Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Cells 2021 Highly Cited Paper Awards. All papers published between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020 in Cells were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers and citations, the top three winning papers have been selected.

Rank 1: CHF 1000
miRNAs as Biomarkers in Disease: Latest Findings Regarding Their Role in Diagnosis and Prognosis
By Carmen Elena Condrat, Dana Claudia Thompson, Madalina Gabriela Barbu, Oana Larisa Bugnar, Andreea Boboc, Dragos Cretoiu, Nicolae Suciu, Sanda Maria Cretoiu and Silviu Cristian Voinea
Cells 2020, 9(2), 276; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9020276

Rank 2: CHF 800
scRNA-seq Profiling of Human Testes Reveals the Presence of the ACE2 Receptor, A Target for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Spermatogonia, Leydig and Sertoli Cells
By Zhengpin Wang and Xiaojiang Xu
Cells 2020, 9(4), 920; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9040920

Rank 3: CHF 500
A Structural View of SARS-CoV-2 RNA Replication Machinery: RNA Synthesis, Proofreading and Final Capping
By Maria Romano, Alessia Ruggiero, Flavia Squeglia, Giovanni Maga and Rita Berisio
Cells 2020, 9(5), 1267; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9051267

Each winner receive an electronic certificate and the opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in Cells in 2022 after peer review.

We would like to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the nominated research groups of the above exceptional papers for their contributions to Cells.