From Past Achievements to Future Hotspots: Bibliometric View of Influential Studies on Microfracture Research

Microfracture has historically been considered an acceptable method for treating cartilage defects. A substantial body of literature on this technique has accumulated over the past few decades. Citation metrics serve as a critical tool for assessing scholarly impact and prompting scientific developments. The aim of this study was to analyze the top 100 most‐cited articles in this field.

Accessible articles published from inception to 2023 were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection database. The top 100 publications were identified and analyzed in terms of citation count, year of publication, authorship, citation density (citations per article age), journal, impact factor, geographic origin, evidence level, study design, and institutional affiliation.

Citation counts for the included articles ranged from 945 to 51, with citation densities between 49.7 and 2.9. Publication years spanned from 1999 to 2019. Randomized controlled trials were the most common study design, while Level Ⅳ represented the most frequent evidence level. “Autologous chondrocyte implantation,” “osteochondral autograft transplantation,” and “arthroscopic treatment” have emerged as current focal points in the field.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the top 100 most‐cited articles on microfracture. Compared with prior bibliometric studies in orthopedics, influential articles on microfracture showed a higher proportion of Level Ⅰ and Ⅱ evidence. These findings offer valuable insights into the development of microfracture research and may help clinicians efficiently identify the foundational literature in the field.