The journal Nature posted a neat feature the other day exploring the top 100 cited papers (in the sciences), using the database Web of Science (which Baylor folks can access here).  They had some surprising conclusions:

The exercise revealed some surprises, not least that it takes a staggering 12,119 citations to rank in the top 100 — and that many of the world’s most famous papers do not make the cut. A few that do, such as the first observation of carbon nanotubes (number 36) are indeed classic discoveries. But the vast majority describe experimental methods or software that have become essential in their fields.

We’re not too surprised that methods papers are highly cited, especially if they are well written and describe either a common way of doing research in their fields.  Note to self: make sure your methods section is well done, especially if you are doing something new!

Check out the post (particularly the cool interactive feature), watch the video they produced (see below) and see if you can figure out whether you have used any of these methods in any of your lab courses.

Anyone want to poke around in Web of Science and find the most cited paper published by a Baylor professor?  We’ve got a few contenders (based on whether it was a single-author or group-authored paper), but you can hazard your guesses in the comments.