Top 100 most-cited clinical trials and systematic reviews related to children and adolescents’ oral health

Abstract

Aim: To identify and analyze the 100 most-cited clinical trials (CTs) and systematic reviews (SRs) related to children and adolescents’ oral health. Methods: A search was conducted in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS-CC), using a specific search strategy. Papers were ranked in descending order, considering number of citations. Only CTs and SRs were considered. Two reviewers selected the papers and collected the bibliometric data: year of publication; number and density of citations; study designs; journals; authors; countries and institutions; topics of study; and keywords. Poisson regression was performed to verify associations between the number of citations and bibliometric parameters. Results: The 100 most-cited papers were published between 1982 and 2018 and received a total of 8,702 citations in the WoS-CC (ranging from 52 to 177). Fifty-three papers were CTs and 47 SRs. The American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics published the most papers (n=20). Twetman S contributed the highest number of papers (n=7). The United States of America was the most prolific country (n = 17), followed by the Netherlands (n=11). The University of Nijmegen (Netherlands) presented 8 papers among the most-cited. The main topic of interest was Cariology (n = 40). “Dental Caries” was the most frequent keyword (n = 20). The citations’ number from WoS-CC decreased by 1.3% each year (RP: 0.987, 95%CI: 0.975–1.000, p = 0.048). Conclusion: This bibliometric study allowed an analysis of the most-cited CTs and SRs related to children and adolescents’ oral health, highlighting the most prolific authors, institutions and countries based on the number of citations.