Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Dec;4(4):770-779.
doi: 10.21037/jss.2018.09.08.

The most influential publications in cervical myelopathy

Chester J Donnally 3rd  1 , Alexander J Butler  1 , Augustus J Rush 3rd  1 , Kevin J Bondar  2 , Michael Y Wang  3 , Frank J Eismont  1
Affiliations
Review

The most influential publications in cervical myelopathy

Chester J Donnally 3rd et al. J Spine Surg. 2018 Dec.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Cervical myelopathy (CM); adjacent segment disease; bibliometric review; cervical spondylotic myelopathy; most influential; neurosurgery; spine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Modified PRISMA flowchart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequency of articles published between the 1950s and 2010s.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Publication origin by country.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Number of articles at each level of evidence.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Merigó JM, Núñez A. Influential journals in health research: a bibliometric study. Global Health 2016;12:46. 10.1186/s12992-016-0186-4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Badhiwala JH, Nassiri F, Witiw CD, et al. Highly Cited Works in Spinal Disorders: The Top 100 Most Cited Papers Published in Spine Journals. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 2018;43:1746-55. 10.1097/BRS.0000000000002735 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hohmann E, Glatt V, Tetsworth K. Worldwide orthopaedic research activity 2010-2014: Publication rates in the top 15 orthopaedic journals related to population size and gross domestic product. World J Orthop 2017;8:514-23. 10.5312/wjo.v8.i6.514 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang W, Wang L, Wang B, et al. Top 100 Cited Articles on Back Pain Research: A Citation Analysis. Spine 2016;41:1683-92. 10.1097/BRS.0000000000001736 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Virk SS, Yu E. The Top 50 Articles on Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery. Spine 2017;42:513-9. 10.1097/BRS.0000000000001797 - DOI - PubMed