Bibliometric Analysis of the 200 Most Cited Articles in WORLD NEUROSURGERY.

Background: WORLD NEUROSURGERY (WN) is among the most influential peer-reviewed neurosurgery journals and has had an explicitly global focus historically. The goal of the current study was to perform quantitative bibliographic and social network analyses to identify key contributors and trends influencing article citation patterns.

Methods: WN articles were searched using Web of Science and the sampling frame January 1, 1990, to June 18, 2020. Articles were sorted in decreasing order of total citations; the 200 most cited articles were included. BibExcel was used to calculate the H-index of the authors of the top 200 most cited articles; VOSViewer was used to visualize networks by document, author, and keyword.

Results: Twenty-one individual authors published at least 2 first-author articles within the 200 most cited manuscripts, including Hakuba (4 articles), Jaaskelainen (4 articles), Cho (3 articles), and Rhoton (3 articles). Authors with the highest H-index were Hernesniemi (5), Rhoton (4), Jaaskelainen (4), Hakuba (4), and Ausman (4). Articles by Huang (2006), Wieser (1982), and Foo (1981) had the largest number of links to other articles (connections between nodes). Ausman articles demonstrated the highest number of collaborations with coauthors who had also published top 200 articles. The most prevalent topics among included articles were neuro-oncology in the 1990s, cerebrovascular in the early 2000s, and skull base in the 2010s.

Conclusions: Bibliographic analysis suggests that WN has published a wide range of novel and impactful research studies in neurosurgery, which collectively demonstrate strong collaborative trends in association with advancement of new tools and techniques in all aspects of neurosurgery.