2026 W. Ford Doolittle: Molecular Biology Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Genetics	93	970	916	26	25	275	32812
Molecular Biology	93	674	600	17	12	275	32812

W. Ford Doolittle publication distribution in Molecular Biology in 2026

The chart shows the distribution of publications by all Research.com ranked scientists in the field of Molecular Biology in 2026. The highlighted bar marks where W. Ford Doolittle sits on this spectrum.

47 publications 564+

This scientist: 275 publications — 76th percentile

76% of scientists in this discipline score the same or lower.

The last bar groups every scientist with 564 publications or more.

W. Ford Doolittle D-index placement in Molecular Biology in 2026

The chart shows the D-index (discipline H-index) distribution of Molecular Biology scientists ranked by Research.com in 2026. The highlighted bar marks where W. Ford Doolittle sits on this spectrum.

40 D-Index 145+

This scientist: 93 D-Index — 79th percentile

79% of scientists in this discipline score the same or lower.

The last bar groups every scientist with 145 D-Index or more.

Research.com Recognitions

2017 - Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize, Canada Council
2005 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2002 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
1991 - Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Academy of Science
1985 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
1985 - Fellow of John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

Overview

W. Ford Doolittle is primarily affiliated with Dalhousie University in Canada. The scientist's research primarily spans the fields of Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology, with 20 publications recorded in these areas. Within these, emphasis is placed on the subfields of Molecular Biology, Genetics, Sociology and Political Science, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, and Ecology.

The central topics explored in their work include Evolution and Genetic Dynamics, Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies, Plant and Animal Studies, Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation, Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks, Protist Diversity and Phylogeny, and Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology.

They have authored multiple papers including:

Evolution: Two Domains of Life or Three? (2020) published in Current Biology
Getting clear about the F-word in genomics (2020) published in PLoS Genetics
'Species' without species (2021) published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A
The role of purifying selection in the origin and maintenance of complex function (2021) published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A
A Chemostat Model for Evolution by Persistence: Clade Selection and Its Explanatory Autonomy (2022) published in Philosophy of Science

The scientist frequently publishes in the following venues:

Current Biology
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A
Philosophy Theory and Practice in Biology
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
PLoS Genetics

Frequent collaborators include Joseph P. Bielawski, Celso Neto, Stefan Linquist, Alexander F. Palazzo, and Aaron Novick.

W. Ford Doolittle has received several awards over the course of their career, including the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize from the Canada Council in 2017. The scientist is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), with fellowships awarded in 1985 and 2005. They were elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2002 and are a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, recognized in 1991 under the Academy of Science. Additionally, they were a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1985.

Best Publications

Phylogenetic Classification and the Universal Tree

W. Ford Doolittle

2370
Citations
Prokaryotic Evolution in Light of Gene Transfer

J. Peter Gogarten;W. Ford Doolittle;Jeffrey G. Lawrence

1137
Citations
The complete genome of the crenarchaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus P2.

Qunxin She;Rama K. Singh;Fabrice Confalonieri;Yvan Zivanovic

975
Citations
Use of 16S rRNA and rpoB genes as molecular markers for microbial ecology studies.

Rebecca J. Case;Yan Boucher;Ingela Dahllöf;Carola Holmström

886
Citations
You are what you eat: a gene transfer ratchet could account for bacterial genes in eukaryotic nuclear genomes.

W Ford Doolittle

683
Citations
Pattern pluralism and the Tree of Life hypothesis.

W. Ford Doolittle;Eric Bapteste

635
Citations
Differences between Tissue-Associated Intestinal Microfloras of Patients with Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

Uri Gophna;Katrin Sommerfeld;Sharon Gophna;W. Ford Doolittle

626
Citations
Comparison of Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood Bootstrap Measures of Phylogenetic Reliability

Christophe J. Douady;Frédéric Delsuc;Yan Boucher;W. Ford Doolittle

597
Citations
Genes in pieces: were they ever together?

W. Ford Doolittle

597
Citations
Has the endosymbiont hypothesis been proven

M W Gray;W F Doolittle

559
Citations
Origin and evolution of the slime molds (Mycetozoa)

Sandra L. Baldauf;W. Ford Doolittle

442
Citations
Phylogenetic analyses of cyanobacterial genomes: Quantification of horizontal gene transfer events

Olga Zhaxybayeva;J. Peter Gogarten;Robert L. Charlebois;W. Ford Doolittle

385
Citations
Transformation methods for halophilic archaebacteria.

S W Cline;W L Lam;R L Charlebois;L C Schalkwyk

370
Citations
The root of the universal tree and the origin of eukaryotes based on elongation factor phylogeny

S L Baldauf;J D Palmer;W F Doolittle

343
Citations
Archaea and the Origin(s) of DNA Replication Proteins

David R Edgell;W.Ford Doolittle

333
Citations
Uprooting the tree of life.

W. Ford Doolittle

332
Citations
The role of lateral gene transfer in the evolution of isoprenoid biosynthesis pathways.

Yan Boucher;W. Ford Doolittle

318
Citations
Cell biology. Irremediable complexity

M. W. Gray;J. Lukes;J. M. Archibald;P. J. Keeling

301
Citations
On the origin of prokaryotic species

W. Ford Doolittle;Olga Zhaxybayeva

289
Citations
Computing prokaryotic gene ubiquity: Rescuing the core from extinction

Robert L. Charlebois;W. Ford Doolittle

287
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Patrick J. Keeling University of British Columbia

Christoph Wilhelm Sensen Graz University of Technology

Mark A. Ragan University of Queensland

Eric Bapteste Sorbonne University

Hans-Peter Klenk Newcastle University

Uri Gophna Tel Aviv University

Michael W. Gray Dalhousie University

David A. Walsh Concordia University

Terry Gaasterland University of California, San Diego

John M. Archibald Dalhousie University

External Links

Wikipedia of W. Ford Doolittle Personal website of W. Ford Doolittle

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