The top 100 most-cited publications on osteochondral lesions of the ankle: A bibliometric analysis

The purpose was to identify the 100 most-cited scientific publications in ankle cartilage and provide an analysis of their main characteristics.

The Web of Science (Clarivate) database was searched in April 2025 to obtain data and metrics on ankle cartilage research. The search list was sorted by the number of citations, and articles were included or excluded based on their relevance to ankle cartilage research. The information extracted for each article included the publication year, citation count, author's name, country of origin, journal name, article type, citation density and the level of evidence.

The 100 studies generated a total of 17,208 citations, with an average of 172 citations per article. The most-cited article was cited 489 times. The 100 studies included in this analysis were published between 1979 and 2018. In total, these articles represented 13 different countries of origin. The United States represented 38 of the 100 articles. The Netherlands, Italy and Germany followed with nine articles, and South Korea with seven articles. The most prevalent study designs were case series, and the most prevalent level of evidence was Level IV (69 studies).

The present research concludes that the 100 most-cited publications in cartilage lesions of the ankle research were cited a total of 17,208 times. Case series and cohort studies were among the most frequently used study designs with an overall relatively low-level of evidence. The present work may function as a reference standard to help direct orthopaedic providers to the 100 most-cited studies in cartilage lesions of the ankle.

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