Top 100 most cited articles on cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors — a bibliometric and altmetric analysis

Introduction. This study aims to evaluate both the scientific impact and the digital visibility of the top 100 most cited articles on cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors, which have gained prominence in recent years in the treatment of cancer, through bibliometric and altmetric analysis. Material and methods. In this study, original research articles and reviews published before 2025 were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The selected articles were analyzed in terms of total citation counts, publication years, journal impact factors, authors, and affiliated institutions. Altmetric Attention Scores (AAS) were used to assess their visibility on social media and digital platforms. Additionally, author collaborations, citation networks, and keyword co-occurrence maps were generated using VOSviewer software. Results. A total of 1,528 articles meeting the inclusion criteria and the top 100 most cited articles were analyzed. The most productive institution was identified as the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, while the United States was the most productive country, contributing to 84% of the publications. Most of the highly cited studies were published between 2016 and 2019. In the altmetric analysis, a significant positive correlation was found between the AAS and citation count, journal impact factor (JIF), and 5-year impact factor (5-year JIF). It was observed that articles published in recent years had lower digital visibility. Conclusions. As the first study to analyze the most cited articles on CDK4/6 inhibitors, this analysis demonstrates that academic impact is significantly associated with visibility on digital platforms. The strong concordance between altmetric data and bibliometric indicators highlights the importance of these new metrics in evaluating scientific impact. By jointly assessing scientific output and digital engagement, this study provides a meaningful contribution to the literature.