Classic articles in apoptotic research : A bibliometric analysis

Background: Classic articles are defined as research papers with a total citation of one thousand or more. The present study is to identify and analyse the characteristics of the classic articles in apoptosis research. Method: Classic articles with total of 1,000 or more citations from Web of Science Core Collection since year of publication to the end of 2017 were basically assessed regarding their document types, languages, journals, and Web of Science categories within 1900 to 2017. Result: The study showed 418 classic documents in apoptotic research including 260 articles published between 1972 and 2012. The most productive Web of Science category was multidisciplinary sciences. Nature published most of these classic articles followed by Cell, and Science. The most productive country and institution were United States and Harvard University respectively. The author S.J. Korsmeyer from Harvard University was the most productive in apoptosis field and published 13 classic apoptosis articles while the author J.C Reed had more potential to publish classic apoptosis articles in future. The author J.C. Reed and V.A. Fadok had equal potential to publish the same number of classic articles as first and corresponding author. Article of Kerr et al. in 1972 was the most popular and cited apoptosis article. The most impact article in 2017 was article entitled “Tumor-associated B7-H1 promotes T-cell apoptosis: A potential mechanism of immune evasion” by Dong et al. in 2002. Conclusion: This study identified the most industrious authors, institutions, and countries in the field of apoptosis research. It also revealed the historical and discoveries related to the pathophysiology of apoptosis as well as the most impact publications on apoptotic studies.