Sleeping beauties in the otolaryngology-head & neck surgery literature

Introduction "Sleeping Beauties" (SBs) are articles that receive little attention in the literature for many years after publication but suddenly "awaken" at a later date to greatly increased relevance. This effort represents the first attempt at identifying SBs within the otolaryngology literature. Methods The Web of Science Database was queried for all papers under the section "Otolaryngology" between 1945 and 2007. All papers were assigned a "Beauty Coefficient" (B), based on an a priori formula. Three groups were analyzed: 1) highest overall SBs, 2) clinically significant SBs (papers with greater than 100 total citations), and 3) modern SBs (published 1988 and later). Results 80,532 papers were identified, with SB able to be calculated in 79,523. Papers spanned a wide array of topics within the Otolaryngology literature. Unlike analysis of SBs in other disciplines, no obvious patterns or themes appeared consistently within or between any of the three groups. Conclusions This study represents the first known analysis of SBs in our field. While no obvious patterns or unifying themes were observed, this analysis highlights the clinical impact of SBs and underscores the idea that in this surgical field, important ideas may be proposed "ahead of their time." Level of Evidence NA Laryngoscope, 130:609-614, 2020