Background: Pediatric minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is a standard technique worldwide. We aimed to analyze the research activity in this field. Methods: Articles on pediatric MIS (1991–2020) were analyzed from the Web of Science™ for the total number of publications, citations, journals, and impact factors (IF). Of these, the 50 most cited publications were evaluated in detail and classified according to the level of evidence (i.e., study design) and topic (i.e., surgical procedure). Results: In total, 4464 publications and 53,111 citations from 684 journals on pediatric MIS were identified. The 50 most cited papers were published from 32 institutions in the USA/Canada (n = 28), Europe (n = 19), and Asia (n = 3) in 12 journals. Four authors (USA/Europe) contributed to 26% of the 50 most cited papers as first/senior author. Hot topics were laparoscopic pyeloplasty (n = 9), inguinal hernia repair (n = 7), appendectomy, and pyloromyotomy (n = 4 each). The majority of publications were retrospective studies (n = 33) and case reports (n = 6) (IF 5.2 ± 3.2; impact index 16.5 ± 6.4; citations 125 ± 39.4). They were cited as often as articles with high evidence levels (meta-analyses, n = 2; randomized controlled trials, n = 7; prospective studies, n = 2) (IF 12.9 ± 22.5; impact index 14.0 ± 6.5; citations 125 ± 34.7; p > 0.05). Conclusions: Publications on laparoscopic pyeloplasty, inguinal hernia repair, appendectomy, and pyloromyotomy are cited most often in pediatric MIS. However, the relevant number of studies with strong evidence for the advantages of MIS in pediatric surgery is missing.

Background: The publication citation number incarnates the impact of the article in a special research field. Bibliometric analysis regarding the top cited publications has been extensively used in orthopedics and its subspecialties. Whereas， to our knowledge, no bibliometric analysis in clubfoot research area has been made. We aimed to identify and analyze the characteristics of the top 50 cited publications on clubfoot. Methods: Publications on clubfoot from 1945 to 2022 were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) core collection database. Different aspects of top 50 cited articles, including titles, journals, authors, decades, citation number, institutions, countries, topics, study types, evidence levels, impact factor, impact index were recorded and analyzed.Results: The top 50 cited papers were published from 1962 to 2011 with total citation number ranged from 380 to 63. The 2000s was the most productive decade. Fifteen journals constituted of top 50 publications. United States hold the majority of originated countries, followed by United Kingdom and France. Outcome was the most popular topic discussed. Level III was the most common evidence level in top 50 cited articles. Clinical studies constituted the most of publications.Conclusions: This study may present valuable insights into the development of clubfoot research and provide help for researchers who want to obtain the important information on the classic publications.

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