Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology

Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology is a research topic within Paleontology. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the evolutionary history, diversity, and phylogenetic analysis of dinosaurs, including birds, sauropods, theropods, and other related taxa. It covers topics such as fossil discoveries, morphological studies, molecular phylogeny, and the ecological and environmental context of dinosaur evolution.

Dinosaur
Evolution
Phylogenetic Analysis
Paleontology
Birds
Sauropod
Theropoda
Fossil
Morphology
Cretaceous

Research works: 17k
In the world top 10%: 1.6k
Top-10% rate: 9.9%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: +11%
Largest producer: United States

Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology

Which countries lead Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology research?

By volume, the United States and Germany publish the most (641 and 370 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 United States 641 works
2 Germany 370 works
3 China 347 works
4 Brazil 238 works
5 United Kingdom 236 works
6 Argentina 179 works
7 France 159 works
8 Russia 144 works
9 Spain 122 works
10 Canada 90 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 States641 · 25.4%Germany370 · 14.7%China347 · 13.7%Brazil238 · 9.4%6 others listed929 · 36.8%

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

Which institutions lead Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas.

By volume, 2022-now

1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 105 works
2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 101 works
3 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 96 works
4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 83 works
5 Smithsonian InstitutionUnited States 54 works
6 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 49 works
7 Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde StuttgartGermany 47 works
8 Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und GeologieGermany 47 works
9 Leibniz AssociationGermany 45 works
10 University of CologneGermany 41 works

Who are the leading researchers in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology include Sudhir Kumar, David H. Haussler and Barry S. Taylor.

1 Sudhir Kumar United States 295k citations
2 David H. Haussler United States 209k citations
3 Barry S. Taylor United States 130k 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 Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology?

The most cited paper in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology is "The delayed rise of present-day mammals" (Olaf R. P. Bininda‐Emonds, Marcel Cardillo, Kate E. Jones et al., 2007), with 2,132 citations. Next come "A molecular timescale for vertebrate evolution" (1,962) and "Mass Extinctions in the Marine Fossil Record" (1,779).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	The delayed rise of present-day mammals Olaf R. P. Bininda‐Emonds, Marcel Cardillo, Kate E. Jones et al. · Nature	28 Mar 2007	2,132
2	A molecular timescale for vertebrate evolution Sudhir Kumar, Simon Hedges · Nature	Apr 1998	1,962
3	Mass Extinctions in the Marine Fossil Record David M. Raup, J. John Sepkoski · Science	19 Mar 1982	1,779
4	A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing Richard O. Prum, Jacob S. Berv, Alex Dornburg et al. · Nature	Oct 2015	1,731
5	The effects of fishing on sharks, rays, and chimaeras (chondrichthyans), and the implications for marine ecosystems John D. Stevens · ICES Journal of Marine Science Open access	Jun 2000	1,730

All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology research done?

The largest centres of Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Munich (Germany), Paris (France) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Marburg, La Plata and Stuttgart.

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 BeijingChina 151 works
2 MunichGermany 101 works
3 ParisFrance 85 works
4 MoscowRussia 83 works
5 Buenos AiresArgentina 75 works
6 LondonUnited Kingdom 71 works
7 Washington D.C.United States 63 works
8 StuttgartGermany 51 works
9 MadridSpain 45 works
10 CologneGermany 41 works

Where it is the local speciality

MarburgDE · 39.5 works46×
La PlataAR · 21.5 works24×
StuttgartDE · 50.7 works17×

← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology on the map

Where is the best place to study Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Cambridge, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria and University College London 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.

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.

#	University	Score	Top 10%	Specialisation	Works	Growth
1	University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom	65.6	36.7%	3.5×	12	+2.3%
2	Universidade Federal de Santa MariaBrazil	64.3	24.5%	14.3×	18	+43.1%
3	University College LondonUnited Kingdom	63.5	26.4%	2.9×	14	+65.4%
4	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany	63.2	2.0%	19.4×	49	+46.0%
5	University of BirminghamUnited Kingdom	60.2	20.1%	6.9×	13	+14.9%
6	University of BristolUnited Kingdom	59.5	18.1%	13.6×	22	-26.6%
7	University of ChicagoUnited States	54.5	16.1%	4.8×	12	+13.4%
8	University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa	51.7	18.0%	12.1×	15	-18.3%
9	University of FribourgSwitzerland	51.0	20.9%	23.7×	10	-14.8%
10	University of CologneGermany	50.3	1.3%	32.2×	41	-
11	Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaSpain	49.5	11.9%	9.2×	17	+0.7%
12	Flinders UniversityAustralia	47.4	13.8%	12.0×	10	+19.8%
13	University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina	47.1	10.3%	4.0×	19	+35.8%
14	University of MichiganUnited States	46.3	19.7%	2.2×	10	+99.3%
15	Yunnan UniversityChina	45.8	13.6%	9.8×	11	+185.6%
16	Philipps University of MarburgGermany	45.4	0.0%	48.6×	40	-
17	Yale UniversityUnited States	45.4	21.8%	2.7×	9	+10.0%
18	Universidad Nacional de La PlataArgentina	44.5	6.9%	31.3×	18	+14.9%
19	University of ZurichSwitzerland	41.6	16.1%	5.0×	10	-13.2%
20	Universidade de São PauloBrazil	40.7	11.5%	2.9×	17	-2.3%
21	Université Paris Sciences et LettresFrance	40.2	8.3%	7.5×	8	+43.5%
22	Universidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroBrazil	40.1	7.2%	7.3×	16	+5.9%
23	National University of Río NegroArgentina	39.5	15.5%	125.3×	9	-6.4%
24	University of TübingenGermany	39.2	10.1%	9.4×	12	-3.8%
25	China University of GeosciencesChina	39.0	10.5%	9.9×	13	-7.4%
26	University of PortsmouthUnited Kingdom	37.2	9.2%	22.5×	10	-2.8%
27	Universidade Federal de PernambucoBrazil	36.0	10.8%	6.2×	9	+56.2%
28	Sorbonne UniversitéFrance	35.8	6.3%	6.0×	12	-10.5%
29	University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom	35.3	12.5%	3.9×	10	-19.4%
30	University of LisbonPortugal	35.2	3.8%	4.9×	11	+128.8%
31	University of BonnGermany	33.3	9.9%	6.6×	9	-21.3%
32	University of ViennaAustria	33.1	15.5%	5.5×	8	-16.5%
33	University of TorontoCanada	32.7	16.6%	1.7×	10	-20.5%
34	University of AlbertaCanada	31.7	8.1%	5.0×	13	-36.3%
35	China University of Geosciences (Beijing)China	30.5	5.8%	13.5×	12	-9.6%
36	University of FloridaUnited States	29.5	11.3%	3.0×	10	-4.8%
37	Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Brazil	28.6	5.4%	3.7×	9	+33.1%
38	Universidad de IbaguéColombia	27.6	0.0%	69.4×	17	-
39	Universidad Nacional de Educación a DistanciaSpain	27.5	4.6%	23.6×	13	-18.5%
40	Universidade do Estado do Rio de JaneiroBrazil	27.5	4.2%	7.1×	10	+25.8%

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 Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, country by country

Is Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 11% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology.

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 Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.010% in 2024.

Fractional works of Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology 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.

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.

Discussion

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Which countries lead Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology?

What are the most cited papers in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology?

Where is Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where it is the local speciality

Where is the best place to study Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology?

Is Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology research growing?

Its share of all research

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Which topics inside it are moving

Related research

Discussion