The 100 most-cited articles in thyroid surgery from 1990 to 2023: a bibliometric analysis

The 2015 U.S. guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid nodules are recognized as authoritative in the industry, but lack a comprehensive assessment of the development of this field. The purpose of this bibliometric analysis is to identify and assess the 100 most-cited articles that have shaped the modern history of thyroid surgery.

The Web of Science Core Collection database was used to search the 100 most-cited articles in the field of thyroid surgery. VOSviewer was used to visually analyse countries/regions, institutions, authors, keywords, and characteristics of the top-100 articles.

The citations of the 100 most-cited articles published between January 1990 and January 2023 ranged from 279 to 7,073. The 100 most-cited articles were published by 25 countries, over half of which were from the USA (n=54). Harvard University (14 articles) and University System of Ohio (14 articles) from the USA (The United States of America) were the top institutions. Schlumberger M from the Institute Gustave Roussy and University Paris Sud was the most productive author with 10 articles. The top-cited article was published by Haugen Bryan R et al. in Thyroid [2015] (citations =7,073). The keywords with the most co-occurrences were carcinoma, followed by fine-needle-aspiration, management, follow up, biopsy, radioactive iodine, and braf (v600e) mutation.

The top 100 articles in thyroid surgery have been cited widely and have had a profound impact. The USA was the most influential and productive country. Harvard University and University System of Ohio contributed most to the top 100 articles. Schlumberger M was the most productive and influential author. Moreover, especially thyroid papillary carcinoma, fine needle aspiration, is a research hotspot and potential direction in the future for thyroid surgery.