The 50 most cited manuscripts by Indian periodontists: a citation analysis of PubMed database.

BACKGROUND Personality of a scientific publication enhances after receiving citations which in turn reflect its recognition and impact on science. There are no reported citation analyses of publications in Indian context. OBJECTIVES Analyze citations received by publications of Indian periodontists available with Pubmed database which were published till 1st March, 2012 and to select top-50-cited articles based on Pubmed citations till 15th May, 2012. METHODS Studies were identified by running select search-phrases on Pubmed search. Search inputs included, 'dental', 'oral', etc. A parallel search with above phrases including 'India' was also done for India-specific publications. All publications with available abstracts were analyzed for selected parameters and their citability. The citable articles were then individually searched for citations using various databases, and citations were analyzed. RESULTS The total number of articles published was 764 out of that citable articles were 585. The total number of Pubmed citations was 1033 for 248 cited articles. The citations received to articles in International journals (2.72 citations/article) were significantly more than National journals (0.67 citations/article). Out of top 50 most cited articles, 38 (76%) were published in journals with impact factors. CONCLUSION Although articles without citations outnumbered articles with citations, the articles published by Indian periodontists in international journals were moderately acknowledged by non-Indian authors. The articles published in national journals, to the most part were barely noticed. The articles published in journals with impact factors tend to receive maximum citations and these articles have high probability to top the list of most cited articles. IMPLICATIONS Developing nations are also progressing in right directions and are catching up with developed nations, albeit to smaller scales. There is a need to publish more and more cutting edge research manuscripts in national and international reputed journals.