There is no perfect way to rank the most impactful papers in anaesthesia history, but collating according to a citation count is a rough approximation.
For this exercise I’ve gathered the most-cited papers per year, since 2010, for the top 10 anaesthesia journals according to CiteScore rank. In addition I’ve trawled Google Scholar results for any highly cited ‘outliers’ – articles relevant to anaesthesia published in lesser-read anaesthesia journals or non-anaesthesia journals.
This collection has then been ranked according to citation count/year in an effort to reduce the ‘time published’ bias.
This is not a foolproof method by any means, but approximates the top papers at this point in history in a close-enough manner to make for interesting reading!
THE TOP 10 MOST CITED PAPERS IN ANAESTHESIA THIS MILLENIUM
1. Management of Postoperative Pain: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American Pain Society, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Committee on Regional Anesthesia, Executive Committee, and Administrative Council
- 2016, The Journal of Pain
- 876 citations
- 292/yr
2. Practice Guidelines for Management of the Difficult Airway: An Updated Report by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Management of the Difficult Airway
- 2013, Anesthesiology
- 1368 citations – 228/yr
3. Difficult Airway Society 2015 guidelines for management of unanticipated difficult intubation in adults
- 2015, British Journal of Anaesthesia
- 781 citations – 195/yr
4. 2014 ESC/ESA Guidelines on non-cardiac surgery: cardiovascular assessment and management: The Joint Task Force on non-cardiac surgery: cardiovascular assessment and management of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA)
- 2014, European Heart Journal
- 925 citations – 185/yr
5. Consensus guidelines for the management of postoperative nausea and vomiting
- 2014, Anesthesia & Analgesia
- 895 citations – 179/yr
6. Neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years of age after general anaesthesia and awake-regional anaesthesia in infancy (GAS): an international multicentre, randomised controlled trial
- 2016, The Lancet
- 457 citations – 152/yr
7. Management of severe perioperative bleeding: guidelines from the European Society of Anaesthesiology
- 2013, European Journal of Anaesthesiology
- 812 citations – 135/yr
8. Regional anesthesia in the patient receiving antithrombotic or thrombolytic therapy: American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Evidence Guidelines (Third Edition)
- 2010, Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
- 1201 citations – 133/yr
9. Management of severe perioperative bleeding: guidelines from the European Society of Anaesthesiology: First update 2016
- 2017, European Journal of Anaesthesiology
- 236 citations – 118/yr
10. Regional Anesthesia in the Patient Receiving Antithrombotic or Thrombolytic Therapy: American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Evidence-Based Guidelines (Fourth Edition)
- 2018, Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
- 113 citations – 113/yr