Identifying the classics: An examination of articles published in the "Journal of Pediatric Psychology" from 1976--2006.

Abstract

The purpose of the present investigation was to identify the top 100 most highly cited articles in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology , from 1976-2006, which yielded a total of 104 articles that ranged in citations from 46 to 192 (M = 71.66, SD = 31.15). These articles were found to focus predominantly on children with chronic illness and included children spanning several specified age categories. Furthermore, the classics in JPP were found to be predominantly applied research. Additionally, citation trends among the classics revealed an inverted-u shape relationship between year since publication and citations per year, with the number of citations per year for a given article peaking around seven years after publication. Although only a piece of the puzzle, the current findings highlight some of the influential works in the field which have contributed to important advances not only the field of pediatric psychology but other fields as well.