Highly cited Antarctic articles using Science Citation Index Expanded: a bibliometric analysis

This study aimed to identify and analyze the characteristics of the highly cited articles in Antarctic field using Science Citation Index Expanded from 1900 to 2012. Articles that have been cited more than 100 times since publication to 2012 were assessed. The analyzed aspects covered distribution of annual production, annual citations, journals, categories, countries/territories, institutions, authors, and research focuses and trends by words in title, author keywords, and KeyWords Plus. A total of 852 highly cited articles were published from 1959 to 2011, cited a mean number of 181 citations per article. Two famous journals: Nature and Science led 184 journals. Typically, the exploration of Antarctic needs multidisciplinary science, also involving more collaboration. The USA with the greatest manpower, took the lead position among 48 countries, while National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the USA and British Antarctic Survey of the UK were the two most productive institutions. European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica Community was active in Antarctic research. Moreover, the comprehensive analysis of keywords revealed that sea ice, Southern Ocean, climate change, and ozone depletion were recent focuses and would receive more citations in the near future. In addition, citations in the first 3 years after publication (TC (3)), in 2012 (C (2012)), and since publication to 2012 (TC (2012)), and citations per year of each article (TCPY) were used to characterize the citation patterns and citation life of most cited articles.