Journal of Systematics and Evolution has established awards of JSE Outstanding Papers!

In the period of 2008 to 2013, JSE published a total of 370 papers, with many outstanding studies covering different areas of systematics and evolution. Here we announce the 20 most cited papers published in JSE in this period as the first set of awards of JSE Outstanding Papers. These papers were selected based on their average number of citations per year (citation data from Thomson Reuters Web of Science, accessed 30 April 2015) and are listed below in the order of high to low in average citations (also see the references cited). Each winner will be presented with a certificate and awarded with $800.

1. Heath TA et al. 2008. Taxon sampling and the accuracy of phylogenetic analyses.
2. Wang YZ et al. 2011. Phylogenetic reconstruction of Chirita and allies (Gesneriaceae) with taxonomic treatments.
3. Wiens JJ, Moen DS. 2008. Missing data and the accuracy of Bayesian phylogenetics.
4. Manchester SR et al. 2009. Eastern Asian endemic seed plant genera and their paleogeographic history throughout the Northern Hemisphere.
5. Qiu YL et al. 2010. Angiosperm phylogeny inferred from sequences of four mitochondrial genes.
6. Baldauf SL. 2008. An overview of the phylogeny and diversity of eukaryotes.
7. Fiaschi P, Pirani JR. 2009. Review of plant biogeographic studies in Brazil.
8. Endress PK. 2010. Disentangling confusions in inflorescence morphology: Patterns and diversity of reproductive shoot ramification in angiosperms.
9. Doyle JA, Endress PK. 2010. Integrating Early Cretaceous fossils into the phylogeny of living angiosperms: Magnoliidae and eudicots.
10. Liu Y et al. 2010. Evaluation of 10 plant barcodes in Bryophyta (mosses).
11. Wen J, Ickert-Bond SM. 2009. Evolution of the Madrean-Tethyan disjunctions and the North and South American amphitropical disjunctions in plants.
12. Li M et al. 2011. Identification of herbal medicinal materials using DNA barcodes.
13. Harris AJ, Xiang QY. 2009. Estimating ancestral distributions of lineages with uncertain sister groups: a statistical approach to Dispersal-Vicariance Analysis and a case using Aesculus L. (Sapindaceae) including fossils.
14. Qiu YL. 2008. Phylogeny and evolution of charophytic algae and land plants.
15. Heinrichs J et al. 2008. Phylogenetic biogeography and taxonomy of disjunctly distributed bryophytes.
16. Yu J et al. 2011. New universal matK primers for DNA barcoding angiosperms.
17. Mayden RL et al. 2008. Inferring the Tree of Life of the order Cypriniformes, the earth's most diverse clade of freshwater fishes: Implications of varied taxon and character sampling.
18. Wang FY et al. 2008. Phylogeography of an alpine species Primula secundiflora inferred from the chloroplast DNA sequence variation.
19. Harris AJ et al. 2013. Inferring the biogeographic origins of inter-continental disjunct endemics using a Bayes-DIVA approach.
20. Gao L et al. 2010. Plastid genome sequencing, comparative genomics, and phylogenomics: Current status and prospects.

Starting in 2015, we would announce two awards of JSE Outstanding Papers ($800 each award) each year to recognize the papers published in JSE with important impact in systematics and evolution; we would also select two outstanding papers for the JSE Young Investigators’ Awards each year. First authors who received their Ph.D. degree within seven years are eligible for the JSE Young Investigators’ Awards ($500 each award).

Please find more detailed information of the awards in the Editorial of the July issue.