Most cited papers in Evolution and Paleontology Studies
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).
Showing 50 of 100 papers. Every paper with more than 1,523 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 | 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 |
| 14 | 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 |
| 15 | Selection of Conserved Blocks from Multiple Alignments for Their Use in Phylogenetic Analysis José Castresana · Molecular Biology and Evolution | Apr 2000 | 10,986 |
| 16 | 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 |
| 17 | Application of Phylogenetic Networks in Evolutionary Studies Daniel H. Huson, David Bryant · Molecular Biology and Evolution | 12 Oct 2005 | 9,211 |
| 18 | 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 |
| 19 | 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 |
| 20 | 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 |
| 21 | 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 |
| 22 | Inferring the historical patterns of biological evolution Mark D. Pagel · Nature | Oct 1999 | 5,421 |
| 23 | 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 |
| 24 | Exaptation—a Missing Term in the Science of Form Stephen Jay Gould, Elisabeth S. Vrba · Paleobiology | 1982 | 5,178 |
| 25 | Ultrafast Approximation for Phylogenetic Bootstrap Bùi Quang Minh, Minh Anh Nguyen, A. von Haeseler · Molecular Biology and Evolution | 15 Feb 2013 | 5,139 |
| 26 | BEAST 2.5: An advanced software platform for Bayesian evolutionary analysis Remco Bouckaert et al. · PLoS Computational Biology | 8 Apr 2019 | 4,923 |
| 27 | 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 |
| 28 | 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 |
| 29 | 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 |
| 30 | Bayesian phylogenetic and phylodynamic data integration using BEAST 1.10 Marc A. Suchard, Philippe Lemey, Guy Baele et al. · Virus Evolution | 2018 | 4,182 |
| 31 | phangorn: phylogenetic analysis in R Klaus Peter Schliep · Bioinformatics | 17 Dec 2010 | 4,160 |
| 32 | 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 |
| 33 | 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 |
| 34 | Morpho J: an integrated software package for geometric morphometrics Christian Peter Klingenberg · Molecular Ecology Resources | 5 Oct 2010 | 3,843 |
| 35 | An Empirical Test of Bootstrapping as a Method for Assessing Confidence in Phylogenetic Analysis David M. Hillis, James J. Bull · Systematic Biology | Jun 1993 | 3,660 |
| 36 | Evaluation of the maximum likelihood estimate of the evolutionary tree topologies from DNA sequence data, and the branching order in hominoidea Hirohisa Kishino, Masami Hasegawa · Journal of Molecular Evolution | Aug 1989 | 3,461 |
| 37 | Maximum likelihood phylogenetic estimation from DNA sequences with variable rates over sites: Approximate methods Ziheng Yang · Journal of Molecular Evolution | Sep 1994 | 3,153 |
| 38 | A Likelihood Approach to Estimating Phylogeny from Discrete Morphological Character Data Paul O. Lewis · Systematic Biology | Nov 2001 | 3,080 |
| 39 | Inferring Phylogenies. Stephen Wooding · The American Journal of Human Genetics | 16 Apr 2004 | 3,062 |
| 40 | Gene Trees in Species Trees Wayne P. Maddison · Systematic Biology | Sep 1997 | 3,051 |
| 41 | Comparison of phylogenetic trees D. F. Robinson, Les R. Foulds · Mathematical Biosciences | Feb 1981 | 2,984 |
| 42 | Source Partitioning Using Stable Isotopes: Coping with Too Much Variation Andrew C. Parnell, Richard Inger, Stuart Bearhop et al. · PLoS ONE | 11 Mar 2010 | 2,968 |
| 43 | Evolution of Asian monsoons and phased uplift of the Himalaya–Tibetan plateau since Late Miocene times Zhisheng An, John E. Kutzbach, Warren L Prell et al. · Nature | May 2001 | 2,935 |
| 44 | raxmlGUI: a graphical front-end for RAxML Daniele Silvestro, Ingo Michalak · Organisms Diversity & Evolution | 31 Aug 2011 | 2,902 |
| 45 | Taphonomic and ecologic information from bone weathering Anna K. Behrensmeyer · Paleobiology | 1978 | 2,900 |
| 46 | Bayesian Inference of Phylogeny and Its Impact on Evolutionary Biology John P. Huelsenbeck, Fredrik Ronquist, Rasmus O. Nielsen et al. · Science | 14 Dec 2001 | 2,789 |
| 47 | ENVIRONMENTAL NICHE EQUIVALENCY VERSUS CONSERVATISM: QUANTITATIVE APPROACHES TO NICHE EVOLUTION Dan L. Warren, Richard E. Glor, Michael Turelli · Evolution | 26 Aug 2008 | 2,753 |
| 48 | Punctuated equilibria: the tempo and mode of evolution reconsidered Stephen Jay Gould, Niles Eldredge · Paleobiology | 1977 | 2,703 |
| 49 | Phylogenetic Analysis and Comparative Data: A Test and Review of Evidence Robert P. Freckleton, Paul Harvey, Mark D. Pagel · The American Naturalist | Dec 2002 | 2,689 |
| 50 | Cellular Scaling Rules for the Brains of Marsupials: Not as “Primitive” as Expected Sandra Esmeralda Dos Santos, Jairo Porfírio, Felipe Cunha et al. · Brain Behavior and Evolution | 2017 | 2,657 |
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.