A bibliometric analysis of pediatric liver transplantation publications

Abstract

Citation counts can identify landmark papers. The aim of this study was to identify and characterize the top-cited articles in the pediatric liver transplantation literature. A search strategy for the Scopus database was designed for pediatric liver transplantation publications from 1945 to 2014. The 50 top-cited articles were analyzed. Author co-citation analysis was performed using VOSviewer techniques. There were 2896 articles published between 1969 and 2015. The mean citation count of the top 50 cited articles was 166 (range 95-635). There were three case reports in this top-cited list. There were 15 collaborations in this top-cited list with nine being international. The top-cited publications originated in 12 countries, with the USA and the UK contributing 31 and seven articles, respectively. There were 14 authors with four or more publications in this list. There was a single author with nine publications in the top-cited list. These top-cited papers were found in 16 journals, with three journals collectively publishing over 50% of these publications. Pediatric liver transplantation research is an evolving entity. Surgical techniques and case reports are influential articles. Collaborations at a national and international level produce highly cited articles, which are found in influential journals.

Publication trends in pediatric renal transplantation: Bibliometric analysis of literature from 1950 to 2017

“…Aside from paying homage to landmark papers from yesteryear, there is a widespread tendency for academics to cite newer papers when publishing about advances in medicine. This trend was noted in the current study and has also been observed in the liver transplantation and general pediatric literature . In the current study, the top two most‐cited articles by McDonald and Noris were published in 2004 and 2010, respectively.…”

“…This is likely a reflection of the quality and rigor of the respective articles themselves, though it is interesting to note that higher volumes of top‐cited articles originated from journals specializing in transplantation: Transplantation and American Journal of Transplantation. Similar trends have been observed in other specialties, with the hypothesis that authors are incentivized to seek publication in high‐impact factor journals factors rather than specialty‐specific journals …”

“…To our knowledge, no previous reports exist analyzing the bibliometrics of the pediatric RT literature. McDowell, et al performed a similar bibliometric analysis of the pediatric liver transplantation literature, and though surgical techniques featured highly in their top 50 cited articles, only two of the top ten cited articles focused on surgical technique. The authors also noted that only six transplant journals appeared in their top‐cited list.…”

“…This trend was noted in the current study and has also been observed in the liver transplantation and general pediatric literature. 14 to be cited. 15 The definite source of this discrepancy among specialties remains unclear.…”

Counting the publications that count

“…One way to make such an assessment more objectively is to see who is publishing in the field and what previous publications have influenced the thinking of these authors by analyzing what and who they use as references. This, in essence, is what McDowell et al . have done in the paper published in this edition of Pediatric Transplantation .…”