Plastic Surgery Classics: Characteristics of 50 Top-Cited Articles in Four Plastic Surgery Journals since 1946:

Top-cited articles in rehabilitation

OBJECTIVE

To identify the 100 top-cited articles ever published in rehabilitation journals and to analyze their characteristics as a quantitative approach to investigating the quality and evolution of rehabilitation research.

DATA SOURCES

The Institute for Scientific Information Web of Knowledge Database and the 2007 and 2008 Journal Citation Report Science Editions were used to retrieve the 100 top-cited articles from 30 rehabilitation dedicated journals.

STUDY SELECTION

The 100 top-cited articles included randomized controlled trials, case-control studies, case series studies, case reports, methodologic studies, systematic reviews, narrative reviews, and expert opinions.

DATA EXTRACTION

Two independent reviewers performed data extraction from the retrieved articles and compared their results. The Sackett's initial rules of evidence were used to categorize the type of study design as well as to evaluate the level of evidence provided by the results of the 100 top-cited articles.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Among the 45,700 articles published in these journals, the 100 top-cited articles were published between 1959 and 2002 with an average of 200 citations an article (range, 131-1109). Top-cited articles were all English-language, primarily from North America (United States=67%; Canada=11%) and published in 11 journals led by the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Eighty-four percent of the articles were original publications and were most commonly prospective (76%) case series studies (67%) that used human subjects (96%) providing level 4 evidence. Neurorehabilitation (41%), disability (19%), and biomechanics (18%) were the most common fields of study.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrated that methodologic observational studies performed in North America and published in English have had the highest citations in rehabilitation journals.

Leading 20 at 20: top cited articles and authors in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, 1987-2007

OBJECTIVE

To determine the 20 most cited articles and authors in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma during the first 20 years of publication, 1987 to 2007.

DESIGN

Review.

METHODS

We used Web of Science "cited reference search" to determine the most cited articles originating in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma from 1987 to 2007, the first 20 years of publication. The characteristics of each article were recorded. Next, we manually searched each author's citations for works in the same time period to determine the most cited authors. The number of first authorships for each author was then determined using Medline, and a relative citation impact ratio was calculated. Finally, citation reports for the journal overall were created to evaluate the citation impact of the journal over the last 10 years.

RESULTS

The top cited articles ranged from 64 to 566 citations with two articles over 100. Fifteen were clinical articles with the most common topic being tibia fractures (shaft, plateau, and pilon). The top cited authors ranged for 111 to 566 citations, whereas the citations per lead authorship ratio for the authors on that list ranged from 9.5 to 566 citations per lead authorship. The number of citations to the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma overall over the last 20 years has increased from 181 in 1997 to 3050 in 2007.

CONCLUSIONS

The influence of the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, its articles, and its authors is readily apparent in this review of the most cited articles and authors in the journal over its first 20 years of publication. This journal is a source of highly cited original articles and the work of many highly cited leaders in the field of orthopaedic trauma.

The most influential articles in critical care medicine

Purpose

The study aimed to examine query strategies that would provide an exhaustive search method to retrieve the most referenced articles within specific categories of critical care.

Material and Methods

A comprehensive list of the most cited critical care medicine articles was generated by searching the Science Citation Index Expanded data set using general critical care terms keywords such as “critical care,” critical care journal titles, and keywords for subsubjects of critical care.

Results

The final database included 1187 articles published between 1905 and 2006. The most cited article was referenced 4909 times. The most productive search term was intensive care. However, this term only retrieved 25% of the top 100 articles. Furthermore, 662 of the top 1000 articles could not be found using any of the basic critical care search terms. Sepsis, acute lung injury, and mechanical ventilation were the most common areas of focus for the articles retrieved.

Conclusion

Retrieving frequently cited, influential articles in critical care requires using multiple search terms and manuscript sources. Periodic compilations of most cited articles may be useful for critical care practitioners and researches to keep abreast of important information.