The 50 Highest Cited Papers on Rotator Cuff Tear.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the 50 most cited articles on rotator cuff tear and their characteristics. METHODS: Thomson ISI Web of Science was searched for the following search terms "rotator cuff" and "tear." The following characteristics were determined for each article author(s), year of publication, source journal, geographic origin, article type (and subtype), and level of evidence for clinical articles. RESULTS: The number of citations ranged from 1558 to 253. The 50 most often cited articles were published in 7 journals. The majority of the articles (n = 46) were clinical, with the remaining representing some type of basic science research. Among clinical articles, the case series (n = 23) was the most common article subtype. Nine articles were methodologic in that they proposed a new classification/scoring system or technique. The most common level of evidence was Level IV (n = 31). CONCLUSION: This article provides clinicians, researchers, and trainees with a group of articles that should be taken into consideration as building blocks in the treatment of rotator cuff tears. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Level IV, literature review.