The 100 Most Influential Articles in Cervical Spine Surgery

Top 100 Most Cited Articles on Intraoperative Image-Guided Navigation in Spine Surgery

Navigation technologies have become essential in spine surgery over the last decade, offering precise procedures and minimizing risks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first bibliometric analysis on this topic, providing insights and trends on topics, authors, and journals. The study identifies and analyzes the 100 most cited articles related to navigation in spine surgery. A systematic search was performed in Scopus and Google Scholar to identify all articles related to navigation in spine surgery (38,057 articles). The 100 most cited were analyzed for citations, titles, abstracts, authors, affiliations, keywords, country and institute of origin, year of publication, and level of evidence. The search was conducted in October 2023. The 100 most cited articles were published between 1995 and 2019, with 2010 to 2019 being the most prolific decade (46%). The most cited article had 733 citations, and the paper with the most citations per year averaged 59.27 citations/year. The Spine Journal had the most articles (34%). The United States contributed the most articles (39%). Most publications were clinical research and reviews (94%), with an overall evidence grade of IV-V (63%). A positive trend was noted in the last decade for incorporating augmented reality. This bibliometric analysis offers valuable insights and trends in spine surgery navigation literature. The findings indicate that technological advancements have led to more articles with higher levels of evidence. These pivotal articles shape evidence-based medicine, future surgeons, and industry improvements in navigated spine surgery.

The Top 50 Most Cited Articles on the Medial Patellofemoral Ligament (MPFL): A Bibliometric Analysis

Objectives

To determine which original articles on the topic of the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) have been cited the most in the literature utilizing a bibliometric approach. Secondarily, to determine temporal trends between article types.

Methods

Articles on the topic of the MPFL were identified by utilizing the Web of Science Database. The search yielded 1596 results and the top 50 cited original articles were collected for further analysis. The following information was gathered for all included articles: title, first author's name, journal name, year of publication, impact factor of the journal in 2021, total number of citations of the article, average citations per year (ACY), geographic origin, institutions, research theme, and keywords. Articles were then grouped into one of three categories: cadaveric/anatomic, clinical, and radiologic.

Results

The total number of citations was 10,393. Most were published between the years 2000-2009 (66%) and in the journal, American Journal of Sports Medicine (34%). The mean ACY was 11.73 ± standard deviation 5.86 and the Kawasaki Municipal Hospital was the institution with the most articles included in the top 50 (n = 6, 12%). The top-cited articles focused on 3 themes: cadaveric/anatomic (n = 18, 36%), clinical (n = 25, 50%), and radiologic (n = 7, 14%). Cadaveric/anatomic articles had the highest average number of citations at 271.4 ± 153.9, followed by radiologic (173.3 ± 53.0) and clinical articles (171.8 ± 102.4). Over time, clinical articles were more likely to be included in the top 50 list, compared to cadaveric/anatomic/radiologic articles.

Conclusion

The most impactful MPFL articles relate to cadaveric/anatomic articles; however, over time, clinical articles became more prevalent.

The Worldwide Influence of Social Media on Cervical Spine Literature

BACKGROUND

The Altmetric (Digital Science, Holtzbrinck Publishing) Attention Score (AAS) is an automatically calculated score that accounts for other literary influences, which include academic sources as well as nonacademically focused social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, and news articles. This study compares the most popular cervical surgery articles on social media to the most cited articles within peer-reviewed literature and identifies journals that contribute the most articles and geographic trends.

METHODS

We searched the Altmetric database for cervical spine surgery articles since inception using the search phrase "cervical" and "spine." We ranked journals that contributed the most articles and calculated their AAS, contributing social media outlets (eg, Twitter, Facebook, News, etc) and citation counts. We also ranked the top 100 most popular cervical spine articles on social media and compared them to the most cited articles. Countries were assessed based on their mentions through the most contributing social media platform.

RESULTS

Of the 527 total journals identified in our search, the top 10 journals were responsible for contributing 60.2% of the total articles. The 3 journals that contributed the most articles were Spine (18.9%), European Spine Journal (11.8%), and The Spine Journal (10.3%). The journals with the highest AAS scores included Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine (11.3), Spine (8.8), and Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics (5.8). Social media outlets that contributed the most mentions per article were Twitter (4.4), Facebook (0.5), and news sources (0.3). Among all countries contributing Twitter mentions, the 3 countries with the most cervical spine posts included the United States (23.3%), the United Kingdom (10.3%), and Spain (5.5%).

CONCLUSION

Our evaluation of cervical spine literature revealed Twitter, Facebook, and news sources are the most common social media outlets influencing title dissemination. Journals contributing the most articles did not necessarily have the highest average AAS.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Spinal surgeons should consider utilization of social media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook, and news sources, to potentially increase the dissemination of their articles.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3

Characteristics and Trends of the Most Cited Spine Publications

STUDY DESIGN

Bibliometric literature review.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to recognize and analyze the most frequently cited manuscripts published in the journal Spine.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA

Although the journal Spine is considered a premiere location for distributing influential spine research, no previous study has evaluated which of their publications have had the most impact. Knowledge and appreciation of the most influential Spine publications can guide and inspire future research endeavors.

METHODS

Using the Scopus database, the 100 most cited articles published in Spine were accessed. The frequency of citations, year of publication, country of origin, level-of-evidence (LOE), article type, and contributing authors/institutions were recorded. The 10 most cited articles (per year) from the past decade were also determined.

RESULTS

"Guidelines For The Process Of Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of Self-Report Measures" by Beaton DE was the most cited article with 2960 citations. 2000 to 2009 (n = 46) was the most productive period. A LOE of III (n = 35) followed by II (n = 34) were the most common. Deyo RA (n = 8), Bombardier C (n = 6), and Waddell G (n = 6) produced the most articles. University of Washington (n = 8) and University of Toronto (n = 8) ranked first for institutional output. Clinical Outcome (n = 28) was the most recurring article topic. The United States (n = 51) ranked first for country of origin.

CONCLUSION

Using citation analysis as an objective proxy for influence, certain publications can be distinguished from others due to their lasting impact and recognition from peers. Of the top cited Spine publications, many pertained to clinical outcomes (28%) and had a LOE of I, II, or III (60%). Although older publications have had longer time to accrue citations, those in the most recent decade comprise this list almost 2:1. Knowledge of these "classic" publications allows for a better overall understanding of the diagnosis, management, and future direction of spine health care.Level of Evidence: 3.

The Top 100 Most-Cited Articles on Arthroscopy: Most Popular Topic Is Rotator Cuff Rather Than Cartilage in the Last 5 Years

PURPOSE

To highlight the characteristics of the 100 most-cited articles on arthroscopy and provide the variation trend of citation rate among the top 25 articles in the past 9 years. We further analyzed the topics of interest in the past or currently.

METHODS

The Thomson ISI Web of Science database was used to identify arthroscopy-related articles that were published from 1950 to March 31, 2020. The 100 most-cited articles were selected for further analysis. In addition, author key words of the articles that published in the recent 5 years were further analyzed.

RESULTS

Mean of citations was 433.59 ± 400.73. The publication year ranged from 1980 to 2013. Most articles were focused on cartilage lesions and treatments (26%). A large proportion of articles were published in the 2000s (61%). Arthroscopy-the Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery (23%) was the most popular journal. One half of the articles originated from the United States. The most prolific institution and first author were the Steadman Philippon Research Institute (5%) and Marc J. Philippon (4%), respectively. Most of the articles were Level IV evidence (33%). The citation rate increased by 131% from the previous top 25 articles published in 2011. A growth trend can be seen in the citation density over time. "Shoulder" (occurrences = 535) was the most used joint key word and "rotator cuff" (342) was the most used key word of research objective in the last 5 years, whereas "cartilage" only occurred 262 times.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on bibliometric analysis of the 100 most-cited articles on arthroscopy combined with network analysis of the whole articles that published in the recent 5 years, the topic of most interest in the recent 5 years was rotator cuff rather than cartilage. The number of citations among the 25 most-cited articles is growing rapidly and has at least doubled in size on average in the past 9 years. Citation density among the 100 most-cited articles on arthroscopy has seen a growth trend.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

This article clarifies the characteristics of the 100 most-cited papers and provides guidance on the topics of interest in the past or currently as a roadmap for future research on arthroscopy.

Systematic review of intervertebral disc repair: a bibliometric analysis of the 100 most-cited articles

Study design

A bibliometric review of the literature.

Objective

To identify the most frequently cited articles relating to the repair of intervertebral disc (IVD) and to summarize the key points and findings of these highly cited works, to quantify their impact on the developments of the disc disease treatment.

Summary of background data

IVD repair is an ever-growing and multi-disciplinary innovating treatment method for disc diseases. There are numerous literatures and related studies about it, promoting the development of the field. A comprehensive review and analysis of the most influential articles can help clarify the most effective strategy of IVD repair, and discover the promising directions for future research.

Methods

The Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge was searched for citations of all literatures relevant to IVD repair. The number of citations, key points, categories, authorships, years, journals, countries, and institutions of publications were analyzed.

Results

The most highly cited articles in IVD Repair were published over 30 years, between 1991 and 2017. Most works (No. 41) were published between 2005 and 2009. The most-cited article was Sakai’s 2003 article which described the possibility of combining MSC and gel to repair IVD. The three most popular categories involved were Orthopedics [44], Clinical Neurology [34], Engineering, and Biomedical [24]. The three most common topics were regenerative medicine and the progenitor cells [33], biomaterials and cellular scaffolds [29], application of growth factors [25]. Author Masuda and the partners have 4 articles in the top 100 list. The Rush University has 12 articles in the top 100 list.

Conclusion

This report identifies the top 100 articles in IVD repair and acknowledges those individuals who have contributed the most to the study of the IVD repair and the body of knowledge used to the repair strategy making. It allows insight into the trends of this innovative and interdisciplinary subspecialty of spine surgery.

The Top 100 Most Cited Articles on Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background

The concept of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR) has become widely accepted, gaining increased attention in recent years and resulting in many research achievements in this field.

Purpose

The aim of this study was to determine which original articles on ACLR have been most influential in this field by identifying and analyzing the characteristics of the 100 most cited articles.

Study Design

Cross-sectional study.

Methods

Articles on ACLR were identified via the Thomson ISI Web of Science database on November 30, 2019. The 100 most cited articles were identified based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data extracted from each article for the subsequent analysis included title, date of publication, total citations, average citations per year (ACY), journal name, first author, institutions, themes, level of evidence, and keywords.

Results

The total number of citations was 29,629. The date of publication ranged from 1975 to 2015. A majority of the articles originated from the United States (58%) and were published in the 1990s (32%) and 2000s (48%). The mean ACY was 18.43 ± 9.51. Of the selected articles, nearly one-half were published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine (42%). The most prolific co-author and first author were Freddie H. Fu (n = 13) and K. Donald Shelbourne (n = 5), respectively. The most productive institution was the University of Pittsburgh (14%). Material comparison (19%) and technique comparison (16%) were the 2 most popular themes. More than one-quarter of articles were level 4 evidence (37%). Moreover, the keywords ACL, ACL reconstruction, ACL rupture, knee joint, knee injuries, and human showed the highest degree of centrality.

Conclusion

By analyzing the characteristics of articles, this study demonstrated that ACLR is a growing and popular area of research, with the focus of research varying through timeline trends. Studies on anatomic reconstruction and biomechanics might be areas of future trends.

The 100 Most-Cited Papers in Traumatic Injury of the Spine

Background

Traumatic injury to the spine can be a complex diagnostic and therapeutic entity often with devastating consequences. Outside of the isolated vertebral column injury costs; annual costs associated with spinal cord injury (SCI) are estimated to exceed $9.7 billion.

Objective

To identify the 100 most-cited articles on spine trauma.

Methods

The Thomson Reuters Web of Science citation indexing service was queried. The articles were sorted by times cited in descending order. Two independent reviewers reviewed the article titles and abstracts to identify the top 100 most-cited articles.

Results

The top 100 articles were found to be cited between 108 (articles #99-100) and 1595 times (article #1). The most-cited basic science article was cited 340 times (#12 on the top 100 list). The oldest article on the top 100 list was from 1953 and most recent from 2012. The number of patients, when applicable, in a study ranged from 9 (article #34) to 34,069 (article #5). Top 100 articles were published in 41 different journals with a wide range of specialities and fields most commonly multidisciplinary. Basic science research encompassed 34 of the 100 articles on the list.

Conclusions

We present the 100 most-cited articles in spinal trauma with emphases on important contributions from both basic science and clinical research across a wide range of authors, specialties, patient populations, and countries. Recognizing some of the most important contributions in the field of spinal trauma may provide insight and guide future work.

The 100 Most Cited Papers About Brain Metastases

BACKGROUND

A vast amount of articles centered on brain metastases have been published.

OBJECTIVE

To present the 100 most-cited articles dedicated to brain metastasis and to accomplish a broad literature review.

METHODS

In December 2019, we performed a title-focused search using the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database to identify the most cited articles centered on brain metastatic disease. Our search query term was based on using the following algorithm: "brain metastases" OR "brain metastasis" OR "brain metastatic disease" OR "cerebral metastases" OR "cerebral metastasis" OR "cerebral metastatic disease." Afterward, we reviewed the results to certify that they were relevant to the purposes of our research protocol. The 100 most cited papers were chosen and further analyzed.

RESULTS

Our search resulted in 11,579 articles, published from 1975 until the completion of our survey. The most cited article, by Patchell et al., was published in 1990, with 1862 citations, and an average of 62.07 citations per year, whereas the last in our list, by Gaspar et al., was published in 2010, with 195 total citations, and an average of 19.50 citations per year. Countries with the highest-cited articles included the United States (75 records), followed by Canada (16 records).

CONCLUSIONS

We discovered the top 100 most-cited articles centered on brain metastasis, all of which show a potentially increased level of interest, because they are meaningful scientific reports. In addition, we reviewed the historical development and advances in brain metastasis research and relevant points of interest, alongside the relevant contributions of different authors, fields of special interest, and countries. Many of the most cited articles were written by authors whose specialty was not neurosurgery or by neurosurgeons who were supported by colleagues from other medical fields. As a consequence, many of these articles were not published in neurosurgery-dedicated journals.

Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis of Scientific Publications on Atlantoaxial Spine Surgery Based on Web of Science and VOSviewer

BACKGROUND

Atlantoaxial spine surgery is a challenge to spinal surgeons because of its proximity to neurovascular structures. This study aimed to identify and analyze the scientific publications in atlantoaxial spine surgery from different countries and institutions.

METHODS

Clarivate Analytics Web of Science was used to search all articles for information on atlantoaxial spine surgery. The annual research, countries, journals, authors, institutions, citation frequency, and journal metrics were extracted. These results from countries and hotspots (keywords in publications) were subjected to co-occurrence analysis using VOSviewer, after which the top 100 most-cited articles were analyzed further.

RESULTS

A total of 3161 articles were included. A trend toward an increasing number of publications on atlantoaxial spine surgery in recent years was evident. Among all countries, the United States contributed the most publications. Seth Gordhandas Sundarda Medical College had the highest number of publications among institutions. Among all research categories, fixation and fusion were the most common areas discussed. The screw-rod system described in the most-cited article (cited 823 times) appeared to be the most popular fixation method. With the development of C1 and C2 screw technology, the screw-rod system is becoming increasingly popular.

CONCLUSIONS

The atlantoaxial spine surgery literature has grown continuously in recent years. The United States is the largest contributor in this field. Fixation and fusion are the most common areas, and fixation-related studies should be closely followed. The screw-rod fixation system is becoming increasingly popular.

The 100 most influential spine fracture publications

Background

Management of spine fractures has advanced considerably even over the past decade. A review of the current and historical literature can lead to a better appreciation of current management protocols. This is the first comprehensive review of the most influential articles related to spine fracture management. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the 100 most cited publications in spine fracture management.

Methods

Using the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science, search phrases were used to identify publications pertaining to spine fractures (110,809 publications). The 100 most cited articles were isolated. The frequency of citations, year of publication, country of origin, journal of publication, level-of-evidence (LOE), article type, and contributing authors/institutions were recorded. We also highlighted the ten most cited articles (per year) from the past decade.

Results

The publications included ranged from 1953-2010, with the majority published between 2000-2009 (n=41). Total citations ranged from 154 to 1,076. A LOE of IV had the plurality at 36%. The most cited article was "The 3 Column Spine and Its Significance in The Classification of Acute Thoracolumbar Spinal-Injuries" (Spine 1983) by F Denis. The majority of papers originated in the United States (n=65), and the highest number were published in Spine (n=27). Osteoporotic fractures were the specific topic in 34 publications. In the past decade, the article with the most citations/year was "A Randomized Trial of Vertebroplasty for Osteoporotic Spinal Fractures" by DF Kalmes in 2009.

Conclusions

Despite less time for citation than other decades, the 2000s contain the plurality of the influential publications. This may indicate that some of the most important changes to spine fracture management pertain to improved imaging modalities and surgical technologies. This review provides a guide for a comprehensive understanding of the historical and current literature pertaining to spine fracture management.

Citation analysis of the most influential articles on traumatic spinal cord injury

Objective: We conducted a citation analysis in order to catalog and pay tribute to the 100 most influential clinical research articles in traumatic spinal cord injury.Design: The Thomson Reuters Web of Science was searched in a two-step process without time period limitations. Review articles were excluded. In the first stage of data extraction, a Boolean query was used to identify the top 100 most cited clinical papers on traumatic spinal cord injury. One hundred and seven keywords were manually chosen and extracted from titles and abstracts. A second Boolean query used these keywords to broaden search results. The top 100 articles from this second stage search comprised the final list.Outcome Measures: For each article, measures evaluated were number of citations, average number of citations per year, time elapsed before first citation, and time elapsed until the year in which each article received its respective highest number of citations in a one-year period.Results: 119,991 articles were found in the second stage search. The top 100 most cited articles meeting inclusion criteria were identified within the first 2,104 results. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation was the most represented journal, with 20 of the top 100 articles. The top 100 list averaged 255 citations per article. The most highly cited article was the NASCIS 2 trial by Bracken et al., cited 1500 times, which investigated the efficacy of methylprednisolone or naloxone for spinal cord injury.Conclusion: Clinical research in traumatic spinal cord injury has grown over time, expanding to encompass rehabilitation and experimental therapies in addition to acute management trials. The list may serve as an archive and reference for further studies in this field.

The most influential publications in cervical myelopathy

Management of cervical myelopathy (CM) has continued to evolve through a better understanding of the long-term outcomes of this diagnosis as well as improved diagnostic guidelines. More recent literature continues to expand the field, but certain publications can be distinguished from others due to their lasting impact. Using the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science, search phrases were used to identify publications pertaining to CM. The fifty most cited articles were isolated. The frequency of citations, year of publication, country of origin, journal of publication, level of evidence (LOE), article type, as well as contributing authors and institutions were recorded. We also highlighted the five most cited articles (per year) from the past 10 years. Publications included ranged from 1952-2011, with the plurality of articles published during 2000-2009 (n=21; 42%). The most cited paper was Hillibrand's 1999 reporting of adjacent segment disease rates following cervical fusions, followed by Hirabayashi's 1983 review of his cervical laminoplasty outcomes. The third most cited was Brain's 1952 review of the manifestations of cervical spondylosis. Spine contributed the most publications (n=26; 52%). A LOE of III was the most common (n=30; 60%). Clinical outcome articles were the most frequent type (n=28; 56%). Osaka University (Japan) and Kazou Yonenobu had the most contributions. Ames or Fehlings were the first or last author in each of the five most influential articles from the past 10 years. This bibliometric citation analysis identifies the most influential articles regarding CM. There are few publications with a high LOE, and more high powered studies are needed. Knowledge of these "classic" publications allows for a better overall understanding of the diagnosis, treatment, and future direction of research of CM.

Physiotherapy Questionnaires App to Deliver Main Musculoskeletal Assessment Questionnaires: Development and Validation Study

BACKGROUND

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) translate subjective outcomes into objective data that can be quantified and analyzed. Nevertheless, the use of PROs in their traditional paper format is not practical for clinical practice due to limitations associated with the analysis and management of the data. To address the need for a viable way to group and utilize the main functioning assessment tools in the field of musculoskeletal disorders, the Physiotherapy Questionnaires app was developed.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to explain the development of the app, to validate it using two questionnaires, and to analyze whether participants prefer to use the app or the paper version of the questionnaires.

METHODS

In the first stage, the app for an Android operational system was developed. In the second stage, the aim was to select questionnaires that were most often used in musculoskeletal clinical practice and research. The Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS) and American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) questionnaire were selected to validate the app. In total, 50 participants completed the paper and app versions of the AOFAS and 50 completed the FAOS. The study's outcomes were the correlation of the data between the paper and app versions as well as the preference of the participants between the two versions.

RESULTS

The app was approved by experts after the adaptations of the layout for mobile phones and a total of 18 questionnaires were included in the app. Moreover, the app allows the generation of PDF and Excel files with the patients' data. In regards to validity, the mean of the total scores of the FAOS were 91.54% (SD 8.86%) for the paper version and 91.74% (SD 9.20%) for the app. There was no statistically significant differences in the means of the total scores or the subscales (P=.11-.94). The mean total scores for the AOFAS were 93.94 (SD 8.47) for the paper version and 93.96 (SD 8.48) for the app. No statistically significant differences were found for the total scores for the AOFAS or the subscales (P>.99). The app showed excellent agreement with the paper version of the FAOS, with an ICC value of 0.98 for the total score (95% CI 0.98-0.99), which was also found for the AOFAS with the ICC for the total score of 0.99 (95% CI 0.98-0.99). For compliance, 72% (36/50) of the participants in the FAOS group and 94% (47/50) in the AOFAS group preferred the app version.

CONCLUSIONS

The Physiotherapy Questionnaires app showed validity and high levels of compliance for the FAOS and AOFAS, which indicates it is not inferior to the paper version of these two questionnaires and confirms its viability and feasibility for use in clinical practice.

The top 100 papers in dry eye - A bibliometric analysis

PURPOSE

Citation analysis represents one of the best currently available methods for quantifying the impact of articles. Bibliometric studies list the ''best sellers'' in a single field of interest. The purpose of the present study was to identify and analyze the most frequently cited papers in dry eye research that may be of high interest for researchers and clinicians.

METHODS

We reviewed the database of the Institute for Scientific Information to identify articles published from 1900 to September 2016. All dry eye articles published in 59 ophthalmology journals were identified. The top 100 articles were selected for further analysis of authorship, source journal, number of citations, citation rate, geographic origin, article type, and level of evidence.

RESULTS

The 100 most-cited articles were published between 1983 and 2011, with most of them in the 2000s. The number of citations per article ranged from 96 to 610, and was greatest for articles published in the 2000s. Each of these articles was published in one of 15 journals. Most articles represented Level-III evidence, followed by Levels II and I.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study focusing on dry eye research revealed that 55% of the most-cited articles came from the U.S. and 18% from Japan. Diagnostics and therapy were the areas of focus of most of the clinical articles; 13% of the most cited papers were review articles. This analysis provides researchers and clinicians with a detailed overview on the most cited dry eye papers over the past decades.

The Top-100 Most-Cited Articles on Meningioma

BACKGROUND

There is an abundance of articles published on meningioma.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the 100 most-cited articles on meningioma and to perform a bibliometric analysis.

METHODS

In November 2016, we performed a title-specific search of the Scopus database using "meningioma" as our search query term without publication date restrictions. The top 100 most cited articles were obtained and reviewed.

RESULTS

The top 100 most cited articles received a mean 198 citations per paper. Publication dates ranged from 1953 to 2013; most articles were published between 1994 and 2003, with 50 articles published during that period. NEUROSURGERY published the greatest number of top cited articles (22 of 100). The most frequent study categories were laboratorial studies (31 of 100) and natural history studies (28 of 100). Nonoperative management studies were twice as common as operative management studies in the top-cited articles. Neurosurgery as a specialty contributed to 50% of the top 100 list. The most contributing institute was the Mayo Clinic (11%); the majority of the top cited articles originated in the United States (53%).

CONCLUSIONS

We identified the top 100 most-cited articles on meningioma that may be considered significant and impactful works, as well as the most noteworthy. In addition, we recognized the historical development and advances in meningioma research and the important contributions of various authors, specialty fields, and countries. A large proportion of the most cited articles were written by authors other than neurosurgeons, and many of these articles were published in non-neurosurgery journals.

Top 50 cited journal articles on overhead throwing athletes: a bibliographic analysis

Background

The frequency of citations for a journal article is a reflection of its academic impact. The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize the top 50 cited journal articles related to overhead throwing athletes in the published literature.

Methods

The Web of Science database was searched on January 18, 2016, using the terms "throwing athlete," "baseball," and "pitcher" to identify the top 50 cited articles related to overhead throwing athletes using the all-database function. The type of study, country of origin, publishing journal, and year published were reviewed for each article.

Results

The top 50 articles identified were cited between 95 and 471 times and were published in 13 journals between 1969 and 2011. Most of the articles were small case series or nonsystematic literature reviews. The shoulder was the most common body region studied in the top 50 articles (33 of 50 [66%]). Among original studies (n = 43), there was a good representation of surgical management of shoulder and elbow pathology in overhead athletes (9 of 43 [20.9%]); however, most of the articles reported on shoulder and elbow kinematics (19 of 43 [44.2%]) and pathoanatomy (15 of 43 [34.9%]).

Conclusion

The greater prevalence of nonsurgical articles may reflect a continued effort to better understand the different pathologies specific to overhead throwing athletes. An understanding of the variable content and quality of frequently cited articles on overhead throwing athletes may serve as a stepping stone for future studies to advance the diagnosis and management of complex elbow and shoulder injuries in these high functional individuals.

The 100 most cited articles in metastatic spine disease

OBJECTIVE

Despite the growing neurosurgical literature, a subset of pioneering studies have significantly impacted the field of metastatic spine disease. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the 100 most frequently cited articles in the field.

METHODS

A keyword search using the Thomson Reuters Web of Science was conducted to identify articles relevant to the field of metastatic spine disease. The results were filtered based on title and abstract analysis to identify the 100 most cited articles. Statistical analysis was used to characterize journal frequency, past and current citations, citation distribution over time, and author frequency.

RESULTS

The total number of citations for the final 100 articles ranged from 74 to 1169. Articles selected for the final list were published between 1940 and 2009. The years in which the greatest numbers of top-100 studies were published were 1990 and 2005, and the greatest number of citations occurred in 2012. The majority of articles were published in the journals Spine (15), Cancer (11), and the Journal of Neurosurgery (9). Forty-four individuals were listed as authors on 2 articles, 9 were listed as authors on 3 articles, and 2 were listed as authors on 4 articles in the top 100 list. The most cited article was the work by Batson (1169 citations) that was published in 1940 and described the role of the vertebral veins in the spread of metastases. The second most cited article was Patchell's 2005 study (594 citations) discussing decompressive resection of spinal cord metastases. The third most cited article was the 1978 study by Gilbert that evaluated treatment of epidural spinal cord compression due to metastatic tumor (560 citations).

CONCLUSIONS

The field of metastatic spine disease has witnessed numerous milestones and so it is increasingly important to recognize studies that have influenced the field. In this bibliographic study the authors identified and analyzed the most influential articles in the field of metastatic spine disease.