Top 100 Cited Articles on Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background: Research performance is evaluated by bibliometric analysis of citations, and this can help to identify the most impactful articles in the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We conducted a bibliometric analysis to identify scholarly impact and factors associated with the top 100 cited articles on HSCT.

Methods: Thomas Reuters Web of Science core collection (WoS) was accessed in January 2021 and a title-specific search was conducted using the keywords "hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation ", "transplantation, hematopoietic stem cell," "stem cell transplantation, hematopoietic," "bone-marrow transplantation," "transplantation, bone marrow," "grafting, bone marrow," "transplantation bone marrow cell," "bone marrow cell transplantation," "stem cell transplant," "allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant," "autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant". Non-Human and non-HSCT studies were excluded. A total of 39,406 records were identified and a list of the top 100 articles was made. Articles included in our study were characterized by the number of citations, year of publication, topic, study design, authors, h-index, and institutions. Data were analyzed using SPSS in April 2021. Bivariate analyses, using chi-square and t-test, and linear regression analyses were performed.

Results: The 100 most cited articles in the field were published over 52 years from 1968 to 2020, with a maximum number of articles (n=40) published in the 1990s decade. Top-100 articles were cited 62,002 times with a median citation count of 465 (range 336-2240). The top-cited articles originated from 12 countries and the United States (US) contributed 69 articles. The University of Washington Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (n=15) was the leading institution. Blood (n=32) and New England Journal of Medicine (n=31) made the greatest contribution, and 41 manuscripts were clinical trials. In a multivariate regression model, the first author's h-index (regression coefficient 5.46, 95% confidence interval 2.99-7.93, p<0.001) correlated with the citation count while gender, journal impact factor, years since publication, and the number of authors did not have a significant association.

Conclusion: Our study highlights the most influential articles on clinical HSCT, centralization of research to North American and European institutions, and provides valuable insight for future research needs of the specialty.

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