Top 100 Cited Articles on Osteoarthritis from 1990 to 2020

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the 100 top-cited articles in the field of osteoarthritis (OA) from 1990 to 2020.

We used the Web of Science to retrieve the articles related to OA. Then we selected 100 target articles and manually collected their general information, including article title, author, year of publication, journal, type of article, and the number of citations.

The 100 top-cited articles were published in the period from 1990 to 2015. These articles have been cited 66,494 times in total, with the highest being 2382 times, the lowest being 433 times, the median number being 613, and a mean of 664.94 times. The 100 top-cited articles appeared in a total of 35 influential journals. The greatest number of articles in the top of 100 was published in Arthritis and Rheumatism. The authors of these articles came from 18 countries, led by the United States (n = 48), followed by the United Kingdom (n = 15). Among all the institutions, Boston University led the list with 10 articles. The most prevalent type of the study was review (n = 38) and clinical study (n = 38), followed by guideline (n = 12), basic science (n = 10) and other types.

This study provided some insights on the literature development and citation of OA in the recent 30 years. Articles published in high-impact journals are more likely to be cited in the field of OA. As recent studies did not have enough time to accumulate the number of citations, the latest articles may not be included in the top 100 cited articles.