Citation Classics

The number of times that a paper is cited is one indication of the value of that paper to the scientific community. The data bases maintained by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) - Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index, and Journal Citation Reports - provide a simple, although certainly not perfect, method for assessing the number of times a paper has been cited.

We recently reviewed publications from the Appalachian Laboratory, using the online versions of Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and categorized contributions into three classes: a) "classics" which have cited at least 75 times; b) "mega classics" cited at least 150 times; and c) "summa classics" which have been cited more than 300 times.

Classics (cited at least 75 times)

Ashmun, J.W.; Thomas, R.J.; Pitelka, L.F. 1982. Translocation of photo-assimilates between sister ramets in 2 rhizomatous forest herbs. Annals of Botany 49:403-415.
Times Cited: 111
   
Asner, G.P.; Elmore, A.J.; Olander, L.P.; Martin, R.E.; Harris, A.T. 2004. Grazing systems, ecosystem responses, and global change. Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 29:261-299.
Times Cited: 115    
   
Bazemore, D.E.; Eshleman, K.N.; Hollenbeck, K.J.. 1994. The Role of Soil-Water in Stormflow Generation in a Forested Headwater Catchment – Synthesis of Natural Tracer and Hydrometric Evidence. Journal of Hydrology 162:47-75.
Times Cited: 96    
   
Canadell, J.G.; Pitelka, L.F.; Ingram, J.S.I. 1996. The effects of elevated[CO2] on plant-soil carbon below-ground-a summary and synthesis. Plant and Soil 187:391-400.
Times Cited: 85    
   
Castro, M.S.; Peterjohn, W.T.; Melillo, J.M.; Steudler, P.A. 1994. Effects of nitrogen fertilization on the fluxes of N2O, CH4, and CO2 from soils in a Florida slash pine plantation. Can. J. of For. Res. 24:9-13.
Times Cited: 98    
   
Elmore, A.J.; Mustard, J.F.; Manning, S.J.; Lobell, D.B. 2000. Quantifying Vegetation Change in Semiarid Environments: Precision and Accuracy of Spectral Mixture Analysis and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Remote Sensing of Environment 73:86-102.
Times Cited: 123    
   
Engelhardt, K.A.M.; Ritchie M.E. 2001. Effects of macrophyte species richness on wetland ecosystem functioning and services. Nature. 411:687-689.
Times Cited: 95    
   
Eshleman, K.N.; Hemond, H. F. 1985. The Role of Organic Acids in the Acid Base Status of Surface Waters at Bickford Watershed, Massachusetts. Water Resources Research. 21:1503-1510.
Times Cited: 77    
   
Gardner, R.H.; O'Neill R.V.. 1991. Pattern, process and predictability: the use of neutral models for landscape analysis. Quantitative Methods in Landscape Ecology. M.G. Turner and R.H. Gardner, eds. Springer Verlag, New York. pp:289-307.
Times Cited: 128    
   
Gardner, R.H.; O'Neill R.V.; Mankin, J.B.; Carney, J.H. 1981. A comparison of sensitivity analysis and error analysis based on a stream ecosystem model. Ecological Modelling 12:173-190.
Times Cited: 86 

Gardner R.H.; O'Neill, R.V.; Turner, M.G.; Dale, V.H. 1989. Quantifying scale-dependent effects of animal movement with simple percolation models. Landscape Ecology 3:217-227.
Times Cited:  77
   
Hargrove, W.W.; Gardner, R.H.; Turner, M.G.; Romme, W.H.; Despain, D.G. 2000. Simulating fire patterns in heterogeneous landscapes. Ecological Modelling. 135:243-263.
Times Cited: 90

 Hickman, J.C.; Pitelka, L.F. 1975. Dry weight indicates energy allocation in ecological strategy analysis of plants. Oecologia 21:117-121.
Times Cited: 83   
           
Hoogland, J.L. 1979. Aggression, ectoparasitism, and other possible costs of prairie dog (Sciuridae: Cynomys spp.) coloniality. Behaviour 69:1-35.
Times Cited: 103    
   
Hoogland, J.L. 1979. The effect of colony size on individual alertness of prairie dogs (Sciuridae: Cynomys spp.). Animal Behaviour 27:394-407.
Times Cited: 99    
   
Hoogland, J.L. 1981. The evolution of coloniality in white-tailed and black-tailed prairie dogs (Sciuridae: Cynomys leucurus and C. ludovicianus). Ecology 62:252-272.
Times Cited: 137    
   
Hoogland, J.L. 1982. Prairie dogs avoid extreme inbreeding. Science. 215:1639-1641.
Times Cited: 136    
   
Hoogland, J.L. 1983. Nepotism and alarm calling in the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus). Animal Behaviour.
Times Cited: 76    
   
Hoogland, J.L. 1985. Infanticide in prairie dogs: Lactating females kill offspring of close kin. Science 230:1037-1040.
Times Cited: 99   

Hunsaker, C.T.; Graham, R.L.; Suter, G.W.; Oneill, R.V.; Barnthouse, L.W.; Gardner, R.H. 1990. Assessing Ecological Risk on a Regional Scale. Environmental Management 14(3), 325-332.
Times Cites: 79 

Neilson, R.P.; Pitelka, L.F.; Solomon, A.M.; Nathan, R.; Midgley, G.F.; Fragoso, J.M.V.; Lischke, H.; Thompson, K. 1985. Forecasting regional to global plant migration in response to climate change. Bioscience 55:749-759.
Times Cited:  82

O'Neill, R.V., Milne, B.T., Turner, M.G., and Gardner, R.H. 1988a. Resource utilization scales and landscape pattern. Landscape Ecology 2:63-69
Times Cited:  113

Pan, Y.D.; Melillo, J.M.; McGuire, A.D.; Kicklighter, D.W.; Pitelka, L.F.; Hibbard, K.; Pierce, L.L.; Running, S.W.; Ojima, D.S.; Parton, W.J.; Schimel, D.S. (1998). Modeled responses of terrestrial ecosystems to elevated atmospheric CO2: a comparison of simulations by the biogeochemistry models of the Vegetation/Ecosystem Modeling and Analysis Project (VEMAP). Oecologia 114(3), 389-404.
Times Cited: 88    
   
Pastor, J.; Gardner, R.H.; Dale, V.H.; Post, W.M. (1987). Successional Changes in Nitrogen Availability as a Potential Factor Contributing to Spruce Declines in Boreal North-America. Canadian Journal of Forest Research-Revue Canadienne De Recherche Forestiere 17(11), 1394-1400.
Times Cited: 85    
   
Pitelka, L.F. 1977. Energy allocation in annual and perennial lupines (lupinus leguminosae). Ecology 58:1055-1065.
Times Cited: 102    
   
Pitelka, L.F.; Stanton, D.S.; Peckenham M.O. 1980. Effects of light and density on resource-allocation in a forest herb, aster-acuminatus (compositae). American Journal of Botany 67:942-948.
Times Cited: 94   

Plotnick, R.E.; Gardner, R.H.; O'Neill, R.V. 1993. Lacunarity indexes as measures of landscape texture. Landscape Ecology 8:201-211.
Times Cited: 148

Turner, M.G., Dale, V.H.; Gardner, R.H. 1989. Predicting across scales: Theory development and testing. Landscape Ecology 3:245-252.
Times Cited:  141   

Mega Classics (cited at least 150 times)

Bartell, S. M.; Breck, J.E.; Gardner, R.H.; Brenkert, A.L. 1986. Individual parameter perturbation and error analysis of fish bioenergetics models. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 43:160-168.
Times Cited: 175 

Castro, M.S., Steudler, P.A.; Melillo, J.M.; Aber, J.D.; Bowden, R.D. 1995. Factors controlling atmospheric methane consumption by temperate forest soils. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 9:1-10.
Times Cited: 159

Gustafson, E J.; Gardner, R.H. 1996. The effect of landscape heterogeneity on the probability of patch colonization. Ecology 77:94-107.
Times Cited: 241

Mooney, H. A.; Drake, B.G.; Luxmoore, R.J.; Oechel, W.C.; Pitelka, L.F. 1991. Predicting ecosystem responses to elevated CO2 concentrations. Bioscience 41:96-104.
Times Cited: 227

Pitelka L.F.; Ashmun, J.W. 1985. Physiology and integration of ramets in clonal plants. J. B. Jackson, L. W. Buss, and R. F. Cook (eds), Population Biology and Evolution of Clonal Organisms. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, London, pp. 399–437.
Times Cited: 292

Pitelka, L F. (and 26 other authors, VEMAP members). 1995. Vegetation/ecosystem modeling and analysis project: Comparing biogeography and biogeochemistry models in a continental-scale study of terrestrial ecosystem responses to climate change and CO2 doubling. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 9:407-437.
Times Cited: 163

Pitelka, L.F.; Gardner, R.H.; Ash, J.; Berry, S.; Gitay, H.; Noble, I.R.; Saunders, A.; et al. 1997. Plant migration and climate change. American Scientist 85:464-473.
Times Cited: 154

Plotnick, R.E.; Gardner, R.H.; Hargrove, W.W.; Prestegaard, K.;and Perlmutter, M. 1996. Lacunarity analysis: A general technique for the analysis of spatial patterns. Physical Review E 53:5461-5468.
Times Cited: 156        

Solan, M., Cardinale, B.J.; Downing, A.L.; Engelhardt, K.A.M.; Ruesink, J.L.; Srivastava, D.S. 2004. Extinction and ecosystem function in the marine benthos. Science 306:1177-1180.
Times Cited: 153  

Sugg, D. W.; Chesser, R.K.; Dobson, F.S.; Hoogland, J.L. 1996. Population genetics meets behavioral ecology. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 11:338-342.
Times Cited: 164

Turner, M.G.; Gardner, R.H.; Dale, V.H.; O'Neill, R.V. 1989. Predicting the spread of disturbance across heterogeneous landscapes. Oikos 55:121-129.
Times Cited: 166

Turner M.G., Hargrove, W.W.; Gardner, R.H.; Romme, W.H. 1994. Effects of fire on landscape heterogeneity in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Journal of Vegetation Science 5:731-742.
Times Cited: 195

Turner M.G.; Romme, W.H.; Gardner, R.H.; Hargrove, W. W. 1997. Effects of fire size and pattern on early succession in Yellowstone National Park. Ecological Monographs 67:411-433.
Times Cited: 193

Turner, M. G.; Romme, W.H.; Gardner, R.H.; O'Neill, R.V.; Kratz, T.K.. 1993. A revised concept of landscape equilibrium - disturbance and stability on scaled landscapes. Landscape Ecology 8:213-227.
Times Cited: 156
 
Walsh, C.J., Roy, A.H.; Feminella, J.W.; Cottingham, P.D.; Groffman, P.M.; Morgan II, R.P. 2005. The urban stream syndrome: current knowledge and search for a cure. J. North American Benthological Society 24:706-723.
Times Cited: 221

With, K.A.; Gardner, R.H.; Turner, M.G. 1997. Landscape connectivity and population distributions in heterogeneous environments. Oikos 78:151-169.
Times Cited: 245

Summa Classics (cited at least 300 times)

Bazzaz, F.A.; Chiariello, N.R.; Coley, P.D.; Pitelka, L.F. 1987. Allocating resources to reproduction and defense. Bioscience 37:58-67.
Times Cited: 411

Gardner, R.H., Milne, B.T.; Turner, M.G.; O'Neill, R.V. 1987. Neutral models for the analysis of broad-scale landscape pattern. Landscape Ecology 1:19-28.
Times Cited: 330

Gates, J.E.; Gysel, L.W. 1978. Avian nest dispersion and fledging success in field-forest ecotones. Ecology 59:871-883.
Times Cited: 623

Hoogland, J.L. 1995. The Black-tailed Prairie Dog: Social Life of a Burrowing Mammal. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago IL.
Times Cited: 319

Hoogland, J.L.; Sherman, P.W. 1976. Advantages and disadvantages of bank swallow (Riparia-riparia) coloniality. Ecological Monographs 46:33-58.
Times Cited: 368

Krummel, J.R., Gardner, R.H.; Sugihara, G.; O'Neill, R.V.; Coleman, P.R. 1987. Landscape patterns in a disturbed environment. Oikos 48:321-324.
Times Cited: 341

O’Neill, R.V., Krummel, J.R., Gardner, R.H., Sugihara, G., Jackson, B., DeAngelis, D.L., Milne, B.T., Turner, M.G., Zygmunt, B., Christensen, S.W., Dale, V.H., Graham, R.L., 1988. Indices of landscape pattern. Landscape Ecol. 1:153–162.
Times Cited:  562

Turner, M.G.; O’Neill, R.V.; Gardner, R.H.; MilneB.T. 1989. Effects of changing spatial scale on the analysis of landscape pattern. Landscape Ecology 3:153-162.
Times Cited:  328

Last updated 11/02/11