The 100 most-cited manuscripts in epilepsy epigenetics: a bibliometric analysis

PURPOSE: The top citation article reflects the developmental milestone of a given field. The purpose of this bibliometric analysis was to identify and assess the 100 most-cited (T100) articles on the epigenetics mechanism of epilepsy. METHODS: The Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database was used to investigate, and search terms related to epilepsy epigenetics were compiled. Results were ranked according to citation number. The publication year, citation density, authorship, journal, country, institution, manuscript type, theme, and clinical topics were further evaluated. RESULTS: The Web of Science search returned a total of 1231 manuscripts. The number of citations for a manuscript ranges from 739 to 75. The greatest number of manuscripts in the top 100 was published in the Human Molecular Genetics and Neurobiology of Disease (n = 4). The journal with the highest 2021 impact factor was Nature Medicine (IF = 87.244). The most-cited paper by Aid et al. reported a new nomenclature for mouse and rat BDNF gene and its expression profiles. Most manuscripts were original articles (n = 69), of which 52 (75.4%) report findings of basic scientific work. The most prevalent theme was microRNA (n = 29), and the most popular clinical topic was temporal lobe epilepsy (n = 13). CONCLUSIONS: The research on the epigenetics mechanism of epilepsy was in its infancy but full of potential. The developmental history and current achievements of hot themes, including microRNA, DNA methylation, and temporal lobe epilepsy, were overviewed. This bibliometric analysis provides useful information and insight for researchers when launching new projects. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00381-023-06032-w.