... One of the most frequently cited papers in model selection would be An Asymptotic Equivalence of Choice of Model by Cross-Validation and Akaike?s Criterion by M. Stone, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. ... Akaike?s 1974 paper, introducing Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), is the most often cited paper in the subject of model selection). ... By penalizing the log of maximum likelihood with the number of model parameters (p), one can choose the best model that describes/generates the data. ...