A bibliometric analysis of top 100 most-cited articles in dentistry with author(s) affiliated with Taiwan institutes

BACKGROUND Citation analysis can provide a historical perspective in the advancement of research, evolution, and areas of research. Taiwan exhibits rigorous academic and scientific activities in dentistry; however, based on its empirical contribution in research, there is no report in the literature analyzing the top-cited articles published by authors affiliated with Taiwan institutes. The purpose of this study was to analyze the citation characteristics of the top 100 most-cited articles published in dentistry with author(s) affiliated with Taiwan institutes. METHODS The Scopus database was used to search the qualified articles with authors from Taiwan published in journals. The bibliometric parameters, including year of publication, study design, research fields, citation half-life, self-citation, institute of origin, and international collaboration were analyzed. Multivariable linear regression in generalized linear model was used to find associate factors related to trends of citation counts. RESULTS The top 100 most-cited articles were determined by analyzing 7667 articles from the Scopus database. The steadily increasing trends were observed in the number and percentage of articles of author(s) affiliated with Taiwan institutes to the world. The most common study design was the in vitro research (55 %). The majority citation half-life is 3-5 and 6-8 years, and self-citation counts were between one to five times (n = 26). The percentage of international collaboration of these most-cited articles was 32%, and the main collaboration country was the United States. By using multivariable linear regression in the generalized linear model, the associated factors, study design, and self-citation were significantly associated with the escalating trends of citation counts. CONCLUSION This is the first study that provides valuable information in the dentistry regarding the academic activity, and empirical contribution of author(s) affiliated with Taiwan institutes in the world. The trends of citation characteristics were significantly correlated with study design and self-citation of these articles.