Each year, the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS) publishes a diverse body of work that reflects the priorities, innovations, and challenges shaping surgical care. In 2025, articles published in JACS continued to draw strong engagement from readers, further establishing the journal as a forum for forward-looking research.
“For 120 years, the Journal of the American College of Surgeons has stood as a pillar of excellence in surgical scholarship. Our mission is rooted in a powerful origin story—one envisioned by our founder, Dr. Franklin Martin, in 1905: to deliver exceptional science for the practicing surgeon in The House of Surgery®. That commitment endures today. This collection of our most-read and most-discussed articles this past year reflects the very best of contemporary surgical science, spanning disciplines yet unified by relevance to surgical practice," said Thomas K. Varghese Jr. MD, MS, MBA, FACS, JACS Editor-in-Chief.
In regard to readership and citation, articles that are most frequently accessed often highlight topics of immediate clinical relevance, emerging technologies, or areas of debate within the surgical community. Highly cited articles, in contrast, tend to reflect work that is shaping ongoing research and informing guidelines. Together, these metrics offer insight into near-term interest and longer-term academic impact.
In addition, alternative metrics—or altmetrics—capture a broader view of how surgical research resonates beyond traditional academic citations. By tracking attention across social media, news outlets, policy documents, and other online platforms, altmetrics highlight articles that are contributing to public discourse and interdisciplinary conversations.
Presented here is a snapshot of the most-cited articles, most-accessed articles, and articles with the highest altmetrics in JACS during 2025. Collectively, these articles underscore important themes in surgery, including advances in artificial intelligence, data-driven decision-making, system preparedness, quality, outcomes, and value in surgical care, education and workforce issues, trauma and time-sensitive care, cancer epidemiology, and the refinement of operative techniques. They reflect not only what surgeons are reading, but also what they are discussing, citing, and building upon as surgery continues to advance.
"I am deeply grateful to the authors who entrusted their work to JACS, to our extraordinary peer reviewers and editorial board for their rigor and dedication, and to our exceptional editorial team whose daily efforts continually elevate the journal," said Dr. Varghese. "It is the honor of my life to follow in the giant footsteps of my predecessors as the eighth Editor-in-Chief, and I look forward—with great optimism—to the transformative science ahead.”
