The Most Influential Papers in Infectious Meningitis Research: A Bibliometric Study

Background: Bibliometric analyses allow detecting citation trends within a field, including assessments of the most cited journals, countries, institutions, topics, types of study, and authors. Objective: The aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of the 100 most cited papers within infectious meningitis research. Materials and Methods: The 100 most cited publications and their data were retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science during 2019. Results: The New England Journal of Medicine had the greatest number of articles (27) and citations (12,266) in the top 100. Articles were mainly published after the late 1980s. Bacteria were the most discussed agents (72 articles and 26,362 citations), but Cryptococcus sp represented the most-discussed single agent (16 articles and 6,617 citations). Primary research represented 70 articles and 25,754 citations. Among them, the most discussed topic was Clinical Features and Diagnosis/ Outcomes (22 articles and 8,325 citations). Among the 27 secondary research articles, the most common type of study was Narrative Review (18 articles and 5,685 citations). The United States was the country with the greatest number of articles (56) and citations (21,388). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Yale University had the greatest number of articles (six each), being CDC the most cited (3,559). Conclusions: The most cited articles within meningitis research are primary research studies, more frequently published in high IF journals and by North American institutions. Bacterial meningitis comprises the majority of publications. The articles were mainly published after the AIDS pandemic and after the implementation of the main vaccines for meningitis.