title: Highest Impact Articles in Microsurgery: A Citation Analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Microsurgery has developed significantly since the inception of the first surgical microscope. There have been few attempts to describe "classic" microsurgery articles. In this study citation analysis was done to identify the most highly cited clinical and basic science articles published in five peer-reviewed plastic surgery journals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thomson/Reuters web of knowledge was used to identify the most highly cited microsurgery articles from five journals: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Annals of Plastic Surgery, Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery, and Microsurgery. Articles were identified and sorted based on the number of citations and citations per year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 50 most cited clinical and basic science articles were identified. For clinical articles, number of total citations ranged from 120 to 691 (mean, 212.38) and citations per year ranged from 30.92 to 3.05 (mean, 9.33). The most common defect site was the head and neck (n = 15, 30%), and flaps were perforator and muscle/musculocutaneous flaps (n = 10 each, 20%, respectively). For basic science articles, number of citations ranged from 71 to 332 (mean, 130.82) and citations per year ranged from 2.20 to 11.07 (mean, 5.27). There were 27 animal, 21 cadaveric, and 2 combined studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The most highly cited microsurgery articles are a direct reflection of the educational and clinical trends. Awareness of the most frequently cited articles may serve as a basis for core knowledge in the education of plastic surgery trainees.
  
  
  METHODS
  III.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Kuylhee
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Ahmed M S
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Pieter G L
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Koolen
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Mark K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Markarian
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Bernard T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Samuel J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015706:Bibliometrics; D006801:Humans; D008866:Microsurgery