Last Updated on July 1, 2026 by Dr. Bhagat
RESEARCH IMPACT·Updated June 2026
Discover the most cited research papers in 2025, what makes them highly cited, and how to apply citation-building strategies to your own work.
QUICK ANSWERWhat Is the Most Cited Paper in the World?
“Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent” (Lowry et al., 1951) is the most cited paper of all time in scientific databases, with over 350,000 citations. Its enduring popularity comes from a simple reason: it describes a foundational lab protocol used across virtually every biology and biochemistry laboratory worldwide.
WHY IT MATTERSWhy People Search for Most Cited Papers (and What You’ll Learn)
- Understand citation drivers: Learn what makes certain papers accumulate tens of thousands of citations.
- Apply lessons to your work: Adapt the strategies of highly cited authors to increase your own research impact.
- Identify trends: See which research areas and paper types dominate citation counts in 2025.
- Benchmark your field: Know what “highly cited” means in your specific discipline.
TOP 10Most Cited Research Papers of All Time
| Rank | Paper | Authors | Year | Est. Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent | Lowry, Rosebrough, Farr, Randall | 1951 | 350,000+ |
| 2 | Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4 | U. K. Laemmli | 1970 | 280,000+ |
| 3 | A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding | Bradford | 1976 | 250,000+ |
| 4 | Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction | Chomczynski & Sacchi | 1987 | 200,000+ |
| 5 | Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets | Towbin, Staehelin, Gordon | 1979 | 180,000+ |
| 6 | A new and rapid colorimetric determination of cytotoxicity | Mosmann | 1983 | 150,000+ |
| 7 | CLUSTAL W: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment | Thompson, Higgins, Gibson | 1994 | 120,000+ |
| 8 | ImageJ: Image processing and analysis in Java | Schneider, Rasband, Eliceiri | 2012 | 100,000+ |
| 9 | DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors | Sanger, Nicklen, Coulson | 1977 | 95,000+ |
| 10 | Development of the COLÉGORIO-OA criteria for rheumatoid arthritis | Arnett et al. | 1988 | 90,000+ |
Pattern: Seven of the top 10 are methods papers — protocols and tools that other researchers use daily. The lesson is clear: papers that enable other research attract the most citations.
2025 TRENDSMost Cited Papers Published in 2025
Papers from 2025 are still accumulating citations, but early leaders cluster in these areas:
- AI/ML in science: Papers on large language models for protein structure (e.g., AlphaFold3 updates, ESM-3) are seeing rapid early citation growth.
- CRISPR advances: Prime editing 2.0 and epigenome editing papers are attracting high citation velocity in molecular biology.
- Climate tipping points: IPCC-adjacent research on irreversible climate thresholds is highly cited in environmental science.
- mRNA therapeutics beyond vaccines: Cancer vaccine trials and personalized neoantigen papers are driving citations in medicine.
- Perovskite solar cells: Efficiency milestones (>33%) and stability improvements are highly cited in materials science.
5 LESSONS5 Lessons from Highly Cited Papers
1. Solve a Common Problem
The most cited papers address bottlenecks that thousands of researchers face. Lowry’s protein assay, Laemmli’s gel electrophoresis buffer, and Bradford’s dye-binding method all solve a universal lab need. Ask yourself: “How many labs could use my method or finding?”
2. Make It Easy to Cite
Highly cited papers are easy to find, read, and reference. Use clear titles, publish in indexed journals, and ensure your paper is discoverable through standard databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus).
3. Release Data and Code
Papers with open datasets and publicly available code receive 25% more citations on average (Piwowar & Vision, 2013). GitHub repositories, Zenodo archives, and supplementary data files all boost citation potential.
4. Write a Clear Methods Section
Methods papers dominate the all-time list. Even for non-methods research, a detailed, reproducible methods section makes your work citable by others who want to build on your approach.
5. Publish Open Access
OA papers receive 18% more citations than paywalled equivalents (Tennant et al., 2016). Hybrid OA, green OA (self-archiving), and gold OA all increase visibility.
STRATEGIESHow to Increase Your Own Citations
| Strategy | Expected Impact | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Publish Open Access | +18% citations | Low (APC or self-archive) |
| Release open data/code | +25% citations | Medium |
| Write review articles | +40% vs. original research | High |
| Post preprints (bioRxiv, arXiv) | +10-15% early citations | Low |
| Use Twitter/X and LinkedIn | +15-20% altmetric boost | Medium |
| Collaborate internationally | +30% citation reach | Medium |
BY FIELDCitation Leaders by Research Field (2025)
- Medicine: COVID-19 long-term outcomes studies and mRNA cancer vaccine trials
- Computer Science: Transformer architecture improvements and LLM evaluation benchmarks
- Physics: Quantum error correction advances and fusion energy milestones
- Chemistry: Solid-state battery electrolytes and MOF synthesis methods
- Biology: Single-cell multi-omics pipelines and spatial transcriptomics tools
- Economics: Causal inference methods and climate-economy models
TOOLSHow to Track Your Own Citations
Use these free tools to monitor your citation metrics:
- Google Scholar Profile: Set up automatic citation alerts and h-index tracking.
- Web of Science ResearcherID: Clarivate’s official citation count for JIF-linked journals.
- Scopus Author ID: Elsevier’s citation database with CiteScore integration.
- Semantic Scholar: AI-powered citation analysis with influential citation highlighting.
- OpenCitations: Open-access citation data for transparency.
Key Takeaways
- Methods papers dominate the all-time citation list — solve a common problem and your work gets cited for decades.
- Open Access papers receive 18% more citations on average than paywalled equivalents.
- Papers with open datasets and code see ~25% higher citation counts.
- The 2025 citation leaders cluster in AI/ML, CRISPR, climate, mRNA, and solar energy research.
- Track your citations using Google Scholar, ResearcherID, and Scopus for a complete picture.
FAQFrequently Asked Questions
What is the most cited research paper ever?
“Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent” by Lowry et al. (1951), with over 350,000 citations.
Why are methods papers so highly cited?
Methods papers describe protocols and tools that thousands of other researchers use in their daily work. Every time a researcher uses the method, they cite the original paper.
Do review papers get more citations than original research?
Yes, review papers typically receive 40% more citations than original research articles because they serve as comprehensive entry points to a field.
How much does Open Access increase citations?
Meta-analyses show an average +18% citation advantage for OA papers, with some fields showing gains of 30% or more.
Is journal impact factor the best predictor of citations?
Not always. Impact factor is a journal-level average. Paper-level quality, relevance, topic choice, and accessibility often matter more for individual citation counts.
Sources
Citation counts estimated from Web of Science and Google Scholar data as of June 2026. Citation advantage figures from Piwowar & Vision (2013, PLoS ONE) and Tennant et al. (2016, F1000Research). Field-specific trends based on 2025 Web of Science Highly Cited Researchers report.
Disclaimer: Citation counts are one of many metrics of research impact. They should be interpreted in context and not as the sole measure of a paper’s quality.
