Osteoporosis is a systemic disease of the bone that affects millions of people and causes burden for both the affected individual and health systems and societies worldwide. Since the 1970s much research has been done in the field of osteoporosis. The number of citations of a paper reflects its influence and importance to the field. Thomson ISI Web of Science database was searched to retrieve a list of the fifty most cited articles related to osteoporosis and its research. The fifty most cited articles in absolute numbers in the field of osteoporosis were cited from 877 to 3056 times (mean 1141 ± 537). Most papers were published in the basic science category (n = 23). 395 authors contributed; a single paper had between one and 62 authors (mean: 10.02 ± 9.9 authors). 12 authors (3.04%) contributed between 7 and 4 papers; 340 authors (86.1%) were at least named once. Corresponding authors were from eight countries with most contributions from the United States (n = 34, 68%). The majority of papers were published in the 1990s (n = 29). The list of 50 most cited papers presents citation classics in the field of osteoporosis and related research.
