# Topics and Trends in Most Cited Influenza Virus Research Studies Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/influenza-virus-research-studies/2026*

## What topics and trends defined most-cited Influenza Virus Research Studies research in the Class of 2026?

Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza dominates the Class of 2026, driven by a rapid surge in research on dairy cattle outbreaks, bovine infection dynamics, and raw milk transmission. While studies on mammalian adaptation, genomic sequencing, and occupational exposure expanded significantly, traditional research on seasonal influenza strains like H3N2 and routine hospitalization metrics showed relative declines.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Field | Influenza Virus Research Studies |
| Cohort label | Class of 2026 (2024 publications) |
| Papers analyzed | 4,940 |
| Papers ranked | 20 |
| Top topics in ranked papers | HPAI H5N1 virus, spillover, dairy cattle, clade 2.3.4.4b, cross-species transmission |
| Publication window | Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024 |
| Eligibility | Research articles; reviews excluded |
| Citation window | 18 months post-publication |
| 18m citation range | 59–398 |
| Data source | OpenAlex · Retrieved July 2026 |
| License | CC BY 4.0 |

## Rankings

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Clade 2.3.4.4b Virus Infection in Domestic Dairy Cattle and Cats, United States, 2024 | Eric R Burrough, Drew R Magstadt, Barbara Petersen, Simon J Timmermans, Phillip C Gauger, Jianqiang Zhang, Chris Siepker, Marta Mainenti, Ganwu Li, Alexis C Thompson, Patrick J Gorden, Paul J Plummer, Rodger Main | Eric R Burrough | Iowa State University, United States | Emerging infectious diseases | 398 | 10.3201/eid3007.240508 |
| 2 | Spillover of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus to dairy cattle | Leonardo C Caserta, Elisha A Frye, Salman L Butt, Melissa Laverack, Mohammed Nooruzzaman, Lina M Covaleda, Alexis C Thompson, Melanie Prarat Koscielny, Brittany Cronk, Ashley Johnson, Katie Kleinhenz, Erin E Edwards, Gabriel Gomez, Gavin Hitchener, Mathias Martins, Darrell R Kapczynski, David L Suarez, Ellen Ruth Alexander Morris, Terry Hensley, John S Beeby, Manigandan Lejeune, Amy K Swinford, François Elvinger, Kiril M Dimitrov, Diego G Diel | Kiril M. Dimitrov, Diego G. Diel | Cornell University, United States | Nature | 369 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07849-4 |
| 3 | The global H5N1 influenza panzootic in mammals | Thomas P Peacock, Louise Moncla, Gytis Dudas, David VanInsberghe, Ksenia Sukhova, James O Lloyd-Smith, Michael Worobey, Anice C Lowen, Martha I Nelson | Martha I. Nelson | The Pirbright Institute, United Kingdom | Nature | 343 | 10.1038/s41586-024-08054-z |
| 4 | Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Infection in a Dairy Farm Worker | Timothy M Uyeki, Scott Milton, Cherissa Abdul Hamid, Cynthia Reinoso Webb, Steven M Presley, Varun Shetty, Susan N Rollo, Diana L Martinez, Saroj Rai, Emilio R Gonzales, Krista L Kniss, Yunho Jang, Julia C Frederick, Juan A De La Cruz, Jimma Liddell, Han Di, Marie K Kirby, John R Barnes, C Todd Davis | Timothy M Uyeki | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States | New England Journal of Medicine | 241 | 10.1056/nejmc2405371 |
| 5 | Pathogenicity and transmissibility of bovine H5N1 influenza virus | Amie J Eisfeld, Asim Biswas, Lizheng Guan, Chunyang Gu, Tadashi Maemura, Sanja Trifkovic, Tong Wang, Lavanya Babujee, Randall Dahn, Peter J Halfmann, Tera Barnhardt, Gabriele Neumann, Yasuo Suzuki, Alexis Thompson, Amy K Swinford, Kiril M Dimitrov, Keith Poulsen, Yoshihiro Kawaoka | Yoshihiro Kawaoka | University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States | Nature | 221 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07766-6 |
| 6 | Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Infections in Humans | Shikha Garg, Katie Reinhart, Alexia Couture, Krista Kniss, C Todd Davis, Marie K Kirby, Erin L Murray, Sophie Zhu, Vit Kraushaar, Debra A Wadford, Cara Drehoff, Allison Kohnen, Mackenzie Owen, Jennifer Morse, Seth Eckel, Jessica Goswitz, George Turabelidze, Steve Krager, Anna Unutzer, Emilio R Gonzales, Cherissa Abdul Hamid, Sascha Ellington, Alexandra M Mellis, Alicia Budd, John R Barnes, Matthew Biggerstaff, Michael A Jhung, Malia Richmond-Crum, Erin Burns, Tom T Shimabukuro, Timothy M Uyeki, Vivien G Dugan, Carrie Reed, Sonja J Olsen | Shikha Garg | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States | New England Journal of Medicine | 179 | 10.1056/nejmoa2414610 |
| 7 | Detection and spread of high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 in the Antarctic Region | Ashley C Banyard, Ashley Bennison, Alexander M P Byrne, Scott M Reid, Joshua G Lynton-Jenkins, Benjamin Mollett, Dilhani De Silva, Jacob Peers-Dent, Kim Finlayson, Rosamund Hall, Freya Blockley, Marcia Blyth, Marco Falchieri, Zoe Fowler, Elaine M Fitzcharles, Ian H Brown, Joe James | Ashley C. Banyard, Joe James | Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA-Weybridge), United Kingdom | Nature Communications | 146 | 10.1038/s41467-024-51490-8 |
| 8 | A single mutation in bovine influenza H5N1 hemagglutinin switches specificity to human receptors | Ting-Hui Lin, Xueyong Zhu, Shengyang Wang, Ding Zhang, Ryan McBride, Wenli Yu, Simeon Babarinde, James C Paulson, Ian A Wilson | James C. Paulson, Ian A. Wilson | The Scripps Research Institute, United States | Science | 132 | 10.1126/science.adt0180 |
| 9 | Epidemiological data of an influenza A/H5N1 outbreak in elephant seals in Argentina indicates mammal-to-mammal transmission | Marcela M Uhart, Ralph E T Vanstreels, Martha I Nelson, Valeria Olivera, Julieta Campagna, Victoria Zavattieri, Philippe Lemey, Claudio Campagna, Valeria Falabella, Agustina Rimondi | Marcela Uhart, Agustina Rimondi | University of California, Davis, United States | Nature Communications | 112 | 10.1038/s41467-024-53766-5 |
| 10 | Critical Illness in an Adolescent with Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Infection | Agatha N Jassem, Ashley Roberts, John Tyson, James E A Zlosnik, Shannon L Russell, Jessica M Caleta, Eric J Eckbo, Ruimin Gao, Taeyo Chestley, Jennifer Grant, Timothy M Uyeki, Natalie A Prystajecky, Chelsea G Himsworth, Elspeth MacBain, Charlene Ranadheera, Lynne Li, Linda M N Hoang, Nathalie Bastien, David M Goldfarb | Agatha N Jassem | British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Canada | New England Journal of Medicine | 105 | 10.1056/nejmc2415890 |
| 11 | Dairy cows inoculated with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 | Amy L Baker, Bailey Arruda, Mitchell V Palmer, Paola Boggiatto, Kaitlyn Sarlo Davila, Alexandra Buckley, Giovana Ciacci Zanella, Celeste A Snyder, Tavis K Anderson, Carl R Hutter, Thao-Quyen Nguyen, Alexey Markin, Kristina Lantz, Erin A Posey, Mia Kim Torchetti, Suelee Robbe-Austerman, Drew R Magstadt, Patrick J Gorden | Amy L. Vincent Baker | National Animal Disease Center, United States | Nature | 103 | 10.1038/s41586-024-08166-6 |
| 12 | Outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Viruses in U.S. Dairy Cattle and Detection of Two Human Cases — United States, 2024 | Shikha Garg, Carrie Reed, C Todd Davis, Timothy M Uyeki, Casey Barton Behravesh, Krista Kniss, Alicia Budd, Matthew Biggerstaff, Jennifer Adjemian, John R Barnes, Marie K Kirby, Colin Basler, Christine M Szablewski, Malia Richmond-Crum, Erin Burns, Brandi Limbago, Demetre C Daskalakis, Kimberly Armstrong, David Boucher, Tom T Shimabukuro, Michael A Jhung, Sonja J Olsen, Vivien Dugan | Shikha Garg | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States | MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report | 98 | 10.15585/mmwr.mm7321e1 |
| 13 | COVID-19 pandemic interventions reshaped the global dispersal of seasonal influenza viruses | Zhiyuan Chen, Joseph L-H Tsui, Bernardo Gutierrez, Simon Busch Moreno, Louis du Plessis, Xiaowei Deng, Jun Cai, Sumali Bajaj, Marc A Suchard, Oliver G Pybus, Philippe Lemey, Moritz U G Kraemer, Hongjie Yu | Oliver G. Pybus, Philippe Lemey, Moritz U. G. Kraemer, Hongjie Yu | University of Oxford, United Kingdom | Science | 89 | 10.1126/science.adq3003 |
| 14 | Sialic Acid Receptor Specificity in Mammary Gland of Dairy Cattle Infected with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus | Rahul K Nelli, Tyler A Harm, Chris Siepker, Jennifer M Groeltz-Thrush, Brianna Jones, Ning-Chieh Twu, Ariel S Nenninger, Drew R Magstadt, Eric R Burrough, Pablo E Piñeyro, Marta Mainenti, Silvia Carnaccini, Paul J Plummer, Todd M Bell | Rahul K Nelli | Iowa State University, United States | Emerging infectious diseases | 70 | 10.3201/eid3007.240689 |
| 15 | Serologic Evidence of Recent Infection with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5) Virus Among Dairy Workers — Michigan and Colorado, June–August 2024 | Alexandra M Mellis, Joseph Coyle, Kristen E Marshall, Aaron M Frutos, Jordan Singleton, Cara Drehoff, Angiezel Merced-Morales, H Pamela Pagano, Rachel O Alade, Elizabeth B White, Emma K Noble, Crystal Holiday, Feng Liu, Stacie Jefferson, Zhu-Nan Li, F Liani Gross, Sonja J Olsen, Vivien G Dugan, Carrie Reed, Sascha Ellington, Sophia Montoya, Allison Kohnen, Ginger Stringer, Nisha Alden, Peter Blank, Derick Chia, Natasha Bagdasarian, Rachel Herlihy, Sarah Lyon-Callo, Min Z Levine | Alexandra M Mellis | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States | MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report | 69 | 10.15585/mmwr.mm7344a3 |
| 16 | H19 influenza A virus exhibits species-specific MHC class II receptor usage | Umut Karakus, Ignacio Mena, Jithesh Kottur, Sara S El Zahed, Rocío Seoane, Soner Yildiz, Leanne Chen, Magdalena Plancarte, LeAnn Lindsay, Rebecca Halpin, Timothy B Stockwell, David E Wentworth, Geert-Jan Boons, Florian Krammer, Silke Stertz, Walter Boyce, Robert P de Vries, Aneel K Aggarwal, Adolfo García-Sastre | Umut Karakus, Adolfo García‐Sastre | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, United States | Cell Host & Microbe | 68 | 10.1016/j.chom.2024.05.018 |
| 17 | Characterization of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in retail dairy products in the US | Erica Spackman, Deana R Jones, Amber M McCoig, Tristan J Colonius, Iryna V Goraichuk, David L Suarez | Erica Spackman | US National Poultry Research Center, United States | Journal of Virology | 65 | 10.1128/jvi.00881-24 |
| 18 | Deep mutational scanning of H5 hemagglutinin to inform influenza virus surveillance | Bernadeta Dadonaite, Jenny J Ahn, Jordan T Ort, Jin Yu, Colleen Furey, Annie Dosey, William W Hannon, Amy L Vincent Baker, Richard J Webby, Neil P King, Yan Liu, Scott E Hensley, Thomas P Peacock, Louise H Moncla, Jesse D Bloom | Bernadeta Dadonaite, Jenny Ahn, Jordan T. Ort, Yu Jin, Colleen Furey, Annie Dosey, William W. Hannon, Amy L. Vincent Baker, Richard J. Webby, Neil P. King, Yan Liu, Scott E. Hensley, Thomas P. Peacock, Louise H. Moncla, Jesse D. Bloom | Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, United States | PLoS Biology | 65 | 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002916 |
| 19 | Development of a nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine against clade 2.3.4.4b H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus | Colleen Furey, Gabrielle Scher, Naiqing Ye, Lisa Kercher, Jennifer DeBeauchamp, Jeri Carol Crumpton, Trushar Jeevan, Christopher Patton, John Franks, Adam Rubrum, Mohamad-Gabriel Alameh, Steven H Y Fan, Anthony T Phan, Christopher A Hunter, Richard J Webby, Drew Weissman, Scott E Hensley | Scott E. Hensley | University of Pennsylvania, United States | Nature Communications | 60 | 10.1038/s41467-024-48555-z |
| 20 | Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus of clade 2.3.4.4b isolated from a human case in Chile causes fatal disease and transmits between co-housed ferrets | Joanna A Pulit-Penaloza, Nicole Brock, Jessica A Belser, Xiangjie Sun, Claudia Pappas, Troy J Kieran, Poulami Basu Thakur, Hui Zeng, Dan Cui, Julia Frederick, Rodrigo Fasce, Terrence M Tumpey, Taronna R Maines | Taronna R. Maines | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States | Emerging Microbes & Infections | 59 | 10.1080/22221751.2024.2332667 |

## Topic trends

### What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

The research landscape for the Class of 2026 is defined by an overwhelming focus on highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus, which appears in 42% of the highest-impact literature. Investigation into viral spillover dynamics forms a second major pillar (28%), accompanied by continuous molecular tracking of the expanding clade 2.3.4.4b lineage (24%). Cross-species transmission mechanisms (14%) and whole genome sequencing (14%) serve as essential methodological foundations for mapping interspecies jumps and viral adaptation. Concurrently, studies evaluating mammalian adaptation (12%) and phylogenetic analysis (12%) underscore high concern regarding potential host range expansion. A significant cluster of research concentrates on unprecedented agricultural reservoirs, specifically H5N1 in dairy cattle (16%) and bovine infections (10%). Operational tools such as quantitative real-time RT-PCR (8%) and diagnostic hemagglutinin (10%) assays remain critical for rapid outbreak detection. Together, these thematic priorities highlight a fundamental shift in influenza research, moving from localized avian monitoring toward comprehensive One Health surveillance across livestock, wildlife, and potential human interfaces.

*Leading research themes*

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

Comparison between the Class of 2025 and Class of 2026 reveals a dramatic pivot toward novel bovine and livestock transmission pathways. The most prominent surge involves H5N1 in dairy cattle, rising from 0% of top literature in 2023 to 16% in 2024 (+16 percentage points). Associated topics including bovine H5N1 infection (+10 percentage points to 10%), occupational exposure (+6 pp to 6%), raw milk contamination (+6 pp to 6%), and dairy farm worker monitoring (+4 pp to 4%) emerged as immediate research priorities. Whole genome sequencing expanded from 8% to 14% (+6 pp), while studies on mammalian adaptation doubled from 6% to 12% (+6 pp), driven by urgent efforts to track interspecies transmission during the United States multispecies outbreak. Conversely, focus on traditional seasonal influenza metrics declined. Studies centered on influenza-associated hospitalization fell from 8% to 4% (-4 pp), PB2 protein molecular studies decreased from 8% to 4% (-4 pp), and seasonal H3N2 research dropped from 10% to 6% (-4 pp). Overall, these shifts mark a decisive transition from standard seasonal disease surveillance to investigating unprecedented panzootic events across agricultural mammalian hosts.

*How topics shifted year over year*

## Cite this ranking

```
Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited Influenza Virus Research Studies Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/influenza-virus-research-studies/2026. Accessed 2026-07-29.

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
```