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Topic · Astronomy and Astrophysics

Origins and Evolution of Life

Origins and Evolution of Life is a research topic within Astronomy and Astrophysics. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the origin of life and prebiotic chemistry, focusing on topics such as the RNA World, prebiotic chemistry in hydrothermal vents, the emergence of chirality, the formation of protocells, early metabolism, and the conditions on early Earth. It also delves into autocatalytic processes, nucleic acid synthesis, and astrobiology.

  • RNA World
  • Prebiotic Chemistry
  • Hydrothermal Vents
  • Chirality
  • Protocells
  • Metabolism
  • Nucleic Acids
  • Early Earth
  • Autocatalysis
  • Astrobiology
Research works
14k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+15%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
36% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Origins and Evolution of Life

Which countries lead Origins and Evolution of Life research?

By volume, the United States and Germany publish the most (636 and 182 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 636 works
  2. 2 Germany 182 works
  3. 3 China 175 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 172 works
  5. 5 France 140 works
  6. 6 Japan 124 works
  7. 7 Italy 102 works
  8. 8 India 80 works
  9. 9 Spain 77 works
  10. 10 Russia 64 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: 36.3%Germany: 10.4%China: 10.0%United Kingdom: 9.8%6 others listed: 33.5%36%largest
United States636 · 36.3%Germany182 · 10.4%China175 · 10.0%United Kingdom172 · 9.8%6 others listed587 · 33.5%

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

Which institutions lead Origins and Evolution of Life research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Origins and Evolution of Life research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Max Planck Society.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 65 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 30 works
  3. 3 Max Planck SocietyGermany 22 works
  4. 4 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 20 works
  5. 5 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 17 works
  6. 6 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 15 works
  7. 7 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 15 works
  8. 8 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 14 works
  9. 9 University of California, Los AngelesUnited States 14 works
  10. 10 California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 13 works

Who are the leading researchers in Origins and Evolution of Life?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Origins and Evolution of Life include Rob Knight, Karl John Friston and Sudhir Kumar.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations
  3. 3 Sudhir Kumar United States 295k citations
  4. 4 George M. Whitesides United States 267k citations
  5. 5 Donald G. Truhlar United States 230k 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 Origins and Evolution of Life?

The most cited paper in Origins and Evolution of Life is "Evolution of Protein Molecules" (Thomas H. Jukes, Charles R. Cantor, 1969), with 11,260 citations. Next come "Error and attack tolerance of complex networks" (7,387) and "ViennaRNA Package 2.0" (5,580).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Evolution of Protein Molecules Thomas H. Jukes, Charles R. Cantor · Elsevier eBooks Book chapter 1969 11,260
2 Error and attack tolerance of complex networks Réka Albert, Hawoong Jeong, Albert-László Barabási · Nature Open access 27 Jul 2000 7,387
3 ViennaRNA Package 2.0 Ronny Lorenz, Stephan H Bernhart, Christian Höner zu Siederdissen et al. · Algorithms for Molecular Biology Open access 24 Nov 2011 5,580
4 Metabolic stability and epigenesis in randomly constructed genetic nets Stuart Alan Kauffman · Journal of Theoretical Biology Mar 1969 4,932
5 Construction of a genetic toggle switch in Escherichia coli Timothy S. Gardner, Charles R. Cantor, James J. Collins · Nature 2000 4,468
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Origins and Evolution of Life research done?

The largest centres of Origins and Evolution of Life research in 2022-now are Paris (France), London (United Kingdom), Tokyo (Japan) and Beijing (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 61 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 44 works
  3. 3 TokyoJapan 40 works
  4. 4 BeijingChina 35 works
  5. 5 MoscowRussia 35 works
  6. 6 Mexico CityMexico 29 works
  7. 7 MunichGermany 28 works
  8. 8 Los AngelesUnited States 22 works
  9. 9 SeattleUnited States 22 works
  10. 10 New YorkUnited States 22 works
See Origins and Evolution of Life on the map

Where is the best place to study Origins and Evolution of Life?

Among universities, judged by research, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich score highest, combining citation 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 16.34%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →ETH ZurichLudwig-Maximilians-U…California Institute…University of Cambri…
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.

Citation 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
1Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 86.318.7%9.3×17 +39.1%
2University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 69.612.6%6.2×15 +111.8%
3ETH ZurichSwitzerland 65.630.6%5.6×8 +15.2%
4California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 59.914.0%16.9×13 -30.6%
5University of California, Los AngelesUnited States 57.49.3%6.0×14 +36.2%
6University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 56.015.4%3.8×11 +5.3%
7University of California San DiegoUnited States 54.012.4%5.0×10 +90.1%
8University College LondonUnited Kingdom 53.022.8%2.5×8 +13.1%
9Harvard UniversityUnited States 52.721.5%1.6×11 -48.5%
10Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 51.26.1%7.4×15 +4.7%

Universities only. The score blends citation 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 Origins and Evolution of Life, country by country

Is Origins and Evolution of Life research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 15% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2026. The fastest-growing topics are Origins and Evolution of Life.

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 Origins and Evolution of Life as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0063% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Origins and Evolution of Life0.0095% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Origins and Evolution of Life 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%Origins and Evolution of Life11.3% 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.

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