David Lazer

25.6k total citations · 11 hit papers
185 papers, 13.3k citations indexed

About

David Lazer is a scholar working on Sociology and Political Science, Communication and Statistical and Nonlinear Physics. According to data from OpenAlex, David Lazer has authored 185 papers receiving a total of 13.3k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 80 papers in Sociology and Political Science, 58 papers in Communication and 38 papers in Statistical and Nonlinear Physics. Recurrent topics in David Lazer's work include Social Media and Politics (51 papers), Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence (36 papers) and Misinformation and Its Impacts (33 papers). David Lazer is often cited by papers focused on Social Media and Politics (51 papers), Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence (36 papers) and Misinformation and Its Impacts (33 papers). David Lazer collaborates with scholars based in United States, Mexico and Netherlands. David Lazer's co-authors include Briony Swire‐Thompson, Alex Pentland, Ryan Kennedy, Nathan Eagle, Alessandro Vespignani, Gary King, Kenneth Joseph, Lisa Friedland, Kevin Esterling and Nir Grinberg and has published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In The Last Decade

David Lazer

171 papers receiving 12.5k citations

Hit Papers

The science of fake news 2007 2026 2013 2019 2018 2014 2009 2019 2019 500 1000 1.5k 2.0k
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.

  1. The science of fake news
    2018 2.3k citations David Lazer, Matthew Baum et al. profile →
  2. The Parable of Google Flu: Traps in Big Data Analysis
    2014 1.5k citations David Lazer, Alessandro Vespignani et al. profile →
  3. Inferring friendship network structure by using mobile phone data
    2009 1.2k citations David Lazer et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
  4. Fake news on Twitter during the 2016 U.S. presidential election
    2019 1.1k citations Lisa Friedland, Briony Swire‐Thompson et al. profile →
  5. Public Health and Online Misinformation: Challenges and Recommendations
    2019 568 citations Briony Swire‐Thompson, David Lazer profile →
  6. The Network Structure of Exploration and Exploitation
    2007 439 citations David Lazer et al. profile →
  7. Exploration versus exploitation in space, mind, and society
    2014 337 citations David Lazer et al. profile →
  8. Measuring personalization of web search
    2013 251 citations David Lazer et al. profile →
  9. Prevalence and Correlates of Long COVID Symptoms Among US Adults
    2022 229 citations Roy H. Perlis, Mauricio Santillana et al. JAMA Network Open profile →
  10. Computational social science: Obstacles and opportunities
    2020 228 citations David Lazer, Deen Freelon et al. profile →
  11. Association of Post–COVID-19 Condition Symptoms and Employment Status
    2023 60 citations Roy H. Perlis, Kristin Lunz Trujillo et al. JAMA Network Open profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

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

Name h Career Trend Papers Cites
David Lazer United States 46 6.6k 3.2k 2.3k 2.0k 1.4k 185 13.3k
James H. Fowler United States 65 8.8k 1.3× 2.5k 0.8× 1.3k 0.6× 4.3k 2.2× 628 0.5× 195 23.3k
Sinan Aral United States 33 7.7k 1.2× 3.0k 0.9× 2.0k 0.9× 3.5k 1.8× 1.6k 1.2× 84 13.9k
Miller McPherson United States 8 6.8k 1.0× 2.0k 0.6× 1.0k 0.5× 2.9k 1.5× 759 0.6× 9 13.9k
James M. Cook United States 7 6.0k 0.9× 1.8k 0.6× 1.0k 0.5× 2.7k 1.4× 753 0.6× 14 12.9k
Lynn Smith‐Lovin United States 29 8.9k 1.3× 2.2k 0.7× 1.1k 0.5× 3.1k 1.6× 784 0.6× 67 17.3k
Tom A. B. Snijders Netherlands 65 7.2k 1.1× 1.4k 0.4× 1.3k 0.6× 4.9k 2.5× 437 0.3× 212 22.4k
Michael W. Macy United States 39 5.2k 0.8× 1.7k 0.5× 2.1k 0.9× 3.4k 1.7× 668 0.5× 103 11.5k
Stephen P. Borgatti United States 55 8.0k 1.2× 3.9k 1.2× 1.4k 0.6× 6.1k 3.1× 1.4k 1.0× 128 27.7k
danah boyd United States 48 16.9k 2.6× 10.7k 3.4× 3.2k 1.4× 2.5k 1.3× 3.5k 2.6× 116 28.5k
Kathleen M. Carley United States 62 4.7k 0.7× 2.4k 0.7× 2.9k 1.3× 3.5k 1.8× 2.2k 1.6× 486 15.2k

Countries citing papers authored by David Lazer

Since Specialization
Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of David Lazer'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 David Lazer with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites David Lazer more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by David Lazer

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by David Lazer. 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 David Lazer. The network helps show where David Lazer may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of David Lazer

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of David Lazer. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of David Lazer 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 David Lazer. David Lazer is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

20 of 20 papers shown
1.
Druckman, James, Katherine Ognyanova, Matthew Baum, et al.. (2025). Characterizing population-level changes in human behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 122(37). e2500655122–e2500655122. 1 indexed citations
2.
Perlis, Roy H., Faith M. Gunning, Mauricio Santillana, et al.. (2025). Irritability and Social Media Use in US Adults. JAMA Network Open. 8(1). e2452807–e2452807. 1 indexed citations
3.
Oswald, Lisa, WILLIAM SCHULZ, Ralph Hertwig, David Lazer, & Sebastian Stier. (2025). The Tip of the Iceberg: How the Social Media Production-Consumption Gap Distorts Public Opinion for Citizens and Researchers.
4.
Klein, Brennan, Lisa Friedland, Filippo Privitera, et al.. (2024). Characterizing collective physical distancing in the U.S. during the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic. SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología. 3(2). e0000430–e0000430. 4 indexed citations
5.
Jaywant, Abhishek, Faith M. Gunning, Lauren E. Oberlin, et al.. (2024). Cognitive Symptoms of Post–COVID-19 Condition and Daily Functioning. JAMA Network Open. 7(2). e2356098–e2356098. 18 indexed citations
6.
Perlis, Roy H., Kristin Lunz Trujillo, Jon Green, et al.. (2023). Misinformation, Trust, and Use of Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. JAMA Health Forum. 4(9). e233257–e233257. 20 indexed citations
7.
Solomonov, Nili, Jon Green, Alexi Quintana, et al.. (2023). A 50-state survey study of thoughts of suicide and social isolation among older adults in the United States. Journal of Affective Disorders. 334. 43–49. 8 indexed citations
8.
Lazer, David, et al.. (2023). Categorizing the non-categorical: the challenges of studying gendered phenomena online. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 29(1).
9.
10.
Green, Jon, James Druckman, Matthew Baum, et al.. (2023). Media use and vaccine resistance. PNAS Nexus. 2(5). pgad146–pgad146. 13 indexed citations
11.
Perlis, Roy H., Kristin Lunz Trujillo, Alauna Safarpour, et al.. (2023). Association of Post–COVID-19 Condition Symptoms and Employment Status. JAMA Network Open. 6(2). e2256152–e2256152. 60 indexed citations breakdown →
12.
Green, Jon, James Druckman, Matthew Baum, et al.. (2022). Using General Messages to Persuade on a Politicized Scientific Issue. British Journal of Political Science. 53(2). 698–706. 16 indexed citations
13.
Green, Jon, et al.. (2022). Online engagement with 2020 election misinformation and turnout in the 2021 Georgia runoff election. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119(34). e2115900119–e2115900119. 24 indexed citations
14.
Klein, Brennan, Nicholas Generous, Matteo Chinazzi, et al.. (2022). Higher education responses to COVID-19 in the United States: Evidence for the impacts of university policy. SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología. 1(6). e0000065–e0000065. 12 indexed citations
15.
Lazer, David, Eszter Hargittai, Deen Freelon, et al.. (2021). Meaningful measures of human society in the twenty-first century. Nature. 595(7866). 189–196. 66 indexed citations
16.
Lazer, David, Brian Rubineau, Carol Chetkovich, Nancy Katz, & Michael A. Neblo. (2010). The Coevolution of Networks and Political Attitudes. Political Communication. 27(3). 248–274. 149 indexed citations
17.
Esterling, Kevin, David Lazer, & Michael A. Neblo. (2004). Home (page) style: house members on the web. International Conference on Digital Government Research. 56. 3 indexed citations
18.
Carpenter, Daniel, Kevin Esterling, & David Lazer. (2004). “Friends Brokers and Transitivity: Who Talks with Whom in Washington Lobbying?”. The Journal of Politics. 66(1). 1 indexed citations
19.
Lazer, David, et al.. (2004). Guilt by association. The New Scientist. 20–20. 4 indexed citations
20.
Lazer, David. (2001). Emergent Actors in World Politics: How States and Nations Develop by Lars-Erik Cederman .. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation. 4. 1 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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