title: Top-cited articles in digestive system disease from 1950 to 2013.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Examination of top-cited articles is a tool that can help to identify and monitor outstanding scientific researches and landmark papers. We aimed to identify the 100 most cited published papers in peer-reviewed biomedical journals in the field of digestive diseases and to examine their characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Web of Science (including Science Citation Index) was searched for the most cited papers related to digestive diseases, published from 1955 to the present. The top 100 most cited articles were identified. The number of citations, countries, and institutions of origin, year of publication, study design, topic, and levels of evidence of the articles were noted and analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most top-cited articles had a mean of 1375 citations. These articles were published between 1978 and 2009 in 29 high-impact journals, with the New England Journal of Medicine (n = 22) topping the list. Of the 100 articles, 34 were clinical studies, 15 were review articles, and 34 were concerned basic science. These articles came from 18 countries, with the USA contributing most of the top-cited articles (n = 53). Eighty-seven institutions produced these 100 top-cited articles, led by the University of Barcelona (n = 4). Seven persons authored two or more of these top-cited articles. The mostly represented specialty was gastrointestinal oncology (n = 49).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study can give a historical perspective on the scientific progress of digestive diseases, as well as allow for recognition of most important advances in this area and provide useful information to guide future researches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Fangfang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiaomei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Silin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Fachao
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhi
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D001635:Bibliography of Medicine; D004066:Digestive System Diseases; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005762:Gastroenterology / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D012107:Research Design; D013030:Spain; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: bibliometrics; citation analysis; digestive disease; landmark article; publication