Face transplantation: a bibliometric analysis of the top 100 most cited articles

BackgroundSince the first face transplant procedure was performed in 2005, hundreds of publications have been published on the topic. In this bibliometric analysis we identify the key influential studies, based on citation power, in the field of face transplantation and summarize their content and characteristics.MethodsThe Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science database was searched for the topic "face transplantation." We applied no limitations on publication date, language, or article length. The top 100 publications accruing the most citations were identified and information on title, year, journal, first and corresponding author, institution, country of corresponding author, methodology, and topic focus were extracted.ResultsOf the top 100, most papers were published in 2011 (n = 11), with the publication years ranging between 2002 and 2019. Eight themes were identified, including ethics and psychology and post-operative outcomes. The most common theme was post-operative outcomes. Most publications had a clinical focus (n = 67), with only 11 being basic science. The country with the highest number of publications was the USA (n = 68), pooling a total of 3509 citations. The department with the highest number of publications was the Department of Plastic Surgery of Cleveland Clinic (n = 22).ConclusionThis analysis outlines the most influential publications in the field of face transplantation, providing a novel perspective on the field. These 100 publications reflect the progression of the field and outline significant advances in face transplantation. The analysis summarizes the trends occurring in the field and can help guide future academic research.Level of evidence: Not ratable.