Bibliometric Analysis of Top 100 Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses in Orthopaedic Literature

We performed a bibliometric analysis of top 100 systematic reviews (SR) and meta-analyses (MA) in orthopaedic literature and also evaluated articles with maximum average citation per year, which were unable to make up in the present top 100 cited list, but may have a promising future in the world of citations.

This bibliometric study was performed by searching Web of Science database according to a specific search strategy by two independent authors according to eligibility criteria of the studies. Articles with more than 100 citations were eligible for analysis and were evaluated for following parameters: number of citations, journal name, publication date and year, first author, the total number of authors, average citations per year, methodological design of the study, geographic origin and institute associated. Inter-rater reliability was evaluated using Kappa coefficient.

The number of citations ranged from 1073 to 198 with a total citation count of 30,589. Inter-rater reliability came to out in the good agreement (Kappa value-0.8). There was visible up-gradation of the research from the 2000 year till today. Spine journal had the maximum articles (26) followed by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery-America (12 articles). The topics "Spine" and "Sports Medicine" were the most frequently cited topics with 41 and 20 articles, respectively. USA has the maximum articles in the top 100 cited SR and MA. Based on the maximum average citations per year, 34 old articles were replaced in the list with the latest articles that have a bright future ahead and can be predicted to be in the top 100 cited SR and MA of Orthopaedics soon.

This study recognizes those articles that have contributed significantly to the growth of knowledge and influenced clinical practices in orthopaedics. We believe that this will facilitate and encourage researchers and clinicians in their future research.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43465-022-00604-9.