Citation Analysis of the Most Influential Publications in Travel Medicine

Introduction: Citation analysis reflects the extent to which published work has been recognized in the scientific community. The purpose of this study was to characterize the most cited publications in travel medicine.Methods: Travel medicine articles indexed on Scopus which had been published in the English language through 2016 were retrieved independently by two researchers using various search terms. Eligible articles with at least 50 citations were ranked according to citation count. Additional information was recorded, including authorship, year of publication, journal, journal impact factor, source country, institution of origin, category of article, level of evidence and principal article theme.Results: Among the 174 most cited articles, the greatest number of citations recorded was 1217 for an original research article published in 2013. The most productive decade for most cited articles was 2000-2010. Of the articles, 122 were original research, 47 were reviews, and 5 were of other article types. The top-ranked author published 15 articles among the most cited. The most prolific institution among the most influential papers was based in Munich, Germany. Nine broad themes emerged from the most cited publication list, with air travel (29), malaria (26), post-travel assessment (16), travelers’ diarrhea (14), and high altitude illness (13) being the most prominent subjects.Conclusion: Travel medicine research has proliferated since the founding of the discipline in the 1970s. This first citation analysis of travel medicine research provides an historical perspective and highlights sources of greatest influence on the travel medicine community.