ask

Who leads evolution and paleontology research?

By volume in 2022-now, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas publishes the most Evolution and Paleontology Studies research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Russian Academy of Sciences. By volume, the United States and Brazil publish the most (1k and 382 works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

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