Top 100 most frequently cited papers in liver cancer: a bibliometric analysis

Bibliometric analysis has become popular in recent years, and increasingly more articles focusing on a particular disease are being published. The present study was performed to analyse the 100 most frequently cited papers in liver cancer (LC).

We searched the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database on 14 July 2018 to identify all potential manuscripts for this study. The search terms were 'liver cancer' and its synonyms. Manuscripts were listed in descending order by the total citations (TCs), and the 100 most frequently cited papers were identified and analysed by topic, journal, author, year and institution.

We retrieved 235 687 papers from the Web of Science database. The TC of the 100 most frequently cited papers in LC ranged from 612 to 5358. The 100 papers were published in 31 journals and came from nine countries. The University of Barcelona published the highest number of papers and had the most TC. Ten authors published more than one paper. Treatment of LC was the most widely studied topic. A significant correlation was found between the journal's 2017 impact factor and the TC (P = 0.003).

We assessed the landmark papers in the field of LC. These 100 most frequently cited papers reflect major advances and several hot topics in LC during the recent decades. Our study is of great value for young investigators, provides insights into the trends of LC and can guide directions for future academic research.