Department of Pediatrics, Split University Hospital, Split, Croatia.
Department of Pediatrics, General Hospital Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2020 Mar 17;20(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s12874-020-00940-0.
One of the frequently used methods for assessing research trends and the impact of published scientific literature in a particular discipline is citation analysis. Journals may strive to improve their metrics by choosing manuscripts and study designs that are more likely to be cited. The aim of this study was to identify the 50 most-cited articles in the field of pediatrics, analyze their study design and other characteristics of those articles, and assess the prevalence of systematic reviews among them.
In December 2017, we searched Web of Science (WoS) for all articles published in the field of pediatrics. Two authors screened articles independently and in the further analysis included 50 articles with the highest number of citations. To avoid bias for scientific papers published earlier, the citation density was calculated. We also analyzed Journal Impact Factor (JIF) of journals where citation classics were published.
The citation density in top 50 cited articles in the field of pediatrics ranged from 33.16 to 432.8, with the average of 119.95. Most of the articles reported clinical science. Median 2016 JIF for journals that published them was 6.226 (range: 2.778 to 72.406). Half of the top 10 highly cited articles in pediatrics were published in a journal with JIF below 5. Most of the studies among the citation classics in pediatrics were cross-sectional studies (N = 22), followed by non-systematic narrative reviews (N = 10), randomized controlled trials (N = 5), cohort studies (N = 5), systematic reviews (N = 2), case-control studies (N = 2), case reports (N = 2), and there was one study protocol and one expert opinion.
Few randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews were among citation classics in the field of pediatrics. Articles that use observational research methodology, and are published in journals with lower impact factors, can become citation classics.
评估特定学科领域研究趋势和已发表科学文献影响的常用方法之一是引文分析。期刊可能会通过选择更有可能被引用的手稿和研究设计来努力提高其指标。本研究的目的是确定儿科学领域被引用最多的 50 篇文章，分析其研究设计和这些文章的其他特征，并评估其中系统评价的流行程度。
2017 年 12 月，我们在 Web of Science (WoS) 中搜索了儿科学领域发表的所有文章。两名作者独立筛选文章，在进一步分析中纳入了引用次数最多的 50 篇文章。为避免对发表较早的科学论文产生偏见，计算了引文密度。我们还分析了发表引文经典的期刊的期刊影响因子 (JIF)。
儿科学领域前 50 篇被引文章的引文密度范围为 33.16 至 432.8，平均值为 119.95。大多数文章报告了临床科学。发表这些文章的期刊的 2016 年中位数 JIF 为 6.226（范围：2.778 至 72.406）。儿科学中引用最多的前 10 篇高被引文章中有一半发表在 JIF 低于 5 的期刊上。儿科学引文经典中的大多数研究都是横断面研究（N=22），其次是非系统性叙述性综述（N=10）、随机对照试验（N=5）、队列研究（N=5）、系统评价（N=2）、病例对照研究（N=2）、病例报告（N=2），还有一篇研究方案和一篇专家意见。
儿科学领域的引文经典中很少有随机对照试验和系统评价。使用观察性研究方法的文章，以及发表在影响因子较低的期刊上的文章，可以成为引文经典。
