# Most-cited Environmental Science papers of 2020, with free PDFs

The 25 most-cited Environmental Science research papers published in 2020, ranked by citations in OpenAlex, with their original abstracts and free PDFs where available.

1. [Environmental and Health Impacts of Air Pollution: A Review](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3007246056) · 5,239 citations · Free PDF
2. [Heavy metal pollution in the environment and their toxicological effects on humans](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3084100763) · 4,375 citations
3. [AGREE─Analytical GREEnness Metric Approach and Software](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3035028232) · 4,002 citations
4. [Persulfate-Based Advanced Oxidation: Critical Assessment of Opportunities and Roadblocks](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3008264207) · 3,649 citations · Free PDF
5. [Degradation Rates of Plastics in the Environment](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3005332201) · 3,462 citations
6. [Plasticenta: First evidence of microplastics in human placenta](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3109968655) · 3,427 citations · Free PDF
7. [Predicted growth in plastic waste exceeds efforts to mitigate plastic pollution](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3087333805) · 3,212 citations · Free PDF
8. [The Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2)](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W2998885490) · 3,090 citations
9. [The Effects of Cadmium Toxicity](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3032103849) · 2,701 citations · Free PDF
10. [Global Carbon Budget 2020](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3093432062) · 2,558 citations · Free PDF
11. [An overview of the uses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3096321011) · 2,439 citations
12. [Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Toxicity and Human Health Review: Current State of Knowledge and Strategies for Informing Future Research](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3091745167) · 2,414 citations
13. [Plant responses to rising vapor pressure deficit](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3006332078) · 2,306 citations · Free PDF
14. [Microbiome definition re-visited: old concepts and new challenges](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3040245690) · 2,264 citations · Free PDF
15. [Scientists' warning on invasive alien species](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3037105506) · 2,229 citations · Free PDF
16. [Air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States: Strengths and limitations of an ecological regression analysis](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3095961138) · 1,997 citations
17. [A Detailed Review Study on Potential Effects of Microplastics and Additives of Concern on Human Health](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3006275595) · 1,974 citations · Free PDF
18. [Increasing trends in regional heatwaves](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3040144530) · 1,928 citations · Free PDF
19. [The shared socio-economic pathway (SSP) greenhouse gas concentrations and their extensions to 2500](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3048501727) · 1,819 citations · Free PDF
20. [Evaluating scenarios toward zero plastic pollution](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3044029393) · 1,769 citations
21. [CheckV assesses the quality and completeness of metagenome-assembled viral genomes](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3118048495) · 1,769 citations · Free PDF
22. [Causes of Higher Climate Sensitivity in CMIP6 Models](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W2998500935) · 1,763 citations
23. [Reconstructing Three Decades of Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Brazilian Biomes with Landsat Archive and Earth Engine](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3080319602) · 1,722 citations
24. [Presentation and Evaluation of the IPSL‐CM6A‐LR Climate Model](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3030446301) · 1,702 citations
25. [A commentary review on the use of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in the era of popular remote sensing](https://nerdi.pages.dev/paper/W3031909544) · 1,663 citations · Free PDF

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