Publication trends in pediatric renal transplantation: Bibliometric analysis of literature from 1950 to 2017.

Abstract

Pediatric renal transplantation has been heavily published since the 1950s. Herein, we describe the bibliometrics and impact of the 200 most-cited pediatric renal transplantation manuscripts. We identified pediatric renal transplantation publications from 1900 onwards. Year, citations, h-index, geographic origin, impact factor, topic, and design of the 200 top-cited papers were extracted. Impact index was calculated, adjusting for citation volume and time since publication. Of the top 200 papers, mean citation count was 80±40, impact factor 3.9±3.7, h-index 35±20, and impact index 25±13. Studies were mostly retrospective (31%) or observational (32%). Most papers originated from the United States (58%), Germany (9%), and Italy (6%), which did not correlate with citation counts. Transplantation (18%), Pediatric Nephrology (16%), and American Journal of Transplantation (11%) had the highest publication volume, which did not correlate with citation count. The main topics were medical renal disease, drug monitoring, compliance, and viruses. Most of the top-cited papers (179; 90%) were published after 1991. The difference in the number of times cited between papers published before and after 1991 was insignificant (75±24 vs 80±42; P=0.59). There was a difference in impact index for the same period (48±15 vs 22±10; P<0.01). The most-cited papers were concentrated in three journals, but the top three cited papers were published elsewhere. Recent publications were more cited with a higher impact than older papers. Despite the importance of surgery in transplantation, there is a paucity of high-impact papers on this topic.