Title- Breast Cancer Research. Ageing as Predisposing Factor

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to analyze 100 most cited articles in breast cancer research.

Materials and Methods: The data in this study were obtained by a search conducted on the Web of Science (WOS). In brief, the term “breast cancer” was typed in the search box of WOS basic research including all the years and the data. The analysis was carried out by compiling the top 100 cited articles in the shortlist as sorted by the journals, categories of the studies, the countries, the centers, the authors and the publication date. No statistical methods were used in the study. All data were reported as percentages, numbers and bar charts on tables.

Introduction

There has been a growing increase in the incidence of breast cancer, which is still the most significant cancer-related cause of female mor- tality. In spite of significant progress in the management of breast cancer, the search for a curative treatment is still ongoing. Although a number of crucial studies and clinical trials have significantly contributed to the improvement of breast cancer care, many often remain unknown to the majority of clinicians, suggesting a need to identify at least the top 100 most cited studies in the field. Actually, in the past, there were a couple of studies which identified the most cited articles in several fields such as digestive disease and psychology, which helped the researchers in this field to easily access them. This identification is important because the decisions made by the clini- cians are generally based on the evidence and the studies with a high impact. The most significant component of the methodological qualities of studies is associated with an increase of citation and a high impact factor of the journal where it is published. The object of this study was to identify and analyze the qualities of the top 100 cited papers in breast cancer-related studies.

Materials and Methods

The data in this study were obtained by a search conducted on the Web of Science (WOS) (Clarivate Analytics, United States). The journals indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded were included. There were no restrictions on the journals. The Science Citation Index Expanded in WOS covers more than 8,500 notable and major journals encompassing 150 disciplines. The coverage time extends from 1900 to the present. The term “ Breast cancer ” was typed into the search box of WOS basic research with the selection of all the years and the data were searched in Title setting. Our search produced 189.235 published articles between 1978-2017. Thereafter, they were listed based on the citation frequency-from the highest to the lowest. The analysis was carried out by compiling the Top 100 cited classical articles in a shortlist as sorted by the journals,

categories of the studies, countries, centers where the studies were published, authors and publication date. Since this was not invasive study, an approval from the ethical committee was not requested. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Discussion and Conclusion

Bibliometric analysis can be conducted in many areas for different pur- poses (8, 9) and can be used to reveal the historical development in a field (9). In this study, we aimed to identify the top 100 most cited articles in breast cancer research to help researchers easily access and analyze them. In that respect, this study is one of the early studies under the title of breast cancer.

Results: Our findings showed that the most frequently cited article received 7609 citations to date. Most articles were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. 81% of the studies originated from the USA. The National Institutes of Health (NIH USA) was ranked the first with 21% and it was followed by Harvard University in terms of number of published articles. 42% of the articles were published under the category of medicine and general internal medicine. Conclusion: Top 100 most cited articles originated from the United States. The highest number of articles among the top 100 articles were published in New England Journal of Medicine and National Institutes of Health NIH USA was the leading institutes published the most articles.

References

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2. World Cancer Report ” . International Agency for Research on Cancer. 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2011.

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4. Loomes DE, van Zanten SV. Bibliometrics of the top 100 clinical ar- ticles in digestive disease. Gastroenterology 2013; 144: 673-676. (PMID:23439236) [CrossRef ]