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. 2024 Aug 16;12(8):23259671241260049.
doi: 10.1177/23259671241260049. eCollection 2024 Aug.

The 25 Most Cited Articles in Pediatric Orthopaedic Sports Medicine

Stefano DiCenso  1 , R Justin Mistovich  1
Affiliations

The 25 Most Cited Articles in Pediatric Orthopaedic Sports Medicine

Stefano DiCenso et al. Orthop J Sports Med. .

Abstract

Background: Citation analysis reflects the influence a work has on a field of research and can be used to identify "classic" works and their qualities in medical specialties. By analyzing the characteristics of these works, we intended to determine what qualities make for a highly cited work in pediatric orthopaedic sports medicine.

Purpose: To identify the top 25 most cited articles in the field of pediatric orthopaedic sports medicine.

Study design: Cross-sectional study.

Methods: The Science Citation Index Expanded feature within the Web of Science database was searched using a Boolean string, generating 2008 pediatric orthopaedic sports medicine articles arranged by number of citations. The top 25 most cited articles were reviewed for authors, year of publication, source journal, country of origin, region of origin, diagnosis or condition of focus, and level of evidence (LOE).

Results: Most of the articles were published in the 2000s (range, 1992-2016). The mean number of citations was 166 (range, 119-329), and the mean citation density was 13.25 (range, 4.25-29.57). There were 18 of 25 studies performed in the United States. A plurality of the articles were published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine. The LOE ranged from 2 to 4, with the most common being level 2 (11/25). Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury management (14/25) and epidemiological studies on the incidence of various sports injuries (6/25) were the most represented topics of study. Since the 1990s, the mean citation density for articles related to ACL injuries in young athletes and the epidemiology of sports injuries has been increasing.

Conclusion: This evaluation demonstrated that ACL injuries and the epidemiology of sports injuries had the highest citation density of the most influential studies in pediatric orthopaedic sports medicine. We identified attributes such as country of publication, journal of publication, and LOE that make for a highly cited pediatric orthopaedic sports medicine article. Overall, citation density in pediatric sports medicine is increasing. Nonetheless, the most represented LOE in the most cited works is level 2, with no level 1 studies being represented in the top 25. In terms of both topics and LOE, this study allows surgeons to identify deficiencies in the existing literature and meaningfully design future studies to improve on these.

Keywords: citation density; classic works; most cited; pediatric sports medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

One or more of the authors has declared the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: R.J.M. has received nonconsulting fees from Philips Electronics North America Corporation; hospitality payments from Globus Medical and Medical Device Business Services; and consulting fees from OrthoPediatrics Corp and Philips Electronics North America Corporation. AOSSM checks author disclosures against the Open Payments Database (OPD). AOSSM has not conducted an independent investigation on the OPD and disclaims any liability or responsibility relating thereto.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Number of articles by diagnosis and topic of focus. ACL, anterior cruciate ligament.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Number of articles by decade.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Article contributions by geographic region within the United States.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Distribution of articles by level of evidence.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Citation density of article topics by decade. ACL, anterior cruciate ligament.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Mean number of citations by decade.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Mean citation density by decade.
Figure A1.
Figure A1.
Pediatric tibial spine fracture articles published within PubMed between 2003 and 2023.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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