The top 20 most-cited papers based on research undertaken at the Australian Synchrotron have been cited a total of 351 times in the scientific literature, according to the Scopus index as of 14 June 2011.

As of that date, the hottest research paper to draw on data collected at the Australian Synchrotron is a journal article entitled ‘Differential recognition of CD1d-α-galactosyl ceramide by the Vβ8.2 and Vβ7 semi-invariant NKT T cell receptors’, published in Immunity in 2009. This paper has been cited 30 times since its publication. Immunity has an SJR (SCImago Journal & Country Rank) ranking of 7.611 for 2009. 

The second most cited paper, with 29 citations, is ‘Structure and evolution of a novel dimeric enzyme from a clinically important bacterial pathogen’ published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 2008. J. Biol. Chem. has an SJR ranking of 1.346 for 2008. 

Close behind on 28 citations is ‘A nanoscale molecular switch triggered by thermal, light, and guest perturbation’ published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition in 2009. The journal has an SJR ranking of 0.829 for 2009. 

This preliminary citation analysis was undertaken by Brett Wright, a history of science student at the University of Melbourne. 

The Immunity article is one of three published in this journal in 2009 by James McCluskey and Dale Godfrey from the University of Melbourne, Jamie Rossjohn from Monash University, their teams and collaborators, that drew on protein x-ray crystallography data collected at the AS. The papers reported new advances in our understanding of natural killer T cells, a key component of the immune system. The research has significant implications for immune-related disorders such as T-cell-mediated transplant rejection. 

D.G. Pellicci, O. Patel, L. Kjer-Nielsen, S.S. Pang, L.C. Sullivan, K. Kyparissoudis, A.G. Brooks, H.H. Reid, S. Gras, I.S. Lucet, R. Koh, M.J. Smyth, T. Mallevaey, J.L. Matsuda, L. Gapin, J. McCluskey, D.I. Godfrey and J. Rossjohn, Differential Differential recognition of CD1d-α-galactosyl ceramide by the Vβ8.2 and Vβ7 semi-invariant NKT T cell receptors, Immunity, 31, 47-59, (2009).

The work of the last-named author of the J. Biol. Chem. paper, Matt Perugini from the University of Melbourne, was featured in a synchrotron article in Australasian Science in March 2009. 

B.B. Burgess, R.C.J.Dobson, M.F. Bailey, S.C. Atkinson, M.D.W. Griffin, G.B. Jameson, M.W. Parker, J.A. Gerrard and M.A. Perugini, Structure and evolution of a novel dimeric enzyme from a clinically important bacterial pathogen, J. Biol. Chem., 283, 27598-27603, (2008).

 The first-named author of the Angewandte Chemie International Edition paper, Martin Duriska from Monash University, won the 2010 Australian Synchrotron Thesis Medal for his PhD thesis entitled ‘Introducing multiple functions into discrete supramolecules and coordination polymers’.

M.B. Duriska, S.M. Neville, B. Moubaraki, J.D. Cashion, G.J. Halder, K.W. Chapman, C. Balde, J.F. Letard, K.S. Murray, C.J. Kepert, S.R. Batten, A nanoscale molecular switch triggered by thermal, light, and guest perturbation, Angew. Chem. Int. Edn., 48, 2549-2552, (2009).