Statistics (mainly based on the Web of Science) indicate that Dr. Chen's research findings have been cited in 1,034 review papers, 130 books or book chapters (in which the number of the authored/non-edited books is 38), and 16 handbooks/sourcebooks or encyclopedia.

Based on the Google Scholar, Dr. Chen's h-index is 85, with his 339 papers receiving more than 10 citations (i10-index = 339), his 63 papers receiving more than 100 citations (i100-index = 63), and four papers receiving more than 1,000 citations (i1000-index = 4).

Sixteen (16) of Dr. Chen's papers have been listed to be seven Elsevier journal's Top25 "Most Cited Scripta Materialia Articles" (2006-2011, 2012-2017); "Most Cited Materials Science and Engineering A Articles" (2008-2013, 2009-2014, 2010-2015); "Most Cited Journal of Materials Science and Technology Articles" (2015-2018); "Most Cited Journal of Magnesium and Alloys Articles" (2018-2023, three papers); "Most Cited International Journal of Fatigue Articles" (2009-2014, 2015-2018); "Most Cited Materials Characterization Articles" (2009-2014, 2019-2022); "Most Cited Materials and Design Articles" (2013-2018); John Wiley journal's "The most cited [Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures] articles from 2016-2017"; and MDPI Metals top-cited paper (2024).

The method proposed in one of journal's five-year Top25 "Most Cited Articles" (Z. Zhang and D.L. Chen, Consideration of Orowan strengthening effect in particulate-reinforced metal matrix nanocomposites: A model for predicting their yield strength, Scripta Materialia, 2006, 54(7), 1321-1326) is referred to by other researchers as the "Zhang and Chen method", "Zhang and Chen equation", "Zhang and Chen model", "Zhang and Chen's model", "Zhang-Chen model", "The model of Zhang and Chen", "Zhang and Chen (ZC) summation method", or "Zhang and Chen approach" in numerous journal papers, including: Advanced Engineering Materials (2007, vol.9, pp.639-652); Materials Science and Engineering A (2008, vol.486, pp.56-62); Advanced Composite Materials (2010, vol.19, pp.299-316); Materials Science and Engineering A (2011, vol.528, pp.6727-6732); Journal of Minerals & Materials Characterization & Engineering (2011, 10(14), 1293-1306); Materials Science and Engineering A (2012, 531, 112-118); Materials Science and Engineering A (2012, 558, 39-43); Journal of Materials Science (2013, 48, 4191-4204); Materials and Design (2013, 52, 881-887); Materials Research Bulletin (2014, 59, 290-294); Metals (2014, 4, 65-83); Journal of Alloys and Compounds (2014, 615, 211-219); Kovove Materialy-Metallic Materials (2014, 52, 395-402); Materials Science and Engineering A (2015, 627, 306-315); Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A (2015, 46(3), 1360-1373); Nanomaterials (2015, 5(3), 1256-1283); Materials Science and Engineering A (2015, 641, 172-180); Materials Science and Engineering A (2015, 641, 116-122); International Journal of Mechanical Sciences (2015, 101-102, 29-37); Journal of Nanomechanics and Micromechanics (2015, 5(3), 04014002); Materials Science and Engineering A (2017, 685, 429-438); Journal of Materials Research (2017, 32(11), 2079-2091); Materials Science and Engineering A (2017, 689, 176-188); Materials Chemistry and Physics (2017, 194, 65-76); Materials Science and Engineering A (2017, 706, 249-255); Metals (2017, 7(10), 388, doi:10.3390/met7100388); Materials Science and Engineering A (2018, 710, 251-259); Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A (2018, 49(3), 962-971); Materials and Manufacturing Processes (2018, 33(3), 239-261); Materials Science and Engineering A (2018, 724, 269-282); Journal of Alloys and Compounds (2018, 768, 618-624); Metals (2018, 8, Article number 423); Journal of Alloys and Compounds (2019, 789, 493-505); Progress in Materials Science (2019, 104, 330-379); International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (2019, 104, 1333-1343); Journal of Composite Materials (2019, 53, 2033-2046); Metals (2019, 9(10), Article number 1077); Transactions of the Indian Institute of Metals (2019, 72, 1153-1165); Transactions of the Indian Institute of Metals (2019, 72, 2533-2546, where both "Zhang and Chen model" and "Mirza and Chen model" are termed); Materials China, 2019, No. 6, 577-587; Materials Science and Engineering A (2020, 773, Article number 138883); Materials Science and Engineering A (2020, 773, Article number 138888); Journal of Testing and Evaluation (2020, 48(4), 3035-3056, where both "Zhang and Chen model" and "Mirza and Chen model" are termed); Metals and Materials International (05/2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12540-020-00744-3); Materials Science and Engineering A (2020, 789, Article number 139577); Journal of Composite Materials (2020, Article number 0021998320946432, DOI: 10.1177/0021998320946432); Journal of Magnesium and Alloys (2021, 9, 57-77); Journal of Alloys and Compounds (2021, 880, Article number 160430); Measurement (2021, 180, Article number 109299); Materials Science and Engineering A (2021, 825, Article number 141873, where both "Zhang-Chen model" and "Mirza and Chen model" are termed); Acta Metallurgica Sinica-English Letters (Sep 2021, DOI:10.1007/s40195-021-01306-1); Materials Science and Technology (2021, 37(14), 1153-1173); Journal of Composite Materials (2021, 55(1), 109-123); Materials Today-Proceedings (2022, 60, 1379-1384); Metals and Materials International (06/2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12540-022-01208-6); Materials Science and Engineering A (2022, 859, 144200); Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2023, 45, Article number 105); Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science (2023, 237(22), 5352-5364, "Mirza and Chen model"); Materials Science and Engineering A, 2023, 885, 145617 (Both "Zhang and Chen method" and "Zhang and Chen model" or "Zhang-Chen model" are termed); Progress in Materials Science, 2023, 140, Article number 101191 (Both "Zhang and Chen method" and "Zhang and Chen model" are termed); Journal of Magnesium and Alloys, 2023, 11, 2655-2687 (Both "Zhang and Chen method" and "Zhang and Chen model" are termed, and also presented as a subtitle); Revista Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad de Antioquia (2023, 108, 115-123 - "Particularly, the Zhang Chen model is the most accurate one of the Second-Generation family; this model includes input parameters accounting for the manufacturing conditions, mechanical properties of the matrix, and other geometric characteristics." "Accordingly, considering a trade-off between the number of parameters required and the relative errors previously obtained, ASM and Z-C remain the most appropriate models in accordance with the experimental work considered here."); Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, First published online December 26, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1177/09544062231213209, 21 pages (with the terms of "Mirza and Chen model", "Mirza and Chen's theoretical mode", and "Zhang and Chen equation"); Materials Science and Engineering A (2024, 900, 146474); Journal of Materials Research and Technology (2024, 30, 5166-5191); Metals and Materials International, Nov 2024, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12540-024-01832-4 (with the terms of "Zhang and Chen model" and "Mirza and Chen model"); Materials Characterization (2024, 212, Article Number 113984); Journal of Materials Research and Technology-JMR&T (2025, 34, 1611-1635, with the terms of "Zhang and Chen method" and "Zhang and Chen model"); Journal of Manufacturing Processes, (2025, 142, 368-386, where it is concluded that "Zhang-Chen model demonstrated superior accuracy in predicting the strength of both base and composite materials."); Defence Science Journal (2025, 75(4), 451-462, with the terms of both "Zhang & Chen model" and "Mirza & Chen model"); Materials Chemistry and Physics (2025, 337, 130587. In the article's highlights, the authors state that "Zhang and Chen's model accurately predicted yield strength, compared to other models." This is reiterated in the main discussion with detailed explanations and in Fig. 23 (Comparison of experimental and calculated yield strength), and again in the conclusions: "Zhang and Chen's model demonstrated superior accuracy in predicting the strength of both base and composite materials... Compared to the summation and modified Clyne models, this approach yields more accurate results." Notably, these statements are made without directly citing our original work in the reference list; Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance, (2026, 35, 10363-10381) (with the terms of both "Zhang and Chen model" and "Mirza and Chen model"); etc. It has also been cited in many books or book chapters, including: Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Composites: Metal and Ceramic Matrices (ISBN 978-3-527-40892-4, 2009); Magnesium, Magnesium Alloys, and Magnesium Composites (ISBN 978-0-470-49417-2, 2011); Advances in Nanotechnology Research and Application (ISBN 978-1-464-99046-5, 2012); TMS 2012 141st Annual Meeting and Exhibition, Materials Processing and Interfaces (ISBN 9781118296073, 2012); Ceramic Nanocomposites (ISBN 978-0-857-09338-7, 2013); Nanocrystalline Materials: Their Synthesis-Structure-Property Relationships and Applications, 2nd edition (ISBN 978-0-12-407796-6, 2014); Processing Techniques and Tribological Behavior of Composite Materials (ISBN 1466675314, 9781466675315, 2015); Metallic Amorphous Alloy Reinforcements in Light Metal Matrices (ISBN 978-3-319-15016-1, 2015); Graphene Materials: Fundamentals and Emerging Applications (ISBN 978-1-118-99837-3, 2015); Advances in Nanomaterials (ISBN 978-81-322-2666-6, 2016); Aluminum Matrix Composites Reinforced with Alumina Nanoparticles (ISBN 978-3-319-27731-8, 2016); Aluminum and Magnesium Metal Matrix Nanocomposites (ISBN 978-981-10-2680-5, 2016); Aerospace Materials and Material Technologies: Volume 1: Aerospace Materials (ISBN 978-981-10-2133-6, 2017); Mechanics of Composite, Hybrid and Multifunctional Materials (ISBN 978-3-319-95509-4, Springer Cham, 2018); Magnesium-Based Nanocomposites: Advances and applications (Online ISBN 978-0-7503-3535-5, Print ISBN 978-0-7503-3533-1, IOP Publishing Ltd., 2020); Handbook of Polymer and Ceramic Nanotechnology (ISBN 978-3-030-40512-0, Springer Nature, 2021, where both terms 'Zhang and Chen model' and 'Mirza and Chen model' are used in Chapter 23 of this handbook with 1,690 pages); Nanofillers - Fabrication, Characterization and Applications of Inorganic Nanofillers (1st Edition, CRC Press, Boca Raton, eBook ISBN 9781003279389, 2023), where both the "Zhang and Chen model" and "Mirza and Chen model" are termed. Also, the term "Zhang and Chen model" has been generally used by other researchers without giving a specific citation in the reference list in a number of publications.

According to journal analytics (accessed February 21, 2026), the article (Z. Zhang and D.L. Chen, Consideration of Orowan strengthening effect in particulate-reinforced metal matrix nanocomposites: A model for predicting their yield strength, Scripta Materialia, 2006, 54(7), 1321-1326) holds a premier citation ranking within Scripta Materialia, placing in the top 0.035% of the 14,133 papers published over the journal's lifetime. It currently stands as one of the top five most-cited papers in the journal's 59-year history (since its inception in 1967). 

The model proposed in the article (F.A. Mirza and D.L. Chen, A unified model for the prediction of yield strength in particulate-reinforced metal matrix nanocomposites, Materials, 2015, 8(8), 5138-5153) is referred to by other researchers as "Mirza and Chen model" or "Mirza-Chen model" or "Mirza and Chen's theoretical model" in a number of journal papers/books, including: Transactions of the Indian Institute of Metals (2019, 72, 2533-2546); Journal of Testing and Evaluation (2020, 48(4), 3035-3056); Nanofillers - Fabrication, Characterization and Applications of Inorganic Nanofillers, edited By B. Sharma, V. Chaudhary, S. Shekhar,  P.P. Das, ISBN 9781032245904, eBook ISBN 9781003279389, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2023, pp.153-168 (Book chapter); Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science (2023, 237(22), 5352-5364); Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science (2024, 238(11), 5043-5063); Defence Science Journal (2025, 75(4), 451-462); Metals and Materials International (2025, 31, 1836-1857); Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance (2026, 35, 10363-10381).

Three (3) of Dr. Chen's papers have been cited in Chapters 1, 3, 4, and 5 of the authored book (H.Y. Zhang and J. Senkara, Resistance Welding: Fundamentals and Applications, Second edition, ISBN 978-1-4398-5371-9, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, USA, 2012), where the three papers were extensively described on 22 different pages of this book (i.e., pages 3, 4, 11, 14, 15, 16, 46, 49, 115, 116, 135, 159, 160, 161, 171, 174, 175, 180, 181, 200, 216, 217). Especially, 12 figures (i.e., Figures 1.2, 1.9, 1.12, 1.13, 1.42, 3.26, 4.20, 4.21, 4.22, 5.2, 5.7, 5.31) in this book were directly from Dr. Chen's three papers. 

Paper "V.K.Patel, S.D.Bhole, D.L.Chen, Ultrasonic spot welding of aluminum to high strength low alloy steel: Microstructure, tensile and fatigue properties, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 2014, 45A, 2055-2066." has been selected to be a "Highlighted Article", AM&P (Advanced Materials & Processes) eNews, ASM-International, April 30, 2014.

Dr. Chen's fatigue test data have been cited to be eight full pages (pp.83-90) in the "Sourcebook on Fatigue Crack Propagation: Thresholds and Crack Closure", ISBN 0947817700, authored by D. Taylor and J.C. Li, Engineering Materials Advisory Services Ltd., Warley, West Midlands, U.K., 1993.