Impactful Research in Microtia and Auricular Reconstruction: A Bibliometric Analysis

Microtia is a complex congenital auricular deformity, with research spanning operative technique, epidemiology/genetics, biomaterials, and complications. Despite this breadth, there is limited work characterizing which studies have been most influential in shaping the field. This study aimed to identify and analyze the top 100 most-cited articles on microtia using a bibliometric approach.

A comprehensive search using the Web of Science (WoS) was conducted to identify studies on microtia, and the top 100 articles were selected by citation count. Bibliometric data, study type (clinical, review, and basic science), clinical focus category, materials discussed, and sample sizes for clinical studies were extracted. Spearman correlation tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to analyze citation patterns.

The top 100 microtia studies, published between 1957 and 2022, accumulated 12,692 total citations, with a mean of 127±84 citations per article, and were published across 49 journals. Clinical studies predominated (n=58), followed by reviews (n=28) and basic science studies (n=14). Publication year significantly differed by article type (P=0.02), with basic science studies tending to be more recent. Newer publication year was associated with higher citations per year (P<0.001) but fewer total citations overall (P=0.002). Among clinical studies, technique-focused papers were most common (n=27) and were largely centered on autologous costal cartilage reconstruction (n=25). Clinical studies examining alternative materials were less represented but tended to be more recent publications.

These findings suggest that the most-cited microtia literature has primarily included landmark clinical technique papers, but newer, rapidly cited work increasingly reflects emerging biomaterials and tissue engineering.