Background: Classic articles are defined as research papers with a total citation of one thousand or more. The present study is to identify and analyse the characteristics of the classic articles in apoptosis research.

Method: Classic articles with total of 1,000 or more citations from Web of Science Core Collection since year of publication to the end of 2017 were basically assessed regarding their document types, languages, journals, and Web of Science categories within 1900 to 2017.

Result: The study showed 418 classic documents in apoptotic research including 260 articles published between 1972 and 2012. The most productive Web of Science category was multidisciplinary sciences. Nature published most of these classic articles followed by Cell, and Science. The most productive country and institution were United States and Harvard University respectively. The author S.J. Korsmeyer from Harvard University was the most productive in apoptosis field and published 13 classic apoptosis articles while the author J.C Reed had more potential to publish classic apoptosis articles in future. The author J.C. Reed and V.A. Fadok had equal potential to publish the same number of classic articles as first and corresponding author. Article of Kerr et al. in 1972 was the most popular and cited apoptosis article. The most impact article in 2017 was article entitled “Tumor-associated B7-H1 promotes T-cell apoptosis: A potential mechanism of immune evasion” by Dong et al. in 2002.

Conclusion: This study identified the most industrious authors, institutions, and countries in the field of apoptosis research. It also revealed the historical and discoveries related to the pathophysiology of apoptosis as well as the most impact publications on apoptotic studies.

背景：经典文章被定义为总被引次数超过一千次的研究论文。本研究旨在识别和分析细胞凋亡研究中经典文章的特点。

方法：对Web of Science核心合集自出版年份至2017年底总引用次数在1000次及以上的经典文章，对1900年至2017年间的文献类型、语言、期刊、Web of Science类别进行基本评估。

结果：该研究显示了 418 篇细胞凋亡研究的经典文献，其中包括 1972 年至 2012 年间发表的 260 篇文章。最具成效的 Web of Science 类别是多学科科学。Nature发表了大部分这些经典文章，其次是Cell和Science. 生产力最高的国家和机构分别是美国和哈佛大学。来自哈佛大学的作者SJ Korsmeyer在细胞凋亡领域是最有成果的，发表了13篇经典的细胞凋亡文章，而作者JC Reed未来更有可能发表经典的细胞凋亡文章。作者 JC Reed 和 VA Fadok 具有与第一作者和通讯作者相同数量的经典文章发表的潜力。克尔等人的文章。1972 年是最流行和被引用的细胞凋亡文章。2017年影响最大的文章是Dong等的题为“Tumor-related B7-H1促进T细胞凋亡：免疫逃避的潜在机制”的文章。在 2002 年。

结论：这项研究确定了细胞凋亡研究领域最勤奋的作者、机构和国家。它还揭示了与凋亡病理生理学相关的历史和发现，以及对凋亡研究影响最大的出版物。