Most cited papers in Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
What are the most cited papers in Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life?
The most cited paper in Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life is "The Tragedy of the Commons" (Garrett Hardin, 1968), with 23,379 citations. Next come "The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception" (23,143) and "A safe operating space for humanity" (13,302).
Showing 50 of 98 papers. Every paper with more than 452 citations is listed.
| # | Paper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Tragedy of the Commons Garrett Hardin · Science | 13 Dec 1968 | 23,379 |
| 2 | The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception Marc H. Bornstein, James J. Gibson · Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism | 1980 | 23,143 |
| 3 | A safe operating space for humanity Johan Rockström et al. · Nature | 23 Sep 2009 | 13,302 |
| 4 | Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity Johan Rockström et al. · Ecology and Society | 2009 | 7,171 |
| 5 | The Machine That Changed the World Bernard M. Wolf · Journal of International Business Studies | Sep 1991 | 4,765 |
| 6 | The trajectory of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration Will Steffen, Wendy J. Broadgate, Lisa Deutsch et al. · The Anthropocene Review | 16 Jan 2015 | 3,936 |
| 7 | Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change Sandra M. Díaz et al. · Science | 12 Dec 2019 | 2,746 |
| 8 | Phantom Energy: Dark Energy with w < − 1 Causes a Cosmic Doomsday Robert R. Caldwell, Marc Kamionkowski, Nevin N. Weinberg · Physical Review Letters | 13 Aug 2003 | 2,275 |
| 9 | Resistance ofBacillusEndospores to Extreme Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Environments Wayne L. Nicholson, Nobuo Munakata, G. Horneck et al. · Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews | Sep 2000 | 2,049 |
| 10 | Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. Jonathan Lieberson, Douglas R. Hofstadter · The Journal of Philosophy | 1980 | 1,929 |
| 11 | Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter: Experiment summary after the first year of global mapping of Mars David E. Smith et al. · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres | Oct 2001 | 1,728 |
| 12 | Global Mineralogical and Aqueous Mars History Derived from OMEGA/Mars Express Data Jean‐Pierre Bibring et al. · Science | 21 Apr 2006 | 1,653 |
| 13 | Patterns of Discovery Norwood Russell Hanson, Paul F. Schmidt · American Journal of Physics | Apr 1959 | 1,633 |
| 14 | Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software Steven B. Johnson | 2001 | 1,447 |
| 15 | The effect of solar radiation variations on the climate of the Earth M. I. Budyko · Tellus | Oct 1969 | 1,436 |
| 16 | Earth's Early Atmosphere James F. Kasting · Science | 12 Feb 1993 | 1,381 |
| 17 | World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice William J. Ripple, Christopher Wolf, Thomas M. Newsome et al. · BioScience | 10 Oct 2017 | 1,370 |
| 18 | Context Camera Investigation on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Michael C. Malin, James F. Bell III, Bruce A. Cantor et al. · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres | May 2007 | 1,346 |
| 19 | Outside the Safe Operating Space of the Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities Linn M. Persson, Bethanie Carney Almroth, Chris D. Collins et al. · Environmental Science & Technology | 18 Jan 2022 | 1,330 |
| 20 | SETI@home David P. Anderson, Jeff Cobb, Eric J Korpela et al. · Communications of the ACM | Nov 2002 | 1,299 |
| 21 | The Anthropic Cosmological Principle John David Barrow, Frank J. Tipler, James Lee Anderson · Physics Today | Sep 1987 | 1,294 |
| 22 | Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence Fred Truck, Hans Moravec · Leonardo | 1991 | 1,280 |
| 23 | Interplanetary Dynamical Processes EUGENE N. PARKER, Robert E. Marshak, Gerald Johnson · Physics Today | Mar 1964 | 1,192 |
| 24 | Anthropic Bound on the Cosmological Constant Steven Weinberg · Physical Review Letters | 30 Nov 1987 | 1,178 |
| 25 | Detection of Perchlorate and the Soluble Chemistry of Martian Soil at the Phoenix Lander Site M. H. Hecht, Samuel P. Kounaves, Richard C. Quinn et al. · Science | 3 Jul 2009 | 1,161 |
| 26 | THE FALSE POSITIVE RATE OF KEPLER AND THE OCCURRENCE OF PLANETS François Fressin, Guillermo Torres, David Charbonneau et al. · The Astrophysical Journal | 12 Mar 2013 | 1,156 |
| 27 | The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity James L. Flexner · Australian Archaeology | 2 Sep 2022 | 1,137 |
| 28 | The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics Roger Penrose, Rolf W. Landauer · Physics Today | Jun 1990 | 1,122 |
| 29 | Cyberspace: First Steps Michael L. Benedikt | 30 Oct 1991 | 1,022 |
| 30 | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Instrument Overview Matthew Scott Robinson et al. · Space Science Reviews | 2010 | 1,018 |
| 31 | Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: the gaia hypothesis James Ephraim Lovelock, Lynn Margulis · Tellus A Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography | 1974 | 1,009 |
| 32 | Technologies of Humility: Citizen Participation in Governing Science Sheila Jasanoff · Minerva | Sep 2003 | 990 |
| 33 | The Crust of the Moon as Seen by GRAIL Mark A. Wieczorek, Gregory A. Neumann, F. Nimmo et al. · Science | 6 Dec 2012 | 976 |
| 34 | Earth and Mars: Evolution of Atmospheres and Surface Temperatures Carl Sagan, George Mullen · Science | 7 Jul 1972 | 952 |
| 35 | The Global Topography of Mars and Implications for Surface Evolution David E. Smith, Maria T. Zuber, Sean C. Solomon et al. · Science | 28 May 1999 | 942 |
| 36 | The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) for the Mars 2001 Odyssey Mission Philip Russel Christensen, B. M. Jakosky, Hugh H. Kieffer et al. · Space Science Reviews | 2004 | 936 |
| 37 | Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies Tim Mulgan · The Philosophical Quarterly | 26 Apr 2015 | 889 |
| 38 | Monism: The Priority of the Whole Jonathan Schaffer · The Philosophical Review | 9 Dec 2009 | 887 |
| 39 | Mars Science Laboratory Mission and Science Investigation J. P. Grotzinger et al. · Space Science Reviews | 24 Jul 2012 | 832 |
| 40 | The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) Mission B. M. Jakosky et al. · Space Science Reviews | 8 Apr 2015 | 830 |
| 41 | Illuminating gravitational waves: A concordant picture of photons from a neutron star merger M. M. Kasliwal et al. · Science | 16 Oct 2017 | 822 |
| 42 | Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? Nick Bostrom · The Philosophical Quarterly | Apr 2003 | 814 |
| 43 | Hydrated silicate minerals on Mars observed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CRISM instrument John F. Mustard et al. · Nature | Jul 2008 | 780 |
| 44 | Extending the Upper Temperature Limit for Life Kazem Kashefi, Derek R. Lovley · Science | 14 Aug 2003 | 776 |
| 45 | Mineralogy of the Martian Surface Bethany L. Ehlmann, Christopher Scott Edwards · Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences | Mar 2014 | 760 |
| 46 | The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence, Robbin te Velde · Telecommunications Policy | Feb 2000 | 756 |
| 47 | Geologic history of Mars Michael H. Carr, James W. Head III · Earth and Planetary Science Letters | 27 Aug 2009 | 731 |
| 48 | The cement of the universe, a study of causation Gian‐Carlo Rota · Advances in Mathematics | Mar 1978 | 700 |
| 49 | Mars’ Surface Radiation Environment Measured with the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity Rover Donald M. Hassler et al. · Science | 10 Dec 2013 | 692 |
| 50 | Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene Elena Vladimirovna Fell, Natalia Aleksandrovna Lukianova · The Philosophical Quarterly | 23 Oct 2017 | 691 |
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.