2000-2019: twenty years of highly influential publications in molecular plant immunity

Molecular plant immunity is a dynamic research field that broadly addresses how plants interact with their associated organisms and defend themselves against pests and pathogens. Here, we aimed at providing readers with a snap-shot of influential molecular plant immunity research, by identifying and analyzing 170 highly-cited publications (aka Highly-Influential Publications in molecular Plant Immunity; hereafter HIPPYs) published in this field between 2000 and 2019. Our analysis draws a broad analytical knowledge of influential scientific advances in the field, as well as the research community that made them. We notably show that HIPPYs are shared by a small, structured, and connected research community. The HIPPYs address coherent research questions using a handful of key model objects (i.e., organisms or molecules), and report findings and concepts that contribute to our integrated understanding on the molecular interactions between plants and their associated organisms. Our 'HIP in' method is easily transposable to other large research areas, and may help early-career researchers to gain a broader knowledge of their field of interest.