Highly cited papers in dental medicine based on essential science indicators

Introduction/Objective. Essential Science Indicators (ESI) Highly Cited Papers (HCPs) refer to the most influential scientific articles and breakthrough research within a research field in the past decade. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of ESI HCPs in the subject category Dentistry, Oral Surgery and Medicine, to recognize authors, institutions and countries of origin, and determine research trends that attracted the most scientific interest in dentistry. Methods. A descriptive analysis of bibliographic data, network extraction and visualization were completed. Furthermore, analyzed ESI HCPs were classified according to a field of interest, main research domain, type of study, and level of evidence. Results. The set of 185 dental HCPs was published in 42 journals from 2010 to 2020, with an average number of 211.7 citations per paper. Nearly half of HCPs were issued by the Journal of Dental Research, Dental Materials, and Journal of Clinical Periodontology. There were 765 authors affiliated with 351 institutions from 42 countries. The most productive institutions were the University of Hong Kong, the University of Michigan, and the University of Bern. The United States of America contributed with the highest number of publications, followed by China, and the United Kingdom. Dental materials, dental implantology, periodontology, and oral and maxillofacial surgery represented areas of significant interest within this subject category. The highest proportion of HCPs were narrative and systematic reviews, expert opinions, consensus reports, and in vitro оr lab studies. Conclusion. Results obtained from this study can provide valuable information for researchers to better identify present and future hotspots in dental research.