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Exclusive: the most-cited papers of the twenty-first century

A Nature analysis reveals the 25 highest-cited papers published this century and explores why they are breaking records.
By
  1. Helen Pearson
  2. Heidi Ledford
  3. Matthew Hutson

    1. Matthew Hutson is a science writer based in New York City.

  4. Richard Van Noorden
Illustration showing a retro-futuristic scene with stacks of papers depicting buildings, with the papers at the top floating away.

Illustration: Chiara Vercesi

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The first quarter of the twenty-first century has produced some huge scientific breakthroughs, ranging from the first mRNA vaccines and CRISPR-based gene-editing techniques to the discovery of the Higgs boson and the first measurements of gravitational waves. But you won’t find any of these advances described in the top-cited papers published since 2000.

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Nature 640, 588-592 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01125-9

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 22 April 2025: The description given for Clarivate did not reflect the global nature of the firm.

References

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Supplementary Information

  1. Methodology, median rankings and full data for the most-cited papers of the twenty-first century

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