The 100 top-cited classic papers in hand surgery.

The number of citations that a published article has received reflects the importance that paper has on that area of practice. In hand surgery, it is unknown which journal articles are cited most frequently. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the characteristics of the top 100 papers in the field of hand surgery. The 100 most cited papers were identified in the following journals; the Journal of Hand Surgery (American volume), the Journal of Hand Surgery (European volume), the Journal of Hand Surgery (British and European volume), The Scandinavian Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive and Hand Surgery, Hand Clinics, and the Journal of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery. The articles were ranked in order of the number of citations received. These classic 100 papers were analyzed for article type, their journal distribution, as well as geographic and institutional origin.