Authors and other experts reflect on the articles that made Journal history
From flares to hotpants to shoulder pads, we all know how fashions change over time: but what about trends in citations? Ten years ago, as part of the 90th birthday celebrations of the Medical Journal of Australia, then Deputy Editor Ann Gregory examined the top 10 most-cited articles as of 2004.1 Now celebrating our 100th birthday, the current editorial team have looked again at the most-cited articles, using the Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) citation analysis tool, which examines citations from 1949 to 2014 (Box). Since 2004, Cade2 has been supplanted in the number one position by the Quality in Australian Health Care Study,3 although Cade remains in the top 10. The new entrants in many ways reflect current issues in health care: the rise in awareness of non-communicable diseases such as obesity and mental illness; the challenge of innovation in health care delivery; and the greater value placed on quality evidence from clinical trials in medicine. Several authors of the top 10 articles and other experts in their respective fields have submitted short perspectives on their top 10 articles. We invite you to toast their success: a glass of Helicobacter pylori is optional.
