Review article (meta-analysis)
Top-Cited Articles in Rehabilitation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2010.01.011Get rights and content

Abstract

Shadgan B, Roig M, HajGhanbari B, Reid WD. Top-cited articles in rehabilitation.

Objective

To identify the 100 top-cited articles ever published in rehabilitation journals and to analyze their characteristics as a quantitative approach to investigating the quality and evolution of rehabilitation research.

Data Sources

The Institute for Scientific Information Web of Knowledge Database and the 2007 and 2008 Journal Citation Report Science Editions were used to retrieve the 100 top-cited articles from 30 rehabilitation dedicated journals.

Study Selection

The 100 top-cited articles included randomized controlled trials, case-control studies, case series studies, case reports, methodologic studies, systematic reviews, narrative reviews, and expert opinions.

Data Extraction

Two independent reviewers performed data extraction from the retrieved articles and compared their results. The Sackett's initial rules of evidence were used to categorize the type of study design as well as to evaluate the level of evidence provided by the results of the 100 top-cited articles.

Data Synthesis

Among the 45,700 articles published in these journals, the 100 top-cited articles were published between 1959 and 2002 with an average of 200 citations an article (range, 131–1109). Top-cited articles were all English-language, primarily from North America (United States=67%; Canada=11%) and published in 11 journals led by the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Eighty-four percent of the articles were original publications and were most commonly prospective (76%) case series studies (67%) that used human subjects (96%) providing level 4 evidence. Neurorehabilitation (41%), disability (19%), and biomechanics (18%) were the most common fields of study.

Conclusions

We demonstrated that methodologic observational studies performed in North America and published in English have had the highest citations in rehabilitation journals.

Section snippets

Data Extraction

In February 2009, the 100 top-cited articles in rehabilitation were retrieved using the search tools within the ISI Web of Knowledge Database. According to the scope notes of the Science Citation Index Expanded, rehabilitation is a science category covering topics relevant to therapy tailored to aid in the recovery or enhancement of physical, cognitive, or social abilities that have been diminished by birth defect, disease, injury, or aging.22 Journals under subject category of rehabilitation

Journals, Authors, and Publication Dates of Top-Cited Articles

The 100 top-cited articles were published in 11 of the 30 identified rehabilitation journals, as listed in table 1. Journal name and the respective impact factor and the number of top-cited articles are listed in table 2. The Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation had the most top-cited articles, followed by Physical Therapy and the American Journal of Physical Rehabilitation. The publication dates of the 100 top-cited articles are shown in figure 1. The year 1987 (n=10) was the one

Discussion

One hundred top-cited rehabilitation articles were published in 11 of 30 journals that were classified under the rehabilitation subject heading in the JCRSE of the ISI Web of Knowledge database (see table 2). Among them, the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy published 80% of the top-cited articles, a finding that is in agreement with the previous observations of Bohannon and Roberts in 1986 and Bohannon in 1989.1, 25 Ninety-seven percent of the 100 top-cited

Conclusions

To our knowledge, this is the first report of the top-cited articles in rehabilitation science. Findings of this study suggest that observational, methodologic studies focused on a musculoskeletal or neuromuscular topic, published in high-impact English language rehabilitation journals, are the most likely to be well cited in the field of rehabilitation research. Our observations also suggest that citation rate is not a direct measure of the impact or importance of a particular scholarly work

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    Supported by the British Columbia Lung Association, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

    No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.

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    Copyright © 2010 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.