# Topics and Trends in Most Cited Genetic diversity and population structure Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/genetic-diversity-and-population-structure/2026*

## What topics and trends defined most-cited Genetic diversity and population structure research in the Class of 2026?

The most impactful recent research in genetic diversity and population structure highlights a strong shift toward "Adaptive potential" and "Hybridization," which surged significantly in prominence. While foundational "Comparative genomics" declined, the rising focus on "Ancient genomes" underscores a growing reliance on paleogenomics to uncover how past demographic dynamics inform current conservation strategies.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Field | Genetic diversity and population structure |
| Cohort label | Class of 2026 (2024 publications) |
| Papers analyzed | 5,207 |
| Papers ranked | 20 |
| Top topics in ranked papers | Ancient genomes, Effective population size, Adaptive potential, Hybridization |
| Publication window | Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024 |
| Eligibility | Research articles; reviews excluded |
| Citation window | 18 months post-publication |
| 18m citation range | 35–174 |
| Data source | OpenAlex · Retrieved August 2026 |
| License | CC BY 4.0 |

## Rankings

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes | Josefin Stiller, Shaohong Feng, Al-Aabid Chowdhury, Iker Rivas-González, David A Duchêne, Qi Fang, Yuan Deng, Alexey Kozlov, Alexandros Stamatakis, Santiago Claramunt, Jacqueline M T Nguyen, Simon Y W Ho, Brant C Faircloth, Julia Haag, Peter Houde, Joel Cracraft, Metin Balaban, Uyen Mai, Guangji Chen, Rongsheng Gao, Chengran Zhou, Yulong Xie, Zijian Huang, Zhen Cao, Zhi Yan, Huw A Ogilvie, Luay Nakhleh, Bent Lindow, Benoit Morel, Jon Fjeldså, Peter A Hosner, Rute R da Fonseca, Bent Petersen, Joseph A Tobias, Tamás Székely, Jonathan David Kennedy, Andrew Hart Reeve, Andras Liker, Martin Stervander, Agostinho Antunes, Dieter Thomas Tietze, Mads F Bertelsen, Fumin Lei, Carsten Rahbek, Gary R Graves, Mikkel H Schierup, Tandy Warnow, Edward L Braun, M Thomas P Gilbert, Erich D Jarvis, Siavash Mirarab, Guojie Zhang | Josefin Stiller, Siavash Mirarab, Guojie Zhang | University of Copenhagen, Denmark | Nature | 174 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07323-1 |
| 2 | Population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia | Morten E Allentoft, Martin Sikora, Alba Refoyo-Martínez, Evan K Irving-Pease, Anders Fischer, William Barrie, Andrés Ingason, Jesper Stenderup, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Alice Pearson, Bárbara Sousa da Mota, Bettina Schulz Paulsson, Alma Halgren, Ruairidh Macleod, Marie Louise Schjellerup Jørkov, Fabrice Demeter, Lasse Sørensen, Poul Otto Nielsen, Rasmus A Henriksen, Tharsika Vimala, Hugh McColl, Ashot Margaryan, Melissa Ilardo, Andrew Vaughn, Morten Fischer Mortensen, Anne Birgitte Nielsen, Mikkel Ulfeldt Hede, Niels Nørkjær Johannsen, Peter Rasmussen, Lasse Vinner, Gabriel Renaud, Aaron Stern, Theis Zetner Trolle Jensen, Gabriele Scorrano, Hannes Schroeder, Per Lysdahl, Abigail Daisy Ramsøe, Andrei Skorobogatov, Andrew Joseph Schork, Anders Rosengren, Anthony Ruter, Alan Outram, Aleksey A Timoshenko, Alexandra Buzhilova, Alfredo Coppa, Alisa Zubova, Ana Maria Silva, Anders J Hansen, Andrey Gromov, Andrey Logvin, Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen, Bjarne Henning Nielsen, Borja González-Rabanal, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Catriona J McKenzie, Charleen Gaunitz, Concepción Blasco, Corina Liesau, Cristina Martinez-Labarga, Dmitri V Pozdnyakov, David Cuenca-Solana, David O Lordkipanidze, Dmitri En'shin, Domingo C Salazar-García, T Douglas Price, Dušan Borić, Elena Kostyleva, Elizaveta V Veselovskaya, Emma R Usmanova, Enrico Cappellini, Erik Brinch Petersen, Esben Kannegaard, Francesca Radina, Fulya Eylem Yediay, Henri Duday, Igor Gutiérrez-Zugasti, Ilya Merts, Inna Potekhina, Irina Shevnina, Isin Altinkaya, Jean Guilaine, Jesper Hansen, Joan Emili Aura Tortosa, João Zilhão, Jorge Vega, Kristoffer Buck Pedersen, Krzysztof Tunia, Lei Zhao, Liudmila N Mylnikova, Lars Larsson, Laure Metz, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Lisbeth Pedersen, Lucia Sarti, Ludovic Orlando, Ludovic Slimak, Lutz Klassen, Malou Blank, Manuel González-Morales, Mara Silvestrini, Maria Vretemark, Marina S Nesterova, Marina Rykun, Mario Federico Rolfo, Marzena Szmyt, Marcin Przybyła, Mauro Calattini, Mikhail Sablin, Miluše Dobisíková, Morten Meldgaard, Morten Johansen, Natalia Berezina, Nick Card, Nikolai A Saveliev, Olga Poshekhonova, Olga Rickards, Olga V Lozovskaya, Olivér Gábor, Otto Christian Uldum, Paola Aurino, Pavel Kosintsev, Patrice Courtaud, Patricia Ríos, Peder Mortensen, Per Lotz, Per Persson, Pernille Bangsgaard, Peter de Barros Damgaard, Peter Vang Petersen, Pilar Prieto Martinez, Piotr Włodarczak, Roman V Smolyaninov, Rikke Maring, Roberto Menduiña, Ruben Badalyan, Rune Iversen, Ruslan Turin, Sergey Vasilyev, Sidsel Wåhlin, Svetlana Borutskaya, Svetlana Skochina, Søren Anker Sørensen, Søren H Andersen, Thomas Jørgensen, Yuri B Serikov, Vyacheslav I Molodin, Vaclav Smrcka, Victor Merts, Vivek Appadurai, Vyacheslav Moiseyev, Yvonne Magnusson, Kurt H Kjær, Niels Lynnerup, Daniel J Lawson, Peter H Sudmant, Simon Rasmussen, Thorfinn Sand Korneliussen, Richard Durbin, Rasmus Nielsen, Olivier Delaneau, Thomas Werge, Fernando Racimo, Kristian Kristiansen, Eske Willerslev | Morten E. Allentoft, Martin Sikora | University of Copenhagen, Denmark | Nature | 99 | 10.1038/s41586-023-06865-0 |
| 3 | Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2200 bce in Eurasia | Pablo Librado, Gaetan Tressières, Lorelei Chauvey, Antoine Fages, Naveed Khan, Stéphanie Schiavinato, Laure Calvière-Tonasso, Mariya A Kusliy, Charleen Gaunitz, Xuexue Liu, Stefanie Wagner, Clio Der Sarkissian, Andaine Seguin-Orlando, Aude Perdereau, Jean-Marc Aury, John Southon, Beth Shapiro, Olivier Bouchez, Cécile Donnadieu, Yvette Running Horse Collin, Kristian M Gregersen, Mads Dengsø Jessen, Kirsten Christensen, Lone Claudi-Hansen, Mélanie Pruvost, Erich Pucher, Hrvoje Vulic, Mario Novak, Andrea Rimpf, Peter Turk, Simone Reiter, Gottfried Brem, Christoph Schwall, Éric Barrey, Céline Robert, Christophe Degueurce, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Lutz Klassen, Uffe Rasmussen, Jacob Kveiborg, Niels Nørkjær Johannsen, Daniel Makowiecki, Przemysław Makarowicz, Marcin Szeliga, Vasyl Ilchyshyn, Vitalii Rud, Jan Romaniszyn, Victoria E Mullin, Marta Verdugo, Daniel G Bradley, João L Cardoso, Maria J Valente, Miguel Telles Antunes, Carly Ameen, Richard Thomas, Arne Ludwig, Matilde Marzullo, Ornella Prato, Giovanna Bagnasco Gianni, Umberto Tecchiati, José Granado, Angela Schlumbaum, Sabine Deschler-Erb, Monika Schernig Mráz, Nicolas Boulbes, Armelle Gardeisen, Christian Mayer, Hans-Jürgen Döhle, Magdolna Vicze, Pavel A Kosintsev, René Kyselý, Lubomír Peške, Terry O'Connor, Elina Ananyevskaya, Irina Shevnina, Andrey Logvin, Alexey A Kovalev, Tumur-Ochir Iderkhangai, Mikhail V Sablin, Petr K Dashkovskiy, Alexander S Graphodatsky, Ilia Merts, Viktor Merts, Aleksei K Kasparov, Vladimir V Pitulko, Vedat Onar, Aliye Öztan, Benjamin S Arbuckle, Hugh McColl, Gabriel Renaud, Ruslan Khaskhanov, Sergey Demidenko, Anna Kadieva, Biyaslan Atabiev, Marie Sundqvist, Gabriella Lindgren, F Javier López-Cachero, Silvia Albizuri, Tajana Trbojević Vukičević, Anita Rapan Papeša, Marcel Burić, Petra Rajić Šikanjić, Jaco Weinstock, David Asensio Vilaró, Ferran Codina, Cristina García Dalmau, Jordi Morer de Llorens, Josep Pou, Gabriel de Prado, Joan Sanmartí, Nabil Kallala, Joan Ramon Torres, Bouthéina Maraoui-Telmini, Maria-Carme Belarte Franco, Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas, Antoine Zazzo, Sébastien Lepetz, Sylvie Duchesne, Anatoly Alexeev, Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan, Jean-Luc Houle, Noost Bayarkhuu, Tsagaan Turbat, Éric Crubézy, Irina Shingiray, Marjan Mashkour, Natalia Ya Berezina, Dmitriy S Korobov, Andrey Belinskiy, Alexey Kalmykov, Jean-Paul Demoule, Sabine Reinhold, Svend Hansen, Barbara Wallner, Natalia Roslyakova, Pavel F Kuznetsov, Alexey A Tishkin, Patrick Wincker, Katherine Kanne, Alan Outram, Ludovic Orlando | Pablo Librado | Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, France | Nature | 79 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07597-5 |
| 4 | The hagfish genome and the evolution of vertebrates | Ferdinand Marlétaz, Nataliya Timoshevskaya, Vladimir A Timoshevskiy, Elise Parey, Oleg Simakov, Daria Gavriouchkina, Masakazu Suzuki, Kaoru Kubokawa, Sydney Brenner, Jeramiah J Smith, Daniel S Rokhsar | Ferdinand Marlétaz, Jeramiah J. Smith, Daniel S. Rokhsar | University College London, United Kingdom | Nature | 56 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07070-3 |
| 5 | Hybrid speciation driven by multilocus introgression of ecological traits | Neil Rosser, Fernando Seixas, Lucie M Queste, Bruna Cama, Ronald Mori-Pezo, Dmytro Kryvokhyzha, Michaela Nelson, Rachel Waite-Hudson, Matt Goringe, Mauro Costa, Marianne Elias, Clarisse Mendes Eleres de Figueiredo, André Victor Lucci Freitas, Mathieu Joron, Krzysztof Kozak, Gerardo Lamas, Ananda R P Martins, W Owen McMillan, Jonathan Ready, Nicol Rueda-Muñoz, Camilo Salazar, Patricio Salazar, Stefan Schulz, Leila T Shirai, Karina L Silva-Brandão, James Mallet, Kanchon K Dasmahapatra | Neil Rosser, James Mallet | Harvard University, United States | Nature | 56 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07263-w |
| 6 | Recurrent evolution and selection shape structural diversity at the amylase locus | Davide Bolognini, Alma Halgren, Runyang Nicolas Lou, Alessandro Raveane, Joana L Rocha, Andrea Guarracino, Nicole Soranzo, Chen-Shan Chin, Erik Garrison, Peter H Sudmant | Erik Garrison, Peter H. Sudmant | Human Technopole, Italy | Nature | 52 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07911-1 |
| 7 | The super-pangenome of Populus unveils genomic facets for its adaptation and diversification in widespread forest trees | Tingting Shi, Xinxin Zhang, Yukang Hou, Changfu Jia, Xuming Dan, Yulin Zhang, Yuanzhong Jiang, Qiang Lai, Jiajun Feng, Jianju Feng, Tao Ma, Jiali Wu, Shuyu Liu, Lei Zhang, Zhiqin Long, Liyang Chen, Nathaniel R Street, Pär K Ingvarsson, Jianquan Liu, Tongming Yin, Jing Wang | Jianquan Liu, Tongming Yin, Jing Wang | Sichuan University, China | Molecular Plant | 49 | 10.1016/j.molp.2024.03.009 |
| 8 | A lethal mitonuclear incompatibility in complex I of natural hybrids | Benjamin M Moran, Cheyenne Y Payne, Daniel L Powell, Erik N K Iverson, Alexandra E Donny, Shreya M Banerjee, Quinn K Langdon, Theresa R Gunn, Rebecca A Rodriguez-Soto, Angel Madero, John J Baczenas, Korbin M Kleczko, Fang Liu, Rowan Matney, Kratika Singhal, Ryan D Leib, Osvaldo Hernandez-Perez, Russell Corbett-Detig, Judith Frydman, Casey Gifford, Manfred Schartl, Justin C Havird, Molly Schumer | Benjamin M. Moran, Molly Schumer | Stanford University, United States | Nature | 45 | 10.1038/s41586-023-06895-8 |
| 9 | The genetic origins and impacts of historical Papuan migrations into Wallacea | Gludhug A Purnomo, Shimona Kealy, Sue O'Connor, Antoinette Schapper, Ben Shaw, Bastien Llamas, Joao C Teixeira, Herawati Sudoyo, Raymond Tobler | Gludhug A. Purnomo, Raymond Tobler | The University of Adelaide, Australia | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 45 | 10.1073/pnas.2412355121 |
| 10 | Large-scale gene expression alterations introduced by structural variation drive morphotype diversification in Brassica oleracea | Xing Li, Yong Wang, Chengcheng Cai, Jialei Ji, Fengqing Han, Lei Zhang, Shumin Chen, Lingkui Zhang, Yinqing Yang, Qi Tang, Johan Bucher, Xuelin Wang, Limei Yang, Mu Zhuang, Kang Zhang, Honghao Lv, Guusje Bonnema, Yangyong Zhang, Feng Cheng | Kang Zhang, Honghao Lv, Guusje Bonnema, Yangyong Zhang, Feng Cheng | Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China | Nature Genetics | 44 | 10.1038/s41588-024-01655-4 |
| 11 | Global assessment of effective population sizes: Consistent taxonomic differences in meeting the 50/500 rule | Shannon H Clarke, Elizabeth R Lawrence, Jean-Michel Matte, Brian K Gallagher, Sarah J Salisbury, Sozos N Michaelides, Ramela Koumrouyan, Daniel E Ruzzante, James W A Grant, Dylan J Fraser | Dylan J. Fraser | Concordia University, Canada | Molecular Ecology | 41 | 10.1111/mec.17353 |
| 12 | Mind the lag: understanding genetic extinction debt for conservation | Roberta Gargiulo, Katharina B Budde, Myriam Heuertz | Roberta Gargiulo | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom | Trends in Ecology & Evolution | 41 | 10.1016/j.tree.2024.10.008 |
| 13 | Reconstructing the Genetic Relationship between Ancient and Present-Day Siberian Populations | Haechan Gill, Juhyeon Lee, Choongwon Jeong | Haechan Gill | Seoul National University, South Korea | Genome Biology and Evolution | 41 | 10.1093/gbe/evae063 |
| 14 | Resilience of genetic diversity in forest trees over the Quaternary | Pascal Milesi, Chedly Kastally, Benjamin Dauphin, Sandra Cervantes, Francesca Bagnoli, Katharina B Budde, Stephen Cavers, Bruno Fady, Patricia Faivre-Rampant, Santiago C González-Martínez, Delphine Grivet, Felix Gugerli, Véronique Jorge, Isabelle Lesur Kupin, Dario I Ojeda, Sanna Olsson, Lars Opgenoorth, Sara Pinosio, Christophe Plomion, Christian Rellstab, Odile Rogier, Simone Scalabrin, Ivan Scotti, Giovanni G Vendramin, Marjana Westergren, Martin Lascoux, Tanja Pyhäjärvi, GenTree Consortium | Pascal Milesi, Martin Lascoux, Tanja Pyhäjärvi | Uppsala University, Sweden | Nature Communications | 40 | 10.1038/s41467-024-52612-y |
| 15 | The global distribution of angiosperm genome size is shaped by climate | Petr Bureš, Tammy L Elliott, Pavel Veselý, Petr Šmarda, Félix Forest, Ilia J Leitch, Eimear Nic Lughadha, Marybel Soto Gomez, Samuel Pironon, Matilda J M Brown, Jakub Šmerda, František Zedek | Petr Bureš, Tammy L. Elliott, František Zedek | Masaryk University, Czech Republic | New Phytologist | 39 | 10.1111/nph.19544 |
| 16 | The genomes of all lungfish inform on genome expansion and tetrapod evolution | Manfred Schartl, Joost M Woltering, Iker Irisarri, Kang Du, Susanne Kneitz, Martin Pippel, Thomas Brown, Paolo Franchini, Jing Li, Ming Li, Mateus Adolfi, Sylke Winkler, Josane de Freitas Sousa, Zhuoxin Chen, Sandra Jacinto, Evgeny Z Kvon, Luis Rogério Correa de Oliveira, Erika Monteiro, Danielson Baia Amaral, Thorsten Burmester, Domitille Chalopin, Alexander Suh, Eugene Myers, Oleg Simakov, Igor Schneider, Axel Meyer | Manfred Schartl, Axel Meyer | University of Würzburg, Germany | Nature | 38 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07830-1 |
| 17 | The genome-wide signature of short-term temporal selection | Michael Lynch, Wen Wei, Zhiqiang Ye, Michael Pfrender | Michael Lynch | Arizona State University, United States | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 37 | 10.1073/pnas.2307107121 |
| 18 | Monitoring of species’ genetic diversity in Europe varies greatly and overlooks potential climate change impacts | Peter B Pearman, Olivier Broennimann, Tsipe Aavik, Tamer Albayrak, Paulo C Alves, F A Aravanopoulos, Laura D Bertola, Aleksandra Biedrzycka, Elena Buzan, Vlatka Cubric-Curik, Mihajla Djan, Ancuta Fedorca, Angela P Fuentes-Pardo, Barbara Fussi, José A Godoy, Felix Gugerli, Sean Hoban, Rolf Holderegger, Christina Hvilsom, Laura Iacolina, Belma Kalamujic Stroil, Peter Klinga, Maciej K Konopiński, Alexander Kopatz, Linda Laikre, Margarida Lopes-Fernandes, Barry John McMahon, Joachim Mergeay, Charalambos Neophytou, Snæbjörn Pálsson, Ivan Paz-Vinas, Diana Posledovich, Craig R Primmer, Joost A M Raeymaekers, Baruch Rinkevich, Barbora Rolečková, Dainis Ruņģis, Laura Schuerz, Gernot Segelbacher, Katja Kavčič Sonnenschein, Milomir Stefanovic, Henrik Thurfjell, Sabrina Träger, Ivaylo N Tsvetkov, Nevena Velickovic, Philippine Vergeer, Cristiano Vernesi, Carles Vilà, Marjana Westergren, Frank E Zachos, Antoine Guisan, Michael Bruford | Peter B. Pearman | University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 36 | 10.1038/s41559-023-02260-0 |
| 19 | Too simple, too complex, or just right? Advantages, challenges, and guidance for indicators of genetic diversity | Sean Hoban, Jessica M. da Silva, Alice C. Hughes, Margaret E. Hunter, Belma Kalamujić Stroil, Linda Laikre, Alicia Mastretta‐Yanes, Katie L. Millette, Ivan Paz‐Vinas, Lucia Ruiz Bustos, Robyn E. Shaw, Cristiano Vernesi, the Coalition for Conservation Genetics, W. Chris Funk, Catherine E. Grueber, Francine Kershaw, Anna J. MacDonald, Mariah H. Meek, Cinnamon Mittan, David O’Brien, Rob Ogden, Gernot Segelbacher | Jessica M. da Silva, Margaret E. Hunter | The Morton Arboretum, United States | BioScience | 35 | 10.1093/biosci/biae006 |
| 20 | Phytop: a tool for visualizing and recognizing signals of incomplete lineage sorting and hybridization using species trees output from ASTRAL | Hong-Yun Shang, Kai-Hua Jia, Nai-Wei Li, Min-Jie Zhou, Hao Yang, Xiao-Ling Tian, Yong-Peng Ma, Ren-Gang Zhang | Yongpeng Ma, Rengang Zhang | Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China | Horticulture Research | 35 | 10.1093/hr/uhae330 |

## Topic trends

### What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 in genetic diversity and population structure is defined by an emphasis on historical and adaptive genomics. "Ancient genomes" and "Effective population size" are the most prominent themes, with "Ancient genomes" surging notably over the past year. This points to a field deeply engaged in reconstructing demographic histories and understanding how past population dynamics shape present-day genetic variation. Additionally, topics like "Adaptive potential" and "Hybridization" show massive fold increases, reflecting a growing focus on how species adapt to rapidly changing environments and the role of interspecific gene flow in generating novel traits. "Admixture," "Conservation genomics," and "Gene flow" remain fundamental pillars, underscoring the ongoing priority of applying genomic tools to preserve endangered populations and manage biodiversity. Together, these topics reveal a transition toward using deep temporal data and adaptive mechanisms to inform both evolutionary theory and practical conservation efforts.

*Leading research themes*

### How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

The shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026 highlights a strategic pivot toward forward-looking evolutionary potential and complex genetic exchanges. "Adaptive potential" experienced an eight-fold relative increase, and "Hybridization" surged seven-fold. This dramatic rise indicates that researchers are increasingly prioritizing the study of how introgression and hybridization fuel rapid adaptation, especially in response to anthropogenic climate change and environmental stressors. "Ancient genomes" also saw significant growth, more than doubling in prominence as methodological advances allow for deeper insights into paleogenomics. In contrast, foundational topics such as "Comparative genomics" and "Population history inference" saw relative declines, dropping by half and one-third respectively. This suggests that while baseline comparative studies and demographic modeling were heavily represented in the previous cohort, the field has now shifted its primary focus towards understanding the functional consequences of genetic diversity and the dynamic mechanisms of evolutionary rescue.

*How topics shifted year over year*

## Cite this ranking

```
Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited Genetic diversity and population structure Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/genetic-diversity-and-population-structure/2026. Accessed 2026-10-28.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459
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