Topic · Origins and Evolution of Life
Most cited papers in Origins and Evolution of Life
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).
Showing 50 of 100 papers. Every paper with more than 708 citations is listed.
| # | Paper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evolution of Protein Molecules Thomas H. Jukes, Charles R. Cantor · Elsevier eBooks | 1969 | 11,260 |
| 2 | Error and attack tolerance of complex networks Réka Albert, Hawoong Jeong, Albert-László Barabási · Nature | 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 | 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 |
| 6 | Communication and concurrency Wojciech Penczek · Science of Computer Programming | May 1990 | 3,977 |
| 7 | Selforganization of matter and the evolution of biological macromolecules Manfred Eigen · Die Naturwissenschaften | Oct 1971 | 3,898 |
| 8 | A Production of Amino Acids Under Possible Primitive Earth Conditions Stanley Lloyd Miller · Science | 15 May 1953 | 3,544 |
| 9 | Evolution at Two Levels in Humans and Chimpanzees Mary‐Claire King, Allan C. Wilson · Science | 11 Apr 1975 | 2,926 |
| 10 | Origin of life: The RNA world Walter Gilbert · Nature | 20 Feb 1986 | 2,747 |
| 11 | Growth of biological thought Jane Maienschein · Nature | Jun 1994 | 2,268 |
| 12 | Nuclear Constitution and the Interpretation of Fission Phenomena David L. Hill, JOHN ARCHIBALD WHEELER · Physical Review | Mar 1953 | 2,174 |
| 13 | PNA hybridizes to complementary oligonucleotides obeying the Watson–Crick hydrogen-bonding rules Michael Egholm, Ole Buchardt, Leif Christensen et al. · Nature | Oct 1993 | 2,092 |
| 14 | Autopoiesis: The organization of living systems, its characterization and a model Francisco Varela, Humberto R. Maturana, R. Uribe · Biosystems | May 1974 | 1,907 |
| 15 | A principle of natural self-organization Manfred Eigen, Peter M. Schuster · Die Naturwissenschaften | Nov 1977 | 1,755 |
| 16 | Why Nature Chose Phosphates F. H. Westheimer · Science | 6 Mar 1987 | 1,725 |
| 17 | Synthesizing life Jack W. Szostak, David P. Bartel, P. Luigi Luisi · Nature | 18 Jan 2001 | 1,683 |
| 18 | HELIX FORMATION BY GUANYLIC ACID Martin F. Gellert, Marie N. Lipsett, David R. Davies · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | Dec 1962 | 1,653 |
| 19 | Mathematical models for cellular interactions in development I. Filaments with one-sided inputs Aristid Lindenmayer · Journal of Theoretical Biology | Mar 1968 | 1,627 |
| 20 | Hydrothermal vents and the origin of life William Martin, John A. Baross, Deborah S. Kelley et al. · Nature Reviews Microbiology | 29 Sep 2008 | 1,618 |
| 21 | Learning and Instinct in Animals J. S. Kennedy, William Homan Thorpe · Journal of Animal Ecology | Jun 1964 | 1,598 |
| 22 | High Temperature Corrosion N. Birks, Gerald H. Meier, Fred S. Pettit · Elsevier eBooks | 1989 | 1,525 |
| 23 | Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order Nigel D. Goldenfeld · Physics Today | Jun 2004 | 1,490 |
| 24 | A DNA enzyme that cleaves RNA Ronald R. Breaker, Gerald F. Joyce · Chemistry & Biology | Dec 1994 | 1,477 |
| 25 | Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions Matthew W. Powner, Béatrice Gerland, John D. Sutherland · Nature | May 2009 | 1,422 |
| 26 | Circadian Rhythms and the Circadian Organization of Living Systems Colin S. Pittendrigh · Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology | 1960 | 1,412 |
| 27 | The Dialectical Biologist Daniel Simberloff, Richard Levins, Richard C Lewontin · Ornithological Applications | Feb 1987 | 1,399 |
| 28 | Earth's Early Atmosphere James F. Kasting · Science | 12 Feb 1993 | 1,381 |
| 29 | FINE STRUCTURE IN FROZEN-ETCHED YEAST CELLS H. Moor, K. Mühlethaler · The Journal of Cell Biology | Jun 1963 | 1,342 |
| 30 | Theory of protein folding José N. Onuchic, Peter Guy Wolynes · Current Opinion in Structural Biology | 27 Jan 2004 | 1,338 |
| 31 | Toward complex matter: Supramolecular chemistry and self-organization Jean‐Maríe Lehn · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 2 Apr 2002 | 1,328 |
| 32 | Charge density-dependent strength of hydration and biological structure Kim D. Collins · Biophysical Journal | 1997 | 1,326 |
| 33 | Endogenous production, exogenous delivery and impact-shock synthesis of organic molecules: an inventory for the origins of life Christopher F. Chyba, Carl Sagan · Nature | 9 Jan 1992 | 1,316 |
| 34 | Spontaneous assembly of a self-complementary oligopeptide to form a stable macroscopic membrane. Shuguang Zhang, Todd C. Holmes, C Lockshin et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 15 Apr 1993 | 1,311 |
| 35 | Dynamics of Proteins and Nucleic Acids James Andrew McCammon, Stephen C. Harvey, Peter Guy Wolynes · Physics Today | Sep 1988 | 1,257 |
| 36 | Spiral Waves of Chemical Activity Arthur T. Winfree · Science | 11 Feb 1972 | 1,246 |
| 37 | Nature of the Scrapie Agent: Self-replication and Scrapie John S. Griffith · Nature | Sep 1967 | 1,159 |
| 38 | Prebiotic Chemistry and the Origin of the RNA World Robyn E. O’Hehir · Critical Reviews in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | 2004 | 1,155 |
| 39 | Explanation: a mechanist alternative William Bechtel, Adele A. Abrahamsen · Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences | 18 May 2005 | 1,151 |
| 40 | The major evolutionary transitions Eörs Szathmáry, John Maynard Smith · Nature | Mar 1995 | 1,134 |
| 41 | The antiquity of RNA-based evolution Gerald F. Joyce · Nature | Jul 2002 | 1,099 |
| 42 | Asymmetric autocatalysis and amplification of enantiomeric excess of a chiral molecule Kenso Soai, Takanori Shibata, Hiroshi Morioka et al. · Nature | Dec 1995 | 1,093 |
| 43 | Free Energy Via Molecular Simulation: Applications to Chemical and Biomolecular Systems David L. Beveridge, Frank M. DiCapua · Annual Review of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry | Jun 1989 | 1,092 |
| 44 | Assessment of methods for amino acid matrix selection and their use on empirical data shows that ad hoc assumptions for choice of matrix are not justified Thomas Keane, Christopher J. Creevey, Melissa M. Pentony et al. · BMC Evolutionary Biology | 24 Mar 2006 | 1,086 |
| 45 | The origin of mutants John Cairns, Julie M. Overbaugh, S Miller · Nature | Sep 1988 | 1,038 |
| 46 | Detonator of the population explosion Vaclav Smil · Nature | 29 Jul 1999 | 1,024 |
| 47 | Evolution of the genetic apparatus Leslie E. Orgel · Journal of Molecular Biology | Dec 1968 | 1,014 |
| 48 | Calculations of electrostatic interactions in biological systems and in solutions Arieh Warshel, Stephen T. Russell · Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics | Aug 1984 | 1,005 |
| 49 | Common origins of RNA, protein and lipid precursors in a cyanosulfidic protometabolism Bhavesh H. Patel, Claudia Percivalle, Dougal J. Ritson et al. · Nature Chemistry | 13 Mar 2015 | 999 |
| 50 | Natural Selection and the Concept of a Protein Space John Maynard Smith · Nature | Feb 1970 | 986 |
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.