# What is the most cited mathematical paper?

Just out of curiosity:

What is the paper with the largest number of citations in all of mathematics?


I think it is Shannon's A Mathematical Theory of Communication (with its 71025 citations, according to Google Scholar), but I don't know any official sources about this.

What are other papers with a large number of citations?


(I am aware that the number of citations does not measure the importance of a work; this question is only for the sake of curiosity.)

• Interesting question ! – Georges Elencwajg Jan 5 '15 at 17:53
• Please more answers - bonus open worth 50 score points. :) – bodacydo Sep 2 '15 at 2:04
• Shannon's paper kicking off information theory is a good candidate. In general, the applied and engineering side of math seems to cite and get cited a lot more than the pure side. – Potato Sep 2 '15 at 2:06
• I suspect that the (big-list) tag somehow contradicts the query for the most cited paper – Hagen von Eitzen Sep 5 '15 at 11:40
• @HagenvonEitzen; i think he means the most cited paper in each mathematical discipline. – JonMark Perry Sep 5 '15 at 11:45