The top 50 most-cited articles on total ankle arthroplasty: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Total Ankle Arthroplasty (TAA) is a relatively new and evolving field in Foot and Ankle surgery. We conducted a citation analysis to identify the characteristics of the top 50 most cited articles on total ankle arthroplasty. Using the Web of Science database and the search strategy total ankle arthroplasty OR total ankle replacement, we identified 2445 articles. After filtering for relevant articles, the top 50 cited articles on total ankle arthroplasty were retrieved for descriptive and statistical analysis. The publication years ranged from 1979 to 2013. USA was the most productive country in terms of research output, followed by the UK. Though citation analysis has its flaws, this is a comprehensive list of the top 50 articles significantly impacting literature on total ankle arthroplasty. Based on our study, we conclude that there is marked deficiency of high level articles with respect to the number of citations and future researches need to cater to this question to produce high quality studies.