1670 The 50 Most Cited Manuscripts in Paediatric Robotic Surgery: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Robotic assisted surgery is increasingly utilised in paediatric surgery. The purpose of this study was to establish a ranking of the 50 most frequently cited articles addressing this subject and analyse their bibliometric characteristics. Method Articles related to paediatric robotic surgery were searched in The Web of Science citation indexing database utilising defined search terms. Results were filtered to include only English language and full manuscripts. The dataset was then ranked by the absolute number of citations and analysed by the journal of publication, impact factor of the journal, title of publication, article type, year of publication, first and senior author, geographic origin, and level of evidence. Results The search yielded a total of 352 papers which were ranked in order of citations. The 50 highest cited articles had 2669 citations cumulatively. The most cited article by Lee, RS et al had a citation count of 207. The publication years spanned from 2002 to 2018. 2013 saw the greatest number of publications on this topic. Most articles were of the ‘’Clinical science’’ type. Geographically the USA accounted for most of these publications. All published articles demonstrated a high level of evidence. Conclusions The 50 articles identified in this study are clearly influential in this new and evolving field of surgery. Identification of these seminal papers is intended to assist clinicians and scientists in formulating an overview of current and developing trends in this cutting-edge discipline as well as providing a foundational basis for further discussion and future research.