Objective: The number of reprints ordered for some journal articles can be very large. One measure of the importance of these articles is the number of times they are cited. This study aims to assess the impact of articles with very high reprint orders ('high-reprint articles') by measuring their citation in the subsequent literature as compared to a control group of articles.

Methods: The 21 articles published in the Lancet in 1998 with reprint orders of over 10,000 (information provided by the Lancet) were matched with a control set of 21 articles with smaller reprint orders, drawn from the same section and issue of the journal. The Science Citation Index was used to obtain the number of citations for each of the 42 articles.

Results: The 21 high-reprint articles were cited 2548 times; the mean number of citations was 121 (range 3 to 499 citations per article). Five of the 21 high-reprint articles had more than 200 citations, but seven (33%) were cited 25 times or fewer. The 21 control articles were cited 986 times; the mean number of citations was 47 (range 1 to 165). Fifteen (71%) of the 21 control articles were cited 25 times or fewer. Thirteen of the high-reprint articles were reports of randomized trials with a mean of 163 citations. In the control articles, six were reports of randomized trials with a mean of 88 citations.

Conclusions: Articles with a high-reprint order were cited more frequently than other articles. However, some high-reprint articles were cited infrequently. If the size of a reprint order is related to the importance of an article, those articles with very high reprint orders are, or become, more important. Possible explanations for the relationship between the number of reprints and the number of citations will be explored in the presentation.