ReviewJournal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews2026
Characteristics of the Top 50 Most Cited Orthopaedic Surgery Articles on Malpractice and Litigation: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Literature.
Review in Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMalpractice litigation shapes orthopaedic practice and has notable financial implications. Orthopaedic surgeons face disproportionately high claim exposure. The primary aim was to identify and characterize the 50 most-cited articles on orthopaedic malpractice and describe trends in topic, geographical region, institution, and impact.
methodsA bibliometric analysis was done for the most-cited orthopaedic malpractice or litigation articles using all Web of Science databases. Articles were included if their primary focus was orthopaedic malpractice. Articles addressing informed consent, defensive medicine, or orthopaedic-related procedures without explicit reference to malpractice or litigation were excluded.
resultsThe top 50 articles on orthopaedic malpractice accrued 1967 citations (mean 39 ± 24, range 18 to 127) with mean citations per year (CPY) of 3.4 ± 1.8. Publications peaked in 2018 (n = 9). Annual citations generally increased over time, while citation density declined. The most common malpractice articles clustered into total joint arthroplasty (26%), spine (22%), and general orthopaedic malpractice (22%). Most papers originated in the United States (64%); among US articles, the Northeast produced the largest share (47%). Articles with a J.D. author (18%) had higher mean citations compared with those without (55.9 ± 38.4 vs 35.7 ± 17.7), though not statistically significant (P = 0.294).
conclusionInfluential orthopaedic malpractice or litigation scholarship concentrates in arthroplasty and spine, increasingly leverages database-driven methods, and is geographically centered in the US Northeast region. Rising citation activity alongside decreasing citation density indicates a maturing yet expanding field of orthopaedic malpractice literature. Malpractice articles can inform clinical risk mitigation and may shape future insurance policy changes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.