Most cited papers in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
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).
Showing 50 of 99 papers. Every paper with more than 445 citations is listed.
| # | Paper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Jun 2000 | 1,730 |
| 6 | Size and shape in ontogeny and phylogeny Pere Alberch, Stephen Jay Gould, GEORGE F. OSTER et al. · Paleobiology | 1979 | 1,607 |
| 7 | The Cambrian Conundrum: Early Divergence and Later Ecological Success in the Early History of Animals Douglas H. Erwin, Marc Laflamme, Sarah M. Tweedt et al. · Science | 24 Nov 2011 | 1,356 |
| 8 | U-Pb Ages from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, China Daniel J. Condon, Maoyan Zhu, Samuel A. Bowring et al. · Science | 25 Feb 2005 | 1,324 |
| 9 | The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post–K-Pg Radiation of Placentals Maureen A. O’Leary et al. · Science | 7 Feb 2013 | 1,235 |
| 10 | pplacer: linear time maximum-likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic placement of sequences onto a fixed reference tree Frederick A. Matsen IV, Robin B. Kodner, E. Virginia Armbrust · BMC Bioinformatics | 30 Oct 2010 | 1,151 |
| 11 | AMNIOTE PHYLOGENY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOSSILS Jacques Henri Maurice Gauthier, Arnold G. Kluge, Timothy Rowe · Cladistics | Jun 1988 | 1,091 |
| 12 | SHAPE ANALYSIS OF SYMMETRIC STRUCTURES: QUANTIFYING VARIATION AMONG INDIVIDUALS AND ASYMMETRY Christian Peter Klingenberg, Marta Barluenga, Axel Meyer · Evolution | Oct 2002 | 1,047 |
| 13 | The triple origin of skull in higher vertebrates: a study in quail-chick chimeras Gérard F. Couly, Pierre M. Coltey, Nicole M. Le Douarin · Development | Feb 1993 | 1,029 |
| 14 | A factor analytic description of the Phanerozoic marine fossil record J. John Sepkoski · Paleobiology | 1981 | 1,017 |
| 15 | Resolution of ray-finned fish phylogeny and timing of diversification Thomas J. Near, Ron I. Eytan, Alex Dornburg et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 6 Aug 2012 | 1,008 |
| 16 | Combining data in phylogenetic analysis John P. Huelsenbeck, J. J. Bull, Cliff Cunningham · Trends in Ecology & Evolution | Apr 1996 | 910 |
| 17 | The Early Evolution of Archosaurs: Relationships and the Origin of Major Clades Sterling J. Nesbitt · Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | 29 Apr 2011 | 871 |
| 18 | The Evolution of Dinosaurs Paul C. Sereno · Science | 25 Jun 1999 | 835 |
| 19 | Fossils, genes and the evolution of animal limbs Neil Shubin, Cliff Tabin, Sean B. Carroll · Nature | 14 Aug 1997 | 832 |
| 20 | Early Animal Evolution: Emerging Views from Comparative Biology and Geology Andrew H. Knoll, Sean B. Carroll · Science | 25 Jun 1999 | 831 |
| 21 | The timing and pattern of biotic recovery following the end-Permian mass extinction Zhong‐Qiang Chen, Michael J. Benton · Nature Geoscience | 25 May 2012 | 827 |
| 22 | Best Practices for Justifying Fossil Calibrations James Ford Parham et al. · Systematic Biology | 21 Sep 2011 | 804 |
| 23 | The Discovery and Importance of Multiple Islands of Most-Parsimonious Trees David R. Maddison · Systematic Biology | Sep 1991 | 799 |
| 24 | Three-dimensional preservation of algae and animal embryos in a Neoproterozoic phosphorite Shuhai Xiao, Yun Zhang, Andrew H. Knoll · Nature | Feb 1998 | 787 |
| 25 | A kinetic model of Phanerozoic taxonomic diversity. III. Post-Paleozoic families and mass extinctions J. John Sepkoski · Paleobiology | 1984 | 784 |
| 26 | Diversification of Neoaves: integration of molecular sequence data and fossils Per G. P. Ericson, Cajsa Lisa Anderson, Tom Britton et al. · Biology Letters | 9 Aug 2006 | 761 |
| 27 | Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation F. Keith Barker, Alice Cibois, Peter Schikler et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 19 Jul 2004 | 729 |
| 28 | THE EDIACARA BIOTA: Neoproterozoic Origin of Animals and Their Ecosystems Guy M. Narbonne · Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences | 7 Jan 2005 | 721 |
| 29 | Combinatorial search of thermoelastic shape-memory alloys with extremely small hysteresis width Jun Cui, Yong S. Chu, Olugbenga O. Famodu et al. · Nature Materials | 5 Mar 2006 | 717 |
| 30 | Biostratigraphic and Geochronologic Constraints on Early Animal Evolution J. P. Grotzinger, Samuel A. Bowring, Beverly Z. Saylor et al. · Science | 27 Oct 1995 | 703 |
| 31 | The Permo–Triassic extinction Douglas H. Erwin · Nature | 1994 | 696 |
| 32 | Pattern of Marine Mass Extinction Near the Permian-Triassic Boundary in South China Y. G. Jin, Y. Wang, Wei Wang et al. · Science | 21 Jul 2000 | 667 |
| 33 | Diversification and Extinction in the History of Life Michael J. Benton · Science | 7 Apr 1995 | 667 |
| 34 | Climate warming in the latest Permian and the Permian-Triassic mass extinction Michael M. Joachimski, Xulong Lai, Shu‐zhong Shen et al. · Geology | 23 Jan 2012 | 652 |
| 35 | Sauropod dinosaur phylogeny: critique and cladistic analysis Jeffrey A. Wilson · Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | 13 Sep 2002 | 651 |
| 36 | Mammalian phytogeny: shaking the tree Michael J. Novacek · Nature | Mar 1992 | 650 |
| 37 | Global patterns of diversification in the history of modern amphibians Kim Roelants, David J. Gower, Mark Wilkinson et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 9 Jan 2007 | 647 |
| 38 | An exceptionally preserved Lower Cretaceous ecosystem Zhonghe Zhou, Paul M. Barrett, Jason M. Hilton · Nature | Feb 2003 | 643 |
| 39 | THE FOSSIL RECORD OF BIRDS Storrs L. Olson · Elsevier eBooks | 1985 | 637 |
| 40 | Geomorphic evolution of Southern Africa since the Mesozoic Timothy C. Partridge, R. R. Maud · South African Journal of Geology | Jun 1987 | 634 |
| 41 | Early Evolution and Higher-Level Phylogeny of Sauropod Dinosaurs Jeffrey A. Wilson, Paul C. Sereno · Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology | 15 Jun 1998 | 624 |
| 42 | An exceptionally well-preserved theropod dinosaur from the Yixian Formation of China Peiji Chen, Zhi-Ming Dong, Shuonan Zhen · Nature | 1998 | 624 |
| 43 | Australopithecus sediba : A New Species of Homo -Like Australopith from South Africa Lee R. Berger, Darryl J. de Ruiter, Steven Emilio Churchill et al. · Science | 8 Apr 2010 | 604 |
| 44 | Gondwana to Asia: Plate tectonics, paleogeography and the biological connectivity of the Indian sub-continent from the Middle Jurassic through latest Eocene (166–35 Ma) Jason R. Ali, Jonathan C. Aitchison · Earth-Science Reviews | 20 Feb 2008 | 601 |
| 45 | Taxonomic Diversity during the Phanerozoic David M. Raup · Science | 22 Sep 1972 | 597 |
| 46 | Positional signalling and specification of digits in chick limb morphogenesis Cheryll A. Tickle, Dennis Summerbell, Lewis Wolpert · Nature | Mar 1975 | 590 |
| 47 | Higher-order phylogeny of modern birds (Theropoda, Aves: Neornithes) based on comparative anatomy. II. Analysis and discussion Bradley C. Livezey, Richard L. Zusi · Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | 2007 | 588 |
| 48 | Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China Qiang Ji, Philip J. Currie, Mark Allen Norell et al. · Nature | Jun 1998 | 587 |
| 49 | Phylogeny as a Central Principle in Taxonomy: Phylogenetic Definitions of Taxon Names Kevin de Queiroz, Jacques Henri Maurice Gauthier · Systematic Zoology | Dec 1990 | 585 |
| 50 | The Miocene Climatic Optimum: evidence from ectothermic vertebrates of Central Europe Madelaine Böhme · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology | 19 May 2003 | 573 |
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.