title: H-classic: a new method to identify classic articles in Implant Dentistry, Periodontics, and Oral Surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The study of classic papers permits analysis of the past, present, and future of a specific area of knowledge. This type of analysis is becoming more frequent and more sophisticated. Our objective was to use the H-classics method, based on the h-index, to analyze classic papers in Implant Dentistry, Periodontics, and Oral Surgery (ID, P, and OS).
  
  
  METHODS
  First, an electronic search of documents related to ID, P, and OS was conducted in journals indexed in Journal Citation Reports (JCR) 2014 within the category 'Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine'. Second, Web of Knowledge databases were searched using Mesh terms related to ID, P, and OS. Finally, the H-classics method was applied to select the classic articles in these disciplines, collecting data on associated research areas, document type, country, institutions, and authors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 267,611 documents related to ID, P, and OS retrieved from JCR journals (2014), 248 were selected as H-classics. They were published in 35 journals between 1953 and 2009, most frequently in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology (18.95%), the Journal of Periodontology (18.54%), International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Implants (9.27%), and Clinical Oral Implant Research (6.04%). These classic articles derived from the USA in 49.59% of cases and from Europe in 47.58%, while the most frequent host institution was the University of Gothenburg (17.74%) and the most frequent authors were J. Lindhe (10.48%) and S. Socransky (8.06%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The H-classics approach offers an objective method to identify core knowledge in clinical disciplines such as ID, P, and OS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Surgery and Implant Dentistry, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9195-9679
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De la Flor-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Surgery and Implant Dentistry, University of Granada, Granada, Spain. pgalindo@ugr.es.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Galindo-Moreno
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Surgery and Implant Dentistry, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Fernández
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oral & Biotechnological Science, G d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piattelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel Jesus
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cobo
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Herrera-Viedma
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D019992:Databases as Topic; D015921:Dental Implants / Q000266:history*; D006665:History of Dentistry; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D010517:Periodontics / Q000266:history*; D013515:Surgery, Oral / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D015921:Dental Implants
keywords: citation classics; dental implant; dentistry; h-index; oral surgery; periodontics