Christopher Francis

13.7k total citations · 2 hit papers
100 papers, 9.9k citations indexed

About

Christopher Francis is a scholar working on Ecology, Pollution and Molecular Biology. According to data from OpenAlex, Christopher Francis has authored 100 papers receiving a total of 9.9k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 73 papers in Ecology, 43 papers in Pollution and 32 papers in Molecular Biology. Recurrent topics in Christopher Francis's work include Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology (70 papers), Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal (42 papers) and Marine and coastal ecosystems (26 papers). Christopher Francis is often cited by papers focused on Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology (70 papers), Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal (42 papers) and Marine and coastal ecosystems (26 papers). Christopher Francis collaborates with scholars based in United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Christopher Francis's co-authors include J. Michael Beman, Alyson E. Santoro, K. Roberts, Annika C. Mosier, Brian B. Oakley, Bradley M. Tebo, George Wells, Marcel M. M. Kuypers, Craig S. Criddle and Karen L. Casciotti and has published in prestigious journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nucleic Acids Research and SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología.

In The Last Decade

Christopher Francis

96 papers receiving 9.7k citations

Hit Papers

align trajectories

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

Ubiquity and diversity of ammonia-oxidizing archaea in water columns and sediments of the ocean

2005 2.0k citations Christopher Francis, K. Roberts et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
New processes and players in the nitrogen cycle: the microbial ecology of anaerobic and archaeal ammonia oxidation

2007 593 citations Christopher Francis, J. Michael Beman et al. The ISME Journal profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name	h						Papers	Cites
Christopher Francis United States	49	7.2k	4.7k	2.7k	2.2k	1.9k	100	9.9k
Bess B. Ward United States	63	7.4k 1.0×	4.4k 0.9×	2.0k 0.7×	6.1k 2.7×	2.3k 1.2×	211	12.3k
Hendrikus J. Laanbroek Netherlands	54	5.1k 0.7×	3.4k 0.7×	1.6k 0.6×	1.2k 0.5×	2.3k 1.2×	164	9.2k
Joel E. Kostka United States	61	4.8k 0.7×	2.9k 0.6×	1.2k 0.4×	1.4k 0.6×	2.8k 1.4×	160	11.0k
Alyson E. Santoro United States	35	4.7k 0.7×	2.2k 0.5×	1.8k 0.7×	2.0k 0.9×	1.4k 0.7×	79	6.4k
Sergi Sabater Spain	71	7.3k 1.0×	4.0k 0.8×	813 0.3×	1.5k 0.7×	4.6k 2.4×	324	15.4k
Graeme W. Nicol United Kingdom	49	9.2k 1.3×	6.8k 1.4×	3.2k 1.2×	765 0.3×	2.8k 1.5×	88	13.7k
Gaute Lavik Germany	53	6.0k 0.8×	4.2k 0.9×	1.4k 0.5×	4.7k 2.1×	2.1k 1.1×	103	10.3k
Sebastian Lücker Netherlands	37	4.6k 0.6×	5.0k 1.0×	1.9k 0.7×	633 0.3×	913 0.5×	90	8.6k
Lisa Y. Stein Canada	41	2.9k 0.4×	3.3k 0.7×	1.8k 0.7×	456 0.2×	1.3k 0.7×	116	6.5k
Lijun Hou China	50	3.4k 0.5×	4.0k 0.8×	646 0.2×	1.4k 0.6×	1.6k 0.8×	206	7.4k

Countries citing papers authored by Christopher Francis

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Christopher Francis's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Christopher Francis with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Christopher Francis more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Christopher Francis

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Christopher Francis. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Christopher Francis. The network helps show where Christopher Francis may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Christopher Francis

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Christopher Francis. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Christopher Francis based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Christopher Francis. Christopher Francis is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

Sort: Min cites: Since: Top N: Style:

20 of 20 papers shown

Owens, Michael S., et al.. (2025). Microbial Nitrogen Removal in South San Francisco Bay: Does It Play a Role in Eutrophication Resistance?. Estuaries and Coasts. 48(2). 1 indexed citations

Langwig, Marguerite V., Kiley W. Seitz, Jessica A. Lee, et al.. (2025). Metabolic capacity is maintained despite shifts in microbial diversity in estuary sediments. ISME Communications. 5(1). ycaf182–ycaf182.

Tolar, Bradley B., et al.. (2024). Diverse and unconventional methanogens, methanotrophs, and methylotrophs in metagenome-assembled genomes from subsurface sediments of the Slate River floodplain, Crested Butte, CO, USA. mSystems. 9(7). e0031424–e0031424. 3 indexed citations

Langenfeld, Kathryn, et al.. (2024). Microbial Community of a Sandy Beach Subterranean Estuary is Spatially Heterogeneous and Impacted by Winter Waves. Environmental Microbiology. 26(12). e70009–e70009.

Francis, Christopher, et al.. (2024). Dynamics and activity of an ammonia-oxidizing archaea bloom in South San Francisco Bay. The ISME Journal. 18(1). 2 indexed citations

Francis, Christopher, et al.. (2023). Pelagic metagenome-assembled genomes from an estuarine salinity gradient in San Francisco Bay. Microbiology Resource Announcements. 12(12). e0080023–e0080023. 1 indexed citations

Lanclos, V. Celeste, Chuankai Cheng, Michael W. Henson, et al.. (2023). Ecophysiology and genomics of the brackish water adapted SAR11 subclade IIIa. The ISME Journal. 17(4). 620–629. 18 indexed citations

Cucchiaro, Giovanni, et al.. (2022). Sacroiliac joint pain in adolescents: Diagnostic and treatment challenges. SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología. 4(2). 87–91. 2 indexed citations

Cardarelli, Emily, et al.. (2021). Diverse ecophysiological adaptations of subsurface Thaumarchaeota in floodplain sediments revealed through genome-resolved metagenomics. The ISME Journal. 16(4). 1140–1152. 29 indexed citations

10.

Tolar, Bradley B., et al.. (2020). Time series assessment of Thaumarchaeota ecotypes in Monterey Bay reveals the importance of water column position in predicting distribution–environment relationships. Limnology and Oceanography. 65(9). 2041–2055. 12 indexed citations

11.

Francis, Christopher, et al.. (2020). Metagenome-assembled genomes reveal unique metabolic adaptations of a basal marine Thaumarchaeota lineage. The ISME Journal. 14(8). 2105–2115. 41 indexed citations

12.

Damashek, Julian, et al.. (2020). In-depth Spatiotemporal Characterization of Planktonic Archaeal and Bacterial Communities in North and South San Francisco Bay. Microbial Ecology. 81(3). 601–616. 12 indexed citations

13.

Herrmann, Jonathan, Bradley B. Tolar, Frédéric Poitevin, et al.. (2018). Nutrient transport suggests an evolutionary basis for charged archaeal surface layer proteins. The ISME Journal. 12(10). 2389–2402. 48 indexed citations

14.

Smith, Jason M., Karen L. Casciotti, Francisco P. Chávez, & Christopher Francis. (2014). Differential contributions of archaeal ammonia oxidizer ecotypes to nitrification in coastal surface waters. The ISME Journal. 8(8). 1704–1714. 79 indexed citations

15.

Lund, M., Jason M. Smith, & Christopher Francis. (2012). Diversity, abundance and expression of nitrite reductase ( nirK )-like genes in marine thaumarchaea. The ISME Journal. 6(10). 1966–1977. 61 indexed citations

16.

Beman, J. Michael, Brian N. Popp, & Christopher Francis. (2008). Molecular and biogeochemical evidence for ammonia oxidation by marine Crenarchaeota in the Gulf of California. The ISME Journal. 2(4). 429–441. 369 indexed citations

17.

Francis, Christopher, J. Michael Beman, & Marcel M. M. Kuypers. (2007). New processes and players in the nitrogen cycle: the microbial ecology of anaerobic and archaeal ammonia oxidation. The ISME Journal. 1(1). 19–27. 593 indexed citations breakdown →

18.

Francis, Christopher, K. Roberts, J. Michael Beman, Alyson E. Santoro, & Brian B. Oakley. (2005). Ubiquity and diversity of ammonia-oxidizing archaea in water columns and sediments of the ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 102(41). 14683–14688. 1977 indexed citations breakdown →

19.

Taroncher‐Oldenburg, Gaspar, Erin Griner, Christopher Francis, & Bess B. Ward. (2003). Oligonucleotide Microarray for the Study of Functional Gene Diversity in the Nitrogen Cycle in the Environment. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 69(2). 1159–1171. 169 indexed citations

20.

Obraztsova, Anna, Christopher Francis, & Bradley M. Tebo. (2002). Sulfur Disproportionation by the Facultative Anaerobe Pantoea agglomerans SP1 as a Mechanism for Chromium(VI) Reduction. Geomicrobiology Journal. 19(1). 121–132. 19 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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