The 100 most-cited articles in neuroimaging: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to identify and characterize the 100 most-cited articles in neuroimaging. Based on the database of Journal Citation Reports, we selected 669 journals that were considered as potential outlets for neuroimaging articles. The Web of Science search tools were used to identify the 100 most-cited articles relevant to neuroimaging within the selected journals. The following information was recorded for each article: publication year, journal, category and impact factor of journal, number of citations, number of annual citations, authorship, department, institution, country, article type, imaging technique used, and topic. The 100 most-cited articles in neuroimaging were published between 1980 and 2012, with 1995–2004 producing 69 articles. Citations ranged from 4384 to 673 and annual citations ranged from 313.1 to 24.9. The majority of articles were published in radiology/imaging journals (n=75), originated in the United States (n=58), were original articles (n=63), used MRI as imaging modality (n=85), and dealt with imaging technique (n=45). The Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain at John Radcliffe Hospital (n=10) was the leading institutions and Karl J. Friston (n=11) was the most prolific author. Our study presents a detailed list and an analysis of the 100 most-cited articles in the field of neuroimaging, which provides an insight into historical developments and allows for recognition of the important advances in this field.